Unpopular Opinion: I dislike Howl's Moving Castle

[VirtulJordan]

If you haven't seen the movie and wish not to be spoiled, then back out of the forum now as I will be spoiling a bit of the plot.

It's hard to hate a Miyazaki film. My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Spirited Away, all such fun and beloved movies. However, after watching Howls Movie Castle, I think I might have found a Miyazaki film I didn't care much for. The movie is a Beauty and the Beast type film. It deals with a seamstress named Sophie who works at her mother's hat shop. After some abnormal events, Sophie encounters a witch who curses her to have aged by 50 years. Sophie ends up leaving her family to run away into the mountains, stumbling upon Howls Moving Castle. Meeting a cast of colorful characters, including Howl himself, Sophie sticks around as Howls maid just so she could have a place to stay. And after a lot of trouble, even involving an ongoing war between kingdoms, Sophie returns to normal, Howl gets his heart back, and several other happy endings happen for the other characters.

So before I get into what I hate, allow me to talk about the good. The animation in this movie is jaw dropping gorgeous. The characters are fun and very memorable, and it has that quality you would expect from a Miyazaki film. That's about all I can name for whats good about this movie. Now let's talk about its flaws.

For starters, the plot of the movie is a huge mess. It tries focusing on so many characters and elements that it's all over the place. For example, Howl is said to be some sort of womanizer in the movie. The whole point is for Howl to learn the meaning of true love by the end. However, not once in the movie is Howl seen as some kind of womanizer. He saves Sophie in the very beginning without pulling any moves on her, and he spends all of his time and power trying to save the people he loves. A huge problem is the fact that Howl hardly has any screen time. The only times we see him is if he has returned home for a quick second, or if he and Sophie are having a moment together, none of which show Howl has a problem that must be fixed. Heck, the only scene in the movie to shed light on this is when Sophie mixes Howls potions in the bathroom, accidentally changing howls hair color. He acts very immaturely about the situation, but that is the only scene we get to show off that characteristic about him.

Next is the Head Witch, the one who started the war among the kingdoms. Her reason for starting this war was a test for Howl to prove that he could change and learn to love.......yeah there's a lot wrong with that plan. For starters, thousands of innocent lives and villages burned to the ground all just for 1 person to learn how to love, despite the fact that he showed no need to learn any kind of lesson. I mean are human lives so worthless to witches that they can be spared just for 1 guy to learn how to love? It's such a needless plan when the war never needed to happen at all.

Next is Sophie, the main character. Along with the story being a huge mess, so is a lot of aspects about Sophie. She is a character whose emotions are very out of whack. In one scene she can hold an emotion, in the next scene she will sporadically change emotions within the span of seconds. At first, I thought that could be part of her personality, but no. cause in some scenes she can hold onto an emotion, but in others, she sporadically changes emotions. Besides that, even her own curse is a bit unclear. In some parts of the movie Sophie will turn back to her normal age, but then she'll turn back into an old lady a few seconds later. Nothing explains why this happens. Is it because of her love for Howl? No, because there are scenes where she feels her love for him, yet nothing happens. Is it because she feels young and lively again? No, because there are scenes where she feels young and alive, and yet nothing happens. I wouldn't be so bothered by this, I don't even want the movie to explain what the curse does, but I still want it shown in a way that doesn't contradict itself in other scenes.
But that's just my opinion.There'ss alot to love about this movie, but this is 1 movie where I feel the bad outweighs the good. But what do you think? Do you love Howls moving castle? What do you love about it? Is it one of your least favorit Miyazaki films? What do you dislike about it?

 

[Koneca]

I do not think "womanizer" is the right word, but I think it's pretty clear that he's a bit shallow. ><
You're right about Howl's time on the screen, but I believe the focus of this movie is Sophie, not Howl, much like Chihiro and Haku (I'll explain this later, I promise!).

I know both males from those movies carry awesome features that most fans would like to be more explored but I think that's what makes a Miyazaki movie in the end - the magic is always on the second plan and the viewer sometimes has to wonder what lead to such events forever...
If you ask me, I would love to see the part where Haku turns into an apprentice or what exactly is Howl doing everytime he goes out that door, but Miyazaki finds it more interesting to focus on the overall girls' experiences.

Also, Miyazaki has this habit of giving more attention to the female protagonists over the male ones. If you watched all of his movies, you can see he usually portrays the male as being some kind of assistant...

The second part of your text sounds weird to me... I don't recall the reason behind the Head Witch war being such a thing (but my memory may be a little fuzzy).
What I do remember is that she was worried about her son, who was turned into a scarecrow and no one in the kingdom knows where he is or what happened until the last part, when Sophie gives him a true kiss and the curse breaks.

Finally, I'll write now what I took from these two movies, like I promised:

Spoiler: For those who didn't watch Chihiro's movie

You know how Chihiro is a story about a little girl becoming more mature?

Like, she's a spoiled kid in the beginning! When she's in the car all annoyed because her parents wanted to have a good moment and in the matter of an hour or so, she's all by herself, having to work hard to pay her safety stay at the bathhouse, dealing with all kinds of strangers with all kinds of personalities and having to solve most of her problems alone now?
In the end you see a new Chihiro, one that has learnt that sometimes things won't always go as you wish and that you should show love and gratitude towards those who help you and are by your side everytime you can (that's why she's still kind to the witch)..

Well, Sophie is not further way from that, except that her story, even tho is focused in maturity as well, has some distinctive themes, such as self image.
If you pay attention to the beginning,she sounds kinda depressed,like she's feeling pressure to become someone big in life (don't we all? *sign* ToT).

This is where the Witch curse enters:

You know, for Miyazaki, the reason for Sophie's ageing is probably (can't give you 100% sure) for her to learn how to appreciate small things in life,be more...chill.
When you're old, things get harder. You no longer have the same energy,your body gets all cranky and a bunch of other stuff, so enjoy while you're young,little girl! Find someone or something you love and dedicate yourself to it!

Meanwhile, Howl is quite the opposite. He's a mess!

Look at his bathroom,all dirty, his house too! And he's shallow,he doesn't care about anything enough to give it proper attention. He also suffers from low self esteem, but while Sophie's is about what you'll become in life,Howl's physical appearance matters most.

The two complement each other right here!

She learns how to see beauty and satisfaction on small things, that's why she sometimes goes back to being young - when she's no longer worried, not because she's in love. Altho, being in love CAN make us feel free - and he learns to see beyond the shell - she's old,but her heart is pure and that's what makes it beautiful *starts singing that 1D song*

Well...and that's all,i guess. I don't want to turn this into a super boring text. I could give you my interpretation of the other characters as well,but i'm not sure you want to read more xD. I hope this helps you appreciate more this beautiful masterpiece! Definitely one of my fav! *-*