This week Kate recommended I take it easy and watch one of my favorites, Howl’s Moving Castle. Now if you’ve ever met me or talked to me for more than thirty minutes I will bring up this movie. So, I will now go on for many sentences about how wonderful this movie is.

I love this movie so much. I’m so glad that I found this movie and decided to watch it. It is a cinematic masterpiece. Beautiful scenes, wonderful characterization, and amazing world-building. I love all the detail that when into the creation of this film. Every time I watch it there is something new I see in the background or a new line of dialogue if you listen hard enough in the city scenes. Watching it the second time around all the cute little foreshadowing elements finally made sense and I did sob. This movie makes me cry every time I watch it. It’s not even because it’s a sad movie, it’s just so damn beautiful.

Now that the rambling is over, a review of the movie. Ghibli movies have always impressed me with how complex they can make such simple things. The main theme/lesson of the movie is that Sophie learns to love herself just the way she is. Very cute premise. The way they translate that Sophie doesn’t have high esteem for herself is shown through her interactions with the people in her life, like her sister. Her sister is very popular, many of the background characters go out of their way to say hello to her in passing and even disregard Sophie. However, we see the first shift in her demeanor when she meets Howl for the “first” time (the quotes make more sense if you’ve seen the movie multiple times). Because of this interaction, the Witch of the Waste is introduced. She is a jealous woman who is after Howl’s heart and is threatened by Sophie, so she casts a spell on Sophie turning her into an old woman. This is how we see Sophie for most of the movie, she begins to grow out of her shell and take charge of herself finding her passions and interests. It’s an interesting thing, most movies for children or young adults don’t have an elderly protagonist. Howl’s Moving Castle takes this narrative flip and uses it well to convey the story of loving one’s self.

I can never recommend this movie enough, I might be “mainstream” or “overhyped”, but it’s one of my favorite movies. This is one of the movies I love rewatching with friends and family.

10/10 <3

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