Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Howl’s Moving Castle Review

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geek Patch Radio Network. and welcome

to cinema geeks as we continue our heyo miyazaki

retrospective today we will be reviewing howl's

moving castle joining me on today's retrospective

as always is hard candy mandy hey dan how's it

going uh pretty good nice nice and joining us

as well is optimus solo kevin how's it going

not too bad i was i was looking forward to the

heyo from amanda and she didn't give it to us

We're running out of opportunities. Only a few

more movies left. And last but certainly not

least, Matt Fridley -Sent. Hi. Welcome, welcome.

Another edition of this Hayao Miyazaki retrospective.

Yes, we are nearing the end of this retrospective.

We have up to this point gone through... every

Hayao Miyazaki movie that has been released based

upon time of release. So if you've not listened

to those episodes, I would highly regard going

back and doing so. But what we'll be doing is

giving our thoughts on the film and just, you

know, if we feel like it lives up to the potential

hype that has... been received. It's interesting

because last time we spoke we spoke of Spirited

Away which is I think in most circles considered

Hayao Miyazaki's best film. It may be I mean

obviously people have different opinions but

considering it was the first movie that went

in best Oscar nomination so always kind of tough

to follow up. movie of that nature so i guess

amanda will start with you i know you had differing

opinions when it comes to some of these films

in this retrospective i know you enjoyed spirited

away though uh is that continuing with howl's

moving castle yeah i did enjoy this quite a bit

i didn't know anything about what i was getting

into with this too just like spirited away and

i was pretty pleasantly surprised i think that

it had a lot of color and detail like um or Used

to with Miyazaki and it definitely had his brushstrokes

of Genius throughout and I did not fall asleep.

So there you go That is the key to success when

it comes to these films It wasn't one of the

longer ones, you know, it was I think less than

two hours or around that mark So I think that

probably certainly helps it does It's helped

quite a bit for the sleepy folks like me. So

Kevin, were you also not put to sleep by Howl's

Moving Castle and has it lived up to its ranking

and where does it, I guess we can get into where

it falls, but overall just general thoughts on

how? Yeah, I haven't fallen asleep to any of

these. I don't seem to have that problem, but

I did enjoy this. I will say that I think this

one may be for me so far the one more than any

other film that we've watched in this retrospective

that is going to be demanding of rewatches from

me or research from me in order to actually understand

everything because I found it the most confusing

out of all of the films that we have watched.

Not necessarily like the major plot points or

like the story, but I'm more so confused in some

of the details and some of the choices that I

maybe didn't understand on first watch and maybe

I'm just ignorant to the... backstory or some

of the ins and outs of this. So I will say I

do need to like learn more about it or maybe

rewatch it and catch some details on repeat viewings.

But just based on that first watch, I would say

that I came down pretty positive on this one.

I thought there was a lot of fun aspects. I thought

it did keep the pace moving, which I think helped

in Amanda's case. I don't think there was any

real big lulls or drawn out spots. I think it

was always kind of moving at a pretty brisk pace.

So just for general thoughts, I'd say I was overall

pretty positive on this one and I know Matt Was

this one that you've seen before and it did it

hold up again on rewatch? Actually, I was the

one that fell asleep But yeah, this is uh, this

is What I always tell everyone is that Howl's

Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro are my two

favorite any of any of the studio Ghibli movies

not just specifically Mia's Agi and It's always

the Though my favorite one is one. I've watched

the most recently and yeah, I like I love this

movie a lot Yeah, and yeah, I guess I want to

come out in here and say my differing opinion

and this was a similar to math This is the second

time I've watched this but it was a few years

since I've seen it previously and I think when

I first watched it it was similar where I watched

spirit away and because it's been I know gate

beforehand we were getting ready for the top

100 animated movies of all time and I think Going

into it the first watch I thought it was okay

It just to me wasn't nearly to their level and

I still don't think it's up there quite yet There's

some some issues we'll get into but I think I

appreciated a lot more and I think Kevin like

you mentioned me watching it does help because

there are a lot of finer details a lot of things

just like I didn't even think of it at the time

especially delving into some of the research

and seeing kind of the Political and social aspects

that are going on at a time that influenced me

Miyazaki within the film itself Like I didn't

even know it was based upon a book until until

just recently. So that definitely has me interested

But I enjoyed the dynamics of the characters

It does get kind of I think I fall off a little

bit near the end without giving anything away

And I know Kevin if that's where you also got

him kind of got lost or just things kind of it

was hard for me to pick out exactly what was

going on, and maybe that was just a failure on

my part, but I do love this world. I think it's

one of the few instances where you have CGI animation

meld in with classic hand -drawn animation, and

it looks great. Often it looks awful. I think

of something like a lot of the DC animated films,

they do it, and it looks so bad, but here, the

castle itself is just a masterpiece of creativity.

Just the way it moves how it looks is there's

there's a lot lots on pack there. So Yeah, I

think I was kind of similar. Yeah, I think it

was towards the latter Later part of the film

that I was having the most problems as far as

keeping track with things So we can get specifics

a little bit later. Maybe without too much of

spoiler territory But yeah, it was towards the

later the latter half that I was trying to put

things together and kind of piece together, especially

from a visual standpoint. I think that was the

major hurdle for me was understanding some of

the visual aspects and how things were changing

or not changing or kind of fluctuating back and

forth. So those were the issues that I kind of

had the most problems as far as understanding

goes. But you said the second time those weren't

as big issues or you were picking up other aspects

of the film that you had. enjoyed more more so

just the background war that's going on that

I think I was able to kind of pay attention to

a little bit more and Understand where that was

coming from like I think when I was first watching

this I was just kind of centered on how story

and the main character story and I didn't know

how much that played into the part of of the

actual narrative itself. But I think also watching

some of the previous Miyazaki films where I feel

like watching this, the movie that came to mind

was Nausicaa the most where you have this impending

doom in the background that is just where the

characters are kind of caught in the middle.

And I felt that was very much similar to here.

And I think watching it again, you're able to

kind of see how a lot of those events are taking

fold outside of the normal, just general story

that's going on. Also Billy Crystal's voice was

not nearly as Jarring as it was the first time

watching it. It was just like the first time

I watched it. It was like, whoa, that's unexpected

But I think I was able to get over that this

time. I Think the most giant part from a voice

aspect and it was it really had nothing to do

with the actual voice performance But I think

the most giant thing That I heard the entire

film was at the beginning with the the creepy

guys Because the dialogue that they were given

made them sound like even more creepy I don't

know if it was intentional or not, but I was

like, man They already seem creepy now that the

lines that are coming out of their mouths are

just terrible But yeah and Christian Bale's like

towing in the one in the opening sequence when

this also seemed equally creepy I'm like this

is just I feel gross after this. Yeah, there

was a interesting moment when we were watching

from Amanda as Matt and Amanda and I we watched

this all together Speaking of Christian Bale

because what did you say we were? Watching it

and you said something about howl sounding and

like batman yeah just like it sounds like um

the batman voice and matt and i were like that's

because of this but yeah i enjoyed the voices

i didn't think billy crystal was that jarring

either um so i didn't i mean i don't think anything

necessarily like wowed me but i wasn't put off

by any of the voice work for sure Yeah. Now,

mandatory question for you, because I know, like,

going into this, like, we were getting, as we

went through a lot of these films, we kind of

had two different types of stories with and came

to Miyazaki. We had the movies that were, like,

these sprawling epics with a lot of plot, and

then we had something like My Neighbor Tortura,

which is kind of just a day in the life, or Kiki's

Delivery Service, but with Spirited Away, it

was kind of a melding of two. What do you think

Howl's move fits into that? Do you think it's

more character -driven, that really makes...

What you enjoy about it is the overall epic or

the world like what kind of kept you awake as

they say When I came to watching this But quite

literally it did yes, I think it's another one

that blends adventure and day -in -the -life

stuff Super well because you do get a lot of

just them cleaning or eating breakfast together

or You know working in the shop. There's a definite

day to day feel to it but there's this huge underlying

issue which is the wars that are going on or

the the war that is kind of raging and how it's

affecting them and the choices that they're making

leading them into you know further adventure

so i thought it was really exciting all the way

through nice nice and uh matt you mentioned this

is your favorite or at least it's your favorite

because it's the last one that you watch but

in general what what really stands out for you

for how that makes it so highly regarded in your

eyes. I think I love just how perfectly sculpted

of this fantasy adventure story it is. You don't

expect it, but it builds this crazy out there

adventuring party where it's like, we got a granny

and we got a scarecrow and we've got a child

who's also a mate. And they're all on this giant

moving castle that crosses the land. And there's

a massive, huge war with magic and kings and

witches. This is the genre of movie that I want

when I'm watching a movie like this is where

I go for my entertainment and it's so Like perfectly

crafted in that genre. It's one of the best It's

interesting because I was watching it and I guess

one of the movies I don't know if it's simply

because of the turn -up character, but that came

to my mind was like the Just seeing this party

come together was like Wizard of Oz I don't I

don't know if that was at all intentional and

just more so in how you see Just this eclectic

group of people kind of forming into this unexpected

team It seemed very akin to that. I didn't think

about that While I was watching it, but now that

you say that I can see a lot of connection So

I think that would be an interesting thing to

kind of rewatch and compare with the two stories

in mind. I was Really really shocked that they

were so willing to just like let the Witch of

the West or whatever the hell it was waste Like

they're like, oh, she's she's cool now Like she

can just be with us and we're gonna like take

care of her and shit But did she do a bunch of

bad stuff up until then they they were like really

forgiving and like really trusting and they just

I don't know it's it was a definite heartfelt

emotion that you're feeling from this and I was

confused because like Howl is kind of a dick

but then like he's so quick to be like yeah sure

this old lady can sit here and I'll make her

breakfast and shit like it was confusing but

it it as awkward as it felt I was still happy

with it so you thought you thought Howl was was

not a upstanding young gentleman and chivalrous

kind of a douche and he got soup For emo I'm

just gonna die because I'm not cute anymore Like

the line where he's like I thought the witch

was beautiful, but I realized she wasn't and

I lost interest Story my life You think someone's

beautiful and then somehow you realize they're

not I don't know how exactly that goes down I

think it's like the way she's able to portray

herself because there's that one scene where

they're walking to the King's palace and she's

in her little like, I don't know, carrier, you

know, carriage thing. And like you can see when

she turns her face, she seems somewhat beautiful.

But when she comes out, she's obviously nothing

against anyone. She's clearly putting on a disguise

not to throw any insults, but she's very much

different than what you expected. That's for

sure. Yeah, she's a she's quite the character.

I agree. It was kind of interesting how Welcoming

that they were to just kind of bring her along

and and trusting like I would think you'd even

if you brought her along You'd kind of be like

watching with like the one eye like what's going

on with her? Can I trust her? But they didn't

seem to have that problem Like I said, they're

like, no this bitch is cool now. We're good Yeah,

I think that's kind of, it is very similar to

a lot of the characters we've seen before where

it's just, they're like, yeah, she's not really

that bad. I think, you know, it's just something

that was kind of lying. She's, she was kind of

dismissed of like, yeah, she did this bad thing,

but she's, I don't know. That's always what I

do enjoy about Miyazaki. Like you think that

she's going to be set up as, well, of course

she's the main antagonist and we're going to

have to... come together and defeat her but really

she ends up just being a side character so like

no face in spirited away is the same thing yeah

for a good person um kevin question question

for you so this you know we've been i've been

doing this for nearly i think maybe over a year

now we've watched a lot of miyazaki films and

you know we've seen a lot of similar styles and

choices is at all getting to a point of close

to the mission returns in the sense of do you

feel like he's relying at all on similar tricks

or story techniques or choices that you feel

like are just getting somewhat tiresome. For

example, you know, we're always going to see

a huge some sort of crazy flying machines. There's

often some sort of war in the background that's

destroying the world. And like there's always

themes of basically preserving oneself in the

world that you're in and balance and things of

that nature then necessarily that those are bad

things, but is there any impact of like, okay,

maybe we need to Expand the well here a little

bit or do you feel like each approach has been

unique within itself that you haven't really

had that problem It's an interesting question

an interesting dilemma to try to come to terms

or answer that one because I think on one hand

If it was done by anybody else or in lesser hands,

I think you would have a lot more of that issue.

You would have a lot more of, I've seen this

already, this guy makes the same film all the

time, why doesn't this guy try to go outside

the box? Think about today's directors, a lot

of them have to deal with those types of questions.

I'd like to see him do something that's not the

exact same as the previous films. But I think

he just... somehow avoids that by by the craft

and the like they're each just distinct enough

that I never have that thought but at the same

time it makes it very hard to Grade some of these

films against each other because they do have

so many similar elements So I think like when

you're just trying to compare the films against

each other and kind of come up with your ranking

or come up with like You know, did I like this

film more than this one or did it do it more

effective? Like then it becomes a little bit

More hard because you're really comparing similar

ideas more topics similar traits, etc But I think

I'm just watching the films and deciding if you're

gonna enjoy them or not like I think they're

all unique enough and they all have their own

personality just Enough that I don't have that

issue and I and I've enjoyed each one kind of

going forward or going through the whole process

But I think you can definitely you know, you

can almost come up with like a Venn diagram of

of his movies and you'd have like the three different

sections or whatever and I think you guys nailed

it on the head there's a couple that kind of

blend the two but you do get a lot of that with

you you know you have the female as far as the

main kind of character that we're following I

mean you could follow it from Howl's perspective

too so I guess it's kind of a duel there but

you definitely have the the whole technological

you know like the airships part technological

and part living or part nature based so that's

been a theme throughout and you mentioned a lot

of the other ones so I think it depends on, I

guess, your tolerance for how much difference

you need in the films. But for me, they have

enough of a unique personality that it didn't

bother me, I guess, is a long answer to your

question. That's fine. That's fine. Amanda or

Matt, same question and any thoughts? I guess

I don't think about it like that. Like, I don't

know that I'm ever going to be like, ah, this

this thing is too much like that thing. I like

that. I don't like it as much. Because I watched

Dragon Ball Z and Miyazaki is not going to do

Goku finds an enemy he can't beat, Goku loses

to that enemy, Goku gets stronger, Goku beats

that enemy. Which is what that show did for a

thousand episodes and I loved every minute of

it. This is way more massful, way better storytelling.

Like as long as he still relies on like, you

know, good, good character driven stories that

are interesting and well written, I don't think

I... I'd ever complain I could have a thousand

different war stories and a thousand slightly

different fantasy realms or techno fantasy or

sci -fi But yeah, and I think Kevin hit also

is like they're not all like that like every

once in a while You got to get a Ponyo or a Totoro

in there You can compare it to things these days

to like if you like something you like something

and if it's unique enough like You know, we've

heard the same complaint. I guess I don't know

if this is a great comparison, but I'm trying

to think of things like modern day that we've

been getting in the past few years, like a lot

of people had a problem with like The Force Awakens.

Oh, it's too much, like a story we've already

seen, but I don't think that necessarily should

play too much of a factor in it. If the characters

are well -developed, if the story is well -told,

if it's fun to watch, then, you know, who cares

how similar or how different it is? I think both,

in both cases, they're different enough, or they

give you enough new stuff to kind of think about

that. It doesn't make it an issue for me I've

never felt that I just keep watching the same

things over and over again now I definitely see

an easy pattern in what we're getting as far

as some of the same kind of Like the we talked

about with the flying machines and we get a lot

of these female characters that are at the lead

and There's a little bit of you know formula

in those senses, but we're all So coming to expect

amazing amounts of detail and beautiful color

job and all kinds of stuff that it makes it so

You're not tired of seeing Miyazaki's work It'd

be one thing if it was done in a way where we

were getting bored with it But it's just done

so artfully that it can be separated in each

story that we're getting. And I think something

else that Matt said too kind of hits it on the,

hits the nail on the head as well because you

talked about like the characters. I think that's

what makes it so we don't feel like we're watching

the same film is because I have not been watching

a single one of these films and been observing

a character within that film and said, oh, that

character is just like so -and -so. Like I've

never even had that thought cross my mind, especially

when it comes to the side, you know supporting

characters and those types of things I mean,

I guess you if you really thought about you might

be able to compare a couple of the protagonists

To each other etc, but I've never had that thought

when we're watching I've been like, oh this character

is too much like that character or this is just

another version of that like They all are their

own unique characters and I think that's what

helps kind of distinguish each film from the

last Yeah, and I I'll kind of frown it out and

say I kind of agree with what you guys are saying

because you know when we did Tarantino's films

I know he kind of gets a similar kind of knack

is like seeing he relies on the same thing, but

I think directors I think that makes a good director

when you're you kind of know what you're good

at and you'll be able to utilize it and unique

in different ways and I felt the same way with

Harantino and I feel that with Miyazaki and I

think they're yeah there he uses ships a lot

but it never gets boring and what I'm impressed

by is that they never quite look the same and

they're always incredibly designed and they're

always fun to look at so I also really like planes

so that helps too right the stories are so different

like and It's there are common factors between

them, but I never feel like I'm seeing the same

story There's no formula really. I know like

there's nothing where I'm like, okay. Well here

comes This portion and I know after this is gonna

happen. We know the origin story formula by now,

right? But with this with these films with how

I have no idea like I I don't even know of how

going into this is going to be you know, is he

an antagonist protagonist is the evil is he good

or bad and really You know like often is the

case. It's kind of somewhere in between so There

may be some who could get tired of that like

they could see like okay, this is I'm seeing

these things again but I really think it would

be somewhat of a major nitpick is you're just

painting with a broad brush and not really looking

at what he's really doing storytelling wise so

that would be like so yeah, it'd be like saying

oh this film set in New York again, like I've

always That's what that type of complaint would

be to me. And I think you hit another good point.

It's not just the characters, but it's the idea

that within those characters, you don't often,

like if you're watching these films for the first

time, you don't necessarily know who's supposed

to be quote unquote good or who's supposed to

be quote unquote bad. And I think that's a lot

of times because there is nobody that's supposed

to be wholly good. or wholly bad. So you always

are kind of not quite sure if you're supposed

to be rooting for somebody or if that person

has some flaws in their character. And it also

lends to some of the plot development because

a lot of times there's a little bit of a, almost

like a mystery element to a lot of these stories

where you're not quite sure what direction the

story's gonna go. And that's why I think these

films are also probably good on rewatches because

once you know, then you can start watching with

that frame of mind and kind of look forward to

the things from that point of view. So I think...

Lot of these phones I would imagine would be

pretty rewarding on on second watches not just

because of the detail but because once you actually

know the Direction that the actual story is going

it'll give you a different Frame as far as how

you watch it and what you pick up on from different

characters points of view Certainly certainly

and you mentioned the characters and we've talked

about the characters as we've gone along here

any characters that send out to you all that

you really want to talk about and bring up I

Didn't even remember their names. This was a

while ago I remember how, what was the fire demons?

Calcifer. Calcifer, yes. I really liked him.

Billy Crystal, not mad at you, bro, for this.

I think that what was super striking to me is

how amazing like the world building was here.

Like all the buildings and the towns, they were

all distinct, but you could tell that it was

all within the same kind of time period. I loved.

that we got, again, like a ton of more detail

by that, and the characters just kind of rounded

it out for me because they were all super interesting,

and you're only getting so much of each of these

characters, which is what we've grown accustomed

to with Miyazaki. You're thrown into the story,

and you get right into it, these characters,

and you find... more about them as the story

goes and it's super um satisfying like unwrapping

a package the only thing that i was like confused

about is uh so what's the girl's name the main

girl sophie sophie yes i was really confused

about the age curse first of all super pissed

off for her like what a bitch and then i felt

super bad for her but she was like trucking it

out like she took it in stride like all right

this is what it is to be old now, but then it

got further in the movie and her age kept changing,

like her appearance and how old she looked kept

changing and I couldn't figure out what determined

how her age was gonna be. Sometimes she goes

all the way back to her normal age, sometimes

she's kind of in between, other times she's still

super old. So that was the only kind of confusing

part, but I was able to... Really get into it

with with all the other characters, even though

I don't remember their names. That's my bad Is

there any any any thoughts on that like? why

her appearance, you know that curse would fluctuate

as the story goes on any ideas of I was confused

on that maybe Matt will be able to shed some

light on it for me but on a first watch I think

that was the most confusing thing for me and

why I was like well I need to go back and rewatch

to see if I can pick up on what's causing this

or what's causing that because the only thing

I couldn't figure out was it wasn't that it was

just changing but it was that it was changing

and then going back and then changing again like

it was it was almost going forward reverse forward

reverse and I was like trying to piece that together

and there was too much for me to to take in detail

wise in the film for me to concentrate wholly

on that and try to figure out what was going

on there so i was a little confused too it didn't

necessarily affect my like of the film but it

was something that i was like afterwards kind

of questioning to myself like well did i miss

something i supposed to understand why that was

happening back and forth i i i don't have an

answer for you I do know they talk about how

it's a really strong curse and you know, you

don't just break a strong curse or whatever Yeah,

I don't know. I feel like there's a number of

things that are really easy to get lost or confused

in this especially on one viewing that Even though

I've seen it. I don't know like six times or

whatever I probably can't point a finger and

say I understand this perfectly It's a dense

dense movie. Yeah, there was another part that

I was confused about too just to kind of Throw

them both in there to see what other people say,

but I was also confused with an interaction between

Sophie and her mother and I don't Remember if

they if they answered that later on in the movie

and I just forgot to write it down But I remember

the when it first happens this interaction between

them. I was very confused as to how that came

about That was those were the two confusing issues

for me For me and like I was trying to think

like rock and brain of like how Why she keeps

changing and when she keeps changing and you

see one consistency is like when she's sleeping

she her old self shows and how can see that and

other times as well and I think The one consistent

factor I saw and again me going back this may

maybe be incorrect But this was me kind of retroactively

trying to piece it together was I felt like her

self -confidence and like opinion of herself

like when she was able to kind of like let go

of the ambition of who she is and just Be confident

of who she is as a person despite the fact that

she has the curse I thought you saw her when

she was at her peak especially when she was you

know in the King's castle like Defending how

and kind of just going going at it. That's it

removed partially, but I also didn't know if

that was due to magic in the Castle as well,

but that was my thought I thought it was partially

her willingness to lose lose yourself doubt and

because she often would talk about how she was

not and she wasn't beautiful before the curse

and how she was playing but when she was able

to kind of Can accept who she was and I feel

like that's big theme of you know Reconciling

with yourself because that's how how in a way

is able to survive was by addressing some of

his past and her being able to help him do that,

so Kind of a convoluted response, but that was

kind of my thought I think that's yeah That's

what I was if I had to like put something on

that The only thing I can come up with was that

it was something to do with an emotional state

of some sort I just couldn't pinpoint what it

was but you might be onto something there with

the self -confidence because I was like that's

about the only thing that would be fluctuating

so much, you know in a in a both directional

way would be you know something to do with Emotional

state because I could see how that would be going

back and forth throughout this adventure and

I believe in the book Sophie is also a witch

as well or has some sort of magical powers. I

could be wrong, but I believe So I don't know

if that is in relation to that as well, but Yeah,

you also were asking about characters and just

to kind of throw my other characters that I liked

I think my favorite characters in the film I

did like Kelsa for quite a bit for the for the

humor and it wasn't necessarily just your typical

Billy Crystal type of humor either I like because

the fire demon was from Brooklyn Why I liked

it I'm like teasing about the character. Oh No,

I just like the I like the lines that they gave

him and I like the Humor that that he brought

but I think if I had to pick a favorite character,

it was old Sophie like when Sophie is The oldest

she is like when she was old. She was funny.

Like she was a funny old woman and I think the

other character I'll go ahead and call this a

character, but I think the actual Castle becomes

a character in this film and I really liked how

that played into the film, you know, with going

out the door and just kind of its own little

persona and how it kind of morphs into different

things towards the end, et cetera. Like I really

enjoyed how they used Howl's Moving Castle. It's

obviously an appropriate title. She was dope,

but scary. Yeah. So those are kind of my highlights

as far as from a character standpoint. Matt,

any characters for you that stood out, ones that

really make the film for you? I love How much

character turn -up head has without any lines

Like he like he feels like a real character like

that gets across emotions And he has his own

goals and then his turn at the end is insane

Like I love it Yeah, I feel like you Pixar took

it took a lot from from this but you know the

fact that they have The main character that it's

like an elderly person you know from up and turn

up feels very much like a Pixar character to

like the One that doesn't talk and is able to

display a lot of emotion But yeah, I agree with

you Kevin Sophie was also a huge standout character

for me She might be one of the more complicated

most complicated characters in him as Miyazaki's

films and at times you know we talked about how

and how you'd be emotional a little bit emo and

He did kind of bug me at times and just not totally,

but I always felt like her character was a really

good foil for him. I had somewhat of an issue

with their relationship in the sense of I felt

they went from, you know, zero to love very quickly.

And I usually don't have a problem with that.

We had kind of similar story with Spirited Away,

but it was more of a sibling, I think, friendship.

Here, I'm not... totally sure as much and considering

like how much beauty is at the center of this

it does seem like if you're going to have a relationship

being at the center of it and I know there's

you're doing a lot here so it's not necessarily

they're gonna spend years with one another but

that was the only only thing that didn't completely

work for me compared to everything else in the

film yeah in the beginning Let's just go with

this creep in a cape that is magic and shit like

that's okay That just set the tone for we're

gonna get it in this real quick and everything

be super trusting. He's really nice hair Until

he goes emo when he gets upset he gets real upset

It didn't seem like an interesting pairing too

because you obviously have the one character

in Sophie that is definitely very much at times

slacking the self -confidence and Not believing

in her own both physical and inner beauty etc

And then you have a character like how who at

least at one point is definitely very Shallow

when it came to that type of stuff and would

not have anything to do in with somebody that

was not as good -looking So it's an interesting

dynamic between the two. I guess you could probably

pull a lot out of as well Anything else anyone

else wanted to bring up regarding how's moving

castle What about his muscular bird body he had

some like crazy bird pecks Yeah, it's like I

Don't know it was cool when they were like he

was melting off to like so much about like his

transformations were so so cool and like his

room That was the trippiest room I've ever seen

in my life. I couldn't even imagine taking the

time to draw all that. There was so much shit

in his room with color and texture. It was crazy.

What's kind of funny about the whole castle,

too, is that it was, I think, a creation that

was just specifically designed to be part of

the Miyazaki Museum, the Studio Ghibli Museum.

And then when they were going to make this movie...

Miyazaki just like okay, I guess we'll use this

for this and they put legs on it and then that's

how I was moving castles So it's and it fits

perfectly like it doesn't like it seems like

it was specifically designed for this movie But

I guess that was not originally the case Hmm

that's interesting. Yeah, I would never pick

up on that based on the film. It looked like

it was just for that Can we talk about Letty's

mom too or? Sophie and Letty's mom like everybody

loves Letty everybody like it's crazy and then

in comes the mom and she looks just like her

and she was so like weird and selfish and like

flighty and she was just very different from

her daughters too like i did not like her like

look at this selfish bitch take me back to my

husband i just sold out my kid like i don't know

i did not like her it took me a little bit to

figure out that that was not letty oh they're

the mom yeah I was like, did she just traveled

in time? Like, why is this girl all of a sudden

an older version of herself? It kind of gave

you some insight to why she is the way she is.

It's when you have one like that, it's probably

gonna mess you up a little bit. For sure. Anything

else before we bring this episode to a close?

I didn't have anything, Matt. Matt, did you have

anything? I don't know, like... Part of me feels

like mentioning like I bought this book a couple

years ago and tried to read it But uh, like I

do not get down on this book like I do the the

movie The hard read Like it's not difficult,

but it's hard for me to read I guess It's hard

to words it out. Oh, I just don't like the writing

style like at all and I think Sophie has even

more sisters that are all just more love buddies,

but it's not quite like, you know Cinderella

evil stepsisters style. It's just like her sisters

are more popular than her But she's okay with

it and like one gets like married to a soldier

and then one goes to the sweet shop I don't know

like it's way slower which I think would could

ruin this movie if it was slower As a person

who reads a lot and recommends a lot of books

I can't recommend this but if you can get through

it, I would love to know Someone read it for

us is what you're saying. Yeah, go for it. I

Mean, I know Miyazaki was obviously a big fan

and I think he originally wasn't set to direct

this but the original director came out and then

he He came on board to do it. But I think even

the author I felt that, you know, the changes

they made were for the better. Like I said, I

didn't know what was the book going and I do,

I am somewhat interested in it. Is it a children's

book? Because from what I was, the impression

I was getting, it was maybe not children, but

young adult. Is it like, what would you say age

range does it fall into? Like, yeah, young adult.

Well, I don't know about young, like teens. It's

a teens book. So like a little bit higher above

Twilight? Okay, did you read the Twilight books?

Because they were actually really good. It's

some movies that are shit. So don't... Well,

I did read the first Twilight book. Here's the

thing. I got through that first Twilight book

and I did not get through Howl's Moving Castle.

Maybe if I... Yeah, I know that's really bad.

Although one thing to be said about the first

Twilight book, it's got a lot of issues. but

it has the most powerful vampires I think I've

ever seen in any version of fiction ever. They

get a little, they border on the adult versus

the young. Yeah, I think this is just slightly

younger than that. Cause there's like, cause

that has like weird sort of like teen romance

issues and like, I'm alive for forever and I

want to date you, but like. But they get married

and they have like. Vampire and human sex and

stuff off like it's nuts Yeah, that that is nuts.

It's nuts We're going down a wrong path Dan.

Say yes. I did not expect in the Hay and Miyazaki

retrospective on house moving castle that Twilight

be brought up but That's that's that's how we

do here that's how we do. All right. Well a minute.

Let's start with you final thoughts and overall

scoring for house moving castle This is definitely

one that I'm gonna put high up on when I finally

sit down and rank everything that we're watching

for Miyazaki I had a lot of fun. I think you

had me asking questions questions that I didn't

get answered, but I still enjoyed the movie quite

a bit and Was definitely not disappointed even

though I had no expectations, but I really don't

go into these expecting not to like them anymore.

So Should I rate it now? We're doing ratings?

Yeah. I'll give it a 7 .5. All right. Kevin,

final thoughts and overall score for Howe? Man,

I made a comment about I'm going to rank it higher

or something when it comes to ranking all of

Miyazaki's films. And the idea of ranking all

of Miyazaki's films literally makes me feel like

my head's going to explode. So I can't even.

think about that at the moment. I'm literally

re -listening to all of our past episodes to

try to, like, come to terms with where I would

put all of these, but I did enjoy this. I have

a couple issues as far as understanding some

minor details about it, so I think maybe it would

require a second watch to maybe elevate it even

more like it did for you, Dan, but I don't know

if I'm willing to put it as high as some of the

other ones, so I'm gonna put it, like, right

in the seven, just a plain seven, 7 .0. No decimal

Matt final thoughts and overall score. I love

it. It's a great fantasy movie. You should watch

it nine out of ten Yeah, so like I said it just

when I kind of came into this I was when I was

go back to be watching like, okay This is gonna

be one of the lower ends. I think you know, it's

probably maybe When I like but not nearly up

to the same part and I still don't think it's

it's not my favorite compared to spirited away

from this minute Okay, but I think there is much

more here than I expected at least based upon

my first watch so It's me. It's like the second

tier of the very great first tier So I would

give it an overall eight out of ten and I think

my gripes are very small and I think I could

even see enjoying it more as I delve deep and

try to figure out some of the Things we were

talking about earlier and some of the character

changes that are happening and why they're happening

I'm sure there's a lot that are that said visually

that maybe you can you can pay attention more

the more you know the story, so But we'd like

to hear what you thought of house movie castle

what you've been thinking of with this retrospective

or what we've been doing and generally can do

so by going to the page at geekcastvideo .com

we're also on twitter at cinnamon geekcast we

are you guys are also on twitter uh what are

your twitter names amanda where can people contact

you on twitter at hard candy mandy eyes no wise

kevin uh you can contact me directly at optimus

solo and matt i am at fridley sent And I am at

we revolted join us next time as we and we continue

our hey me as a retrospective as we review the

2008 film for you until then. Thanks for listening