August 30, 2024 • 35 mins
Curious about the magic behind Studio Ghibli's "Howl's Moving Castle"? Join us as we revisit this enchanting 2004 classic, directed and written by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. With special guest, my little sister Chrissy, we dive into the movie's stunning animation, stellar cast, and unforgettable musical score by Joe Hisaishi. Throw another log on your Calcifer and take a listen!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to MovieRx, where I prescribe
entertainment, one movie at atime.
I'm your host, Dr Benjamin MD.
What does the MD stand for?
Um moving doctor?
I don't know, I'm lazy about ittoday.
Anyway, today I bring onanother new guest, one whose
(00:41):
birthday suddenly made me makesense as a middle child.
Today, my guest is my littlesister, Chrissy.
Welcome, Chrissy.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So this movie.
This movie took me a while tosee.
Oddly, I resisted it.
Despite that, it's StudioGhibli.
Today we talk about Howl'sMoving Castle and a little bit
of basic info about this oneStudio Ghibli film released in
2004.
Directed actually justcompletely made.
(01:11):
Written and directed by thegreat and mighty Hayao Miyazaki.
Stars Christian Bale, emilyMortimer and Billy Crystal of
all people.
That was kind of a strange oneto see on here.
The IMDB description on thisone is tell me what you think of
this one.
If you think this one fits.
When an unconfident young womanis cursed with an old body by a
(01:34):
spiteful witch, her only chanceof breaking the spell lies in a
self-indulgent yet insecureyoung wizard and his companions
in his legged walking castle.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That one's a pretty good description, I guess.
Really like everything StudioGhibli, it's kind of hard not to
just get it right the firsttime.
How familiar are you withStudio Ghibli?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I know a few of the movies they've made, like Ponyo
and Spirited Away, are much morepopular.
They're the more well-knownones, right?
But I think the part that mostpeople like about it is the art
style.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yes, just how it flows and moves yeah, the I
think the studio ghibli kind ofhas its, has its signature
everywhere.
I mean the animation style,even everything, just from the
smoke to liquids to you.
You know, uh, the way thatpeople react and and their,
their expressions, and I meanall the way, all the way down to
(02:30):
the music.
Even like everything aboutstudio Ghibli films, you watch
it and you just know, and a lotof those things are the things
that I kind of like to talkabout.
First is in, like, rather thana touchy sort of way, I like to
talk about the kind of thetechnical stuff with the movie
and like I'll go first on thisone.
So animation it's good.
(02:50):
As always with Studio Ghiblifilms, there's not a lot of
hang-ups, not a lot of goofyextra animation, you know, curly
cues when people get bonked onthe head and all those stupid
goofy things.
Music, again, is what you'dexpect from a Miyazaki film, Joe
Hasaishi directing the newJapanese Philharmonic.
I mean, I don't know that itgets any more incredible than
(03:14):
that for anime.
And the story the story ismoving, Even if it is a little
kind of confusing, I think, formost American viewers.
I think a lot of the timeStudio Ghibli films tend to be a
little bit of out of reach forsome people, but even then it
was still moving, even from avery simple standpoint.
(03:36):
Voice acting, I mean ChristianBale.
He only did the Batman voiceonce, that I remember.
What are your general feelingson the movie?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
The animation, the scenery is very full, and that's
something that I think someanimation lacks is it doesn't
have color and detail andnegative space of just random
things, so it makes thebackground just full.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah Well, and Jen pointed out to me I didn't
really notice it because I'mreally horrible about noticing
those kind of things with art,like with especially animation,
the textures.
There is nothing withouttexture in this movie.
Everything from the backgroundsto the foregrounds to the
people in it, I mean absolutelyeverything has a texture that
(04:23):
you can almost, you almost feellike you can just imagine what,
what the things feel like, andthere's lots of questions, like,
like you had said, with thenegative space there's.
There's things that like it'salmost like they didn't draw
anything, but your mind puts therest of it in Um, just really
really good stuff.
Uh, in the art, what about thestory?
What?
(04:43):
What did you kind of feel aboutthe story?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
just kind of in general, the story is confusing
and I'm sure that the book it isbased off of a book clears a
lot more of it up probably Idon't care that the story makes
doesn't make sense.
It's.
It's good.
It has good characters andflows.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Like you said, it moves well, and I think I think
another like really cool thingto think about with it is that,
especially with the way thatit's animated and and kind of
the, the style of the area thatthey're in you, you could almost
imagine that this is a worldwhere hogwarts exists, like
wizards are just a thing thatpeople know are there, but it's
(05:21):
like but there's a few of them,um, it almost feels like an
english, like an old englishtype of of area and everything.
I mean they, they answer to aking, you know, and all this
other stuff.
So I mean it, it's almost likeI I wonder if the book was kind
of was was like another versionof, like harry potter.
I haven't read the book forthis movie.
(05:42):
Have you read this one?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Not yet, but I want to yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now on this one, I actually have a big list of
characters and everything butthe last couple episodes I've
recorded.
I've actually really just likedtalking about the favorite
characters, so I'll let you gofirst.
Tell me about one of yourfavorite characters.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Dean the dog.
He's so silly the the way theyanimate him is.
He.
Is that comic relief?
Yes, he's a joke of a characterand I love him for it.
His animation he's just like afloppy little puddle on the
ground half the time and I lovethat about him and he, and he
(06:24):
doesn't have to say a word.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He's goofy as shit and it can be anything from just
a little wolf to a course Idon't know I'm.
I'm a little weirded out by it.
Almost looks like he haschicken feet.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It does, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's so goofy to me.
I'm like ah, that's a dog withchicken feet would suddenly make
me be like no, I don't likedogs anymore, but I'm glad that
dogs don't actually have chickenfeet.
I'm just saying if I had topick a uh, pick a very, very
favorite character, I think I'dhave to go with calcifer.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
He's such an interesting character.
I love how how Billy Crystalbrings the personality of a fire
to life in a way that I didn'tthink that Billy Crystal could
ever bring fire to life, but hesure does.
Like, uh, I mean, when he gets,when he gets all roared up and
angry and he starts yelling, he,he just embodies that that
(07:18):
roaring flame.
And and when he cowers and andmakes that that quiet little
voice as he does when he'shelpless and getting ready to go
out, uh, you know, there's justthere's so many fun things
about it that really cameforward with this character and
the fact that he is not only theheart of the castle as it moves
(07:39):
, because the castle cannot movewithout Calcifer.
If he goes out, then the castledoesn't move anymore.
But we also find out later thatif he goes out that could be
devastating for Howl, becauseHowl's heart is in Calcifer.
So it was just a reallyinteresting dynamic seeing how
(08:01):
some of those things made somuch more sense, Like some of
the interactions that he hadwith Calcifer, that Howell had
with Calcifer, like especiallylike after his hair turned red
and all of that stuff, Like someof those things were.
When they kind of came togetherit made a lot more sense after
you find out that Howell's heartis within this little fire
demon, and I really enjoyed kindof the way that connections
(08:24):
were made there.
Tell me about another one ofyour favorites definitely sophie
yeah she's nice and kind oftimid.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
She's also very caring and just an all-around
really good character.
She.
I love the moment when she getsreally, really angry.
And uh, markel, how a littlehelper tells a customer there's
an angry witch on a rampage.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And is that when she was cleaning?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, yeah, and telling all the all the bugs and
mice to you better get out ofhere before I bite your little
heads off.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, that was, uh, that was a lot of fun.
Uh, sophie, I, if you didn'tpick Sophie as your, as your
next favorite, then I definitelywas.
Um, there's, there's a lot ofinteresting things about Sophie,
and some of the things I kindof want to talk about, cause I'm
I'm not sure that I fullyunderstand, and I'm wondering if
maybe you do, but there'sthere's so many different facets
(09:21):
to Sophie, uh.
The the best about it, though,is that, from the time that
she's making a hat at the verybeginning of the movie, all the
way to getting her job atHowell's Moving Castle is, she
doesn't change at all, despitethe fact that she has this
horrible curse on her that turnsher into an old-ass woman and
(09:42):
everything.
She doesn't change.
She is the same person that sheis, and she doesn't like and
she just.
The only thing that reallychanges is, that is, that she
kind of like deviates off overinto doing what Letty told her
to do.
Her sister her sister told herto, you know, find what makes
her happy, and it was almostlike getting cursed to be old
(10:05):
gave her that permission to doso, which was really cool.
I don't know.
I just I really like, likeSophie's tenacity, just a lot of
fun.
Uh, hopping into the, into thepoints of interest here, the
first one, the first one that uhthat I have down is one that
you had on and that was the uh,sophie's transformation, how she
, how she still looks likeSophie as she ages.
(10:26):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So I think a lot of animation can kind of struggle
with aging characters, makingthem look older, but also
changing them drastically.
Where you're like, are we sure?
This is still the characterthat we're following, but Sophie
still looks like Sophie andeven as she slowly de-ages
(10:48):
throughout the movie, you canstill tell that Sophie, it's
still her.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's really and it is kind of neat how quite a change
.
Right at the beginning Inoticed that, uh, that
especially with Studio Ghiblifilms, they really like to
emphasize how there are certainfacial features that continue
growing as you get old.
Most namely those are your noseand your ears.
They continue growing andgetting bigger as you get old,
(11:18):
even if the rest of your body isshrinking.
So that's why when you look atold people, a lot of the time
they have really large ears andlarge noses.
You remember Grandma teasingabout her big old nose.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Don't.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You don't remember her ever doing that.
She always used to say thisthing to me about how she had
this big old potato nose.
You know old German woman withher big potato nose, you know
old old German woman with withher big potato nose.
But uh, but they, they reallyseem to emphasize that with
studio Ghibli films.
If you take those two thingsaway, those massive ears and the
(11:55):
massive nose, and you reallybring it down, then yeah, you're
right.
I mean it really is just Sophiewith a little uh, with some,
with some extra wrinkles andthings like that.
But when her age does climbback down as the movie continues
, when she starts to come backto her normal age, sort of
because she still has the silverhair at the end, yes.
(12:18):
Yeah.
So I mean her, she, she kind ofcomes almost back completely to
herself.
She, she still looks just thesame and there are times in the
movie where you're like wait asecond, is she old?
Is she old right now?
Or is she not old right now,like it's?
I don't know.
And again, I I've got questionsabout that that I'm hoping
maybe you can answer.
The next talking point I hadwas Sophie going in her own
(12:42):
direction.
You know how we were justsaying that she had kind of
taken Leti's advice and findsher own way.
That really kind of seemed likeit was out of nowhere.
Did that feel like it was kindof out of nowhere for you, where
she just gets up and leavestown?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Not really.
I feel like that moment whenshe leaves is she feels like she
doesn't have a choice, kind oflike, oh, I'm old, I can't
really stay here.
People will be like who are you, they?
It feels kind of in characterfor her to leave um.
The main um part where Ithought of of letty taking
letty's advice was when sophSophie's mom comes back the
(13:22):
second time.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, yeah, when she comes back when they go back to
the city.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And her mom's like Sophie, you should come live
with us.
And Sophie's like I'm fine here.
I feel like that would havebeen really out of character
because her mom was her familyand she's like come live with me
.
I feel like old sophie wouldhave been like let's go right.
New sophie's like I'm fine here.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
This is where I want to be yeah, well, and she really
did kind of find a family.
I mean, how, how even dictatedthis being family, uh, at one
point where it was probablyabout the goofiest damn found
family you've ever seen, becauseit was, uh, sophie, howell,
heen, markel, uh, the witch ofthe waste.
(14:09):
I mean, just like all thesepeople that you're like wait a
second, where, how, how did allof these people suddenly become
a family?
um, not not to mention themissing prince turnip head right
, yeah, turnip head, uh, he, heshows up too, like, but I mean
it just, it's such such a ragtagfound family that that it feels
(14:31):
weird, but at the same timeyou're like they feel like a
family so but yeah, I mean, andand you could really kind of see
that when she, when she startedworking as a cleaning lady for
Howl, she really did start tojust kind of own it.
This is me and this is what I'mdoing and this is my life and
I'm enjoying every moment of it.
Like I don't know, it was justreally kind of neat and
(14:55):
inspiring.
Now you would put that for ournext talking point you had
Howl's Castle is its complexdesign, both inside and outside.
Now I kind of feel like Howl'sCastle is almost like a
character of its own.
I don't know if I'd use theword complex Like as dirty as
(15:17):
Sophie insists that this thingis.
On the inside it is a goddamnmess.
On the outside it is so badLike the, the the.
The best thing that Sophie saidabout the way that this castle,
this so-called castle, looks iswhen it shows up and she looks
up.
She looks up at it and she goesyou call this thing a castle.
(15:37):
Like that's not what this is,this is, this is somebody
grabbed some some ball of ahouse and rolled it through an
industrial complex and said thisis a castle now and and it's
great, but it still has its owncharacter.
It still has its ownpersonality and at times it even
has a face, which, I mean, thatkind of took me by surprise a
(16:00):
little bit.
I didn't notice that until thelast time I watched it, like
when I watched it this morning.
That was the first time that Inoticed the face.
But uh, I mean, how do you feelabout the castle?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
well, you mentioned how the, the found family, is
just a mishmash of a bunch of ofdifferent people, different
backgrounds.
Well, that kind of feels likethe castle.
Every piece of the castle islike something else.
You can see bits of like woodhouses in there, there's domes
and like exhaust pipes, likeit's just a mishmash of
(16:35):
everything and that's just whatthey become.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It's so cool, but I don't know.
The castle almost kind of makesme a little mad too, that whole
thing where, where Markle or Imean well, anybody really they
go down to the front door andthen they twist that little knob
and then they open the door andthey're wherever they want to
go.
Like I want that yeah.
I really, really want that,because I'm I'm sick of driving
(17:00):
cars after watching this movie.
I want that.
I want that, that teleportationdoor that takes I'm I'm sick of
driving cars after watchingthis movie.
I want that.
I want that, that teleportationdoor that takes me to wherever
I want to go.
Another another talking pointthat I put in here was Howell's
freak out.
Uh, he goes absolutely bat shitcrazy.
Uh, christian Bale, bat shitcrazy.
Um, he, uh, he went.
(17:21):
He went crazy over the factthat she messed around with his
potion bottles in the shower andhe comes running out as a
ginger and he is just so upsetby this.
He ends up collapsing into achair, putting his head in his
hands and his elbows on hisknees, and he just falls into
(17:43):
despair.
This is where we start to see adifferent side of Howell.
We see that he's obsessed withbeing beautiful, and I think we
also kind of find that ourunderstanding of Howell is a
little bit backwards, because sofar, up to this point, we're
led to believe by all the womenthat we're talking in town
around Sophie at the beginningof the movie, that he only goes
(18:04):
for beautiful women and only themost beautiful of women, that
he's cold.
But now we see a vulnerableside of him where we see that
he's really more concerned abouthis beauty and that, aside from
that, he's quite kind.
He's not near as cold as whatyou're led to believe.
I don't know how did you takethat first vulnerable moment
(18:29):
from hell?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So the first time we see him he steps in and saves
Sophie from two guards that arejust kind of being a little too
insistent.
And he's just calm.
He's just so calm and he's likewhere shall I be taking you in?
In the most gentle and kindestvoice that you've ever heard.
So then, when we get to thisfreak out.
(18:51):
He screams, he's runningdownstairs, he's in the panic.
It's just, it's kind of funnyto to see these two different
sides.
It's like a different, adifferent coin right, the calm
side, and then the oh my god,what do I do?
Why did this happen?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
like ah and it really seems to upset sophie quite a
bit because she left the houselike she left the castle at that
point when, when he came downand he started freaking out and
everything, if I remember, rightturnip head is the one that
kind of comes in and gets her tokind of go back into the house
and then he's covered in thatgreen goo.
The way that I kind ofinterpreted the green goo is
(19:33):
that it's kind of a it's it'salmost kind of a physical
representation of depression.
The reason why I felt like thatis because depression is kind
of a slippery sort of mentalhealth condition where it's
really hard to get a handle on.
It makes everything just feelheavy, distorted, sluggish, and
you and everything just feelsdirty.
(19:54):
Watching this, just just thefeeling that I got off of
watching her try to pull him upout of that chair, carry him up
the stairs which, by the way,when his towel fell off, in that
expression she had, that was,that was priceless, but um, but
the whole, the whole thing, justit just felt like this is
(20:14):
depression and that is exactlywhat this green goo is there to
represent.
Did you kind of feel the sameway about it, or?
Or?
Or did you kind of interpretthat a different way?
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You, you make a good point with the, the
representation of depression.
I never thought of it like that, just heavy and almost oozing
out where, where there was likea layer of protection, and then
the moment it got cracked, yeah,it broke and fell apart, and so
did Howl.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, that's.
I don't know.
Maybe that's something that Ican get some of my listeners to
comment is kind of how theyinterpret it the green goo.
We'll see what everybody elsethinks.
Next we have on here is a pointthat you had put in Howl's room
All the colors and detailsinside.
(21:04):
Tell me about yourinterpretation of Howl's room.
All the colors and detailsinside.
Tell me about yourinterpretation of Howl's room.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
There's a lot of very shiny things very pretty and
shiny and when I first saw thisit's like is Howl a crow?
Because crows are known forcollecting shiny things.
They like things that sparkleand they collect them, and this
feels like what how's room is.
It's just his nest, where hebrings everything that he loves,
(21:28):
the beautiful, shiny thingsthat he wants to keep close to
him there's another bird thatdoes that, owls.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's kind of where I went.
Was that?
Because owls will, will hoard,like owls are like a real world
version of a dragon.
They go out and they findthings and they hoard it and I
mean the the difference is isthat with owls it's it can be
anything, it can be, like I meanthey could find a cat bone and
that'll be good enough for them,you know, to be to be treasure.
(21:57):
But I mean it's it's kind ofthe same premise really.
Owls and crows both collectthings and keep, keep them in
their den.
I'm kind of glad we we wereabout on the same page.
They're just two different outor two different birds.
Um, we kind of already talkedabout heen, a little bit the dog
, as the comic relief,especially the comic relief part
(22:17):
, where when they were leavingthe castle, when they were
leaving the king's castle, andheen comes flying in with those
ears.
I don't know why Sophie didn'tat some point just be like wait
a second, you could fly thiswhole time.
You asshole.
You made me carry you up thosestairs, but you could fly this
whole time Like it's just, it'sgreat.
Now, this, this one was onethat I was kind of actually
(22:39):
really looking forward togetting to Um.
When.
Looking forward to getting toum when, when I read your notes
the uh, the valley of theflowers scene you have down here
that this is one of yourfavorite scenes for for sophie
and howell.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Tell me about that so how takes her here?
And it's like, sophie, I wantyou to have this place.
You could open up a flower shopyou can come here to, to relax
and rest, and it's, it'sbeautiful and it's a beautiful
gift, and it feels like howbeing like?
When I think of this valley, Ialmost think of you, or I do
think of you.
This is for the beautiful girlthat I love.
(23:12):
Kind of like, um, it almostfeels like the same as beast
giving bell the library oh right, yeah, yeah, well, and what a
gift.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I mean I don't know anything about the magic
involved with it or whatever,but like she can go there
whenever she wants.
I don't know where that Valleyexists in real life.
Like I mean, is that someplacewhere she might run into other
people, travelers or settlers orwhatever, like you know
whatever, but if it's untouchedand it's hers alone, then wow,
(23:48):
what a gift.
That's so incredible.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
They didn't run into people, though, but they did see
a battleship flying overhead.
They did see a battleship.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, I do remember now that that's where they were
when they saw the battleship.
Oh, that could have had somebad stuff happen.
Would have made the story alittle bit different, though I
think I'm kind of glad they leftit alone.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Mostly.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess I kind of feel like theValley of the Flowers kind of.
I feel like there's somethingdeeper there that just went past
me, like that it somehowrepresents Howl past me, like
that it that it somehowrepresents howell, um, and that
it it somehow represents howelland sophie's relationship.
I just don't really know how,like I I wasn't able to put it
(24:33):
together.
I just I just got this generalfeeling about it and I couldn't
really put it together.
Do you, do you?
have any insight on that uh,howell's past was.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That was where he caught calcifer and calcifer
took his heart oh right how?
How gave calcifer his heart?
I don't know.
There's it's.
It just requires a lot ofthinking.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's a very yeah, there's, there's something there
like I, I don't know what it is.
There is something there.
Maybe, maybe, if I do thispodcast for 30 years, that it'll
come around again and somebodywill have some insight on it.
But I, I, just I there's,there's something that feels
like there's.
There's something moreimportant about the Valley of
the Flowers there that I cannotfigure out.
I've seen this movie a total, agrand total, of four times since
(25:17):
2004.
Um, the the first time, I think, was in like 2008,.
I don't remember any of it fromthen, and so I've watched it
three times in the last twoweeks, uh, once in Japanese.
All three times, uh, that thatI've watched it.
I've like there's, there'ssomething more about this Valley
(25:39):
of the Flowers that I'm justnot seeing.
If somebody has seen, seen thisscene, seen the scene, uh, and
and kind of figured that out,like tell me what it is, because
I'm, I'm, I've been racking mybrain over it for a couple of
weeks now and I still can'tfigure it out.
The next talking point you haveon here is Sophie's hair, why
it never changes, uh, why itnever changes back to brown and
(26:02):
instead stays silver.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I feel like it represents Sophie not being able
to go back to who she was.
It represents her transitionfrom the old Sophie to who she
is now.
She can never go back to beingthe same person because she's
been through everything, she'slived a very different life as
an old woman and she just has adifferent perspective now and
(26:29):
found somebody that thinks she'sbeautiful and who loves her.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And who makes her happy.
I mean, on some level, I thinkthat's kind of the thing that is
kind of a draw for humans ingeneral is just somebody that
makes them happy, and that'sreally what the story is.
I think Howell finds her in thebeginning and she's young and
she doesn't think much ofherself at all.
Um, and then she gets made oldby the, by the witch of the
(26:57):
waste.
I think that she believes thatHowell has no idea who she is.
I think that Howell knowsexactly who she is and he
doesn't care.
He just has her there with himand that makes him happy.
And despite who she is, whatshe looks like, all of that
stuff, this is still the personthat he decides that he wants to
(27:18):
have at home with him to makehim happy.
Then they start to break thespell.
And yeah, I think you're right.
I think that that silver hair iskind of representative of a lot
of those, a lot of thatself-doubt and self-loathing
that she had when she wasyounger being gone, goes away,
like the color of her hair, andwhat you're left with is this
(27:40):
you know, brilliantly colored,silvered hair that almost shows
like a like, that almost showslike a new Sophie, even though
silver hair is usuallyrepresentative of an old person.
So in here we're kind oftalking about the.
You know, as things get towardsthe end here, sophie goes back
to her normal, younger body, butwith the silver hair, and then,
(28:02):
as you put it, we kind of getthe, the ending that everybody
wants talk about that it'speaceful, they, they rebuild and
the flying castle now kind offeels like they've joined the
stars, which how does refer toher hair like starlight.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And calcifer, I believe, is kind of a fallen
star himself, as we see him falland land in Howl's hands.
But we see Calcifer there in anew fireplace, we see the Witch
of the Woods sitting Markle'sthere, he's having fun, and then
there's Sophie and Howl sittingon a balcony and then they kiss
(28:40):
and it's just peaceful.
It seems like they're enjoyinglife.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It's almost like the twilight of life, where two
people get to be the two peopletogether and they don't have
anybody to answer to, they justhave the rest of their lives
ahead of them.
Yeah, it really is just kind ofa beautiful scene.
I mean, not to mention thatanimation and that whole ending
part.
Actually everything, I thinkreally everything, from dropping
the castle to make it fallapart, animation and that whole
ending part.
Actually everything, I thinkreally everything from from
(29:05):
dropping the castle to make itfall apart and then calcifer
reviving a very small version ofthe castle, everything from
that point on the rest of themovie is astounding.
Animation.
I couldn't imagine working on ateam doing that kind of art for
that much time, and howdemanding that would be.
Oh, not, not a job for this guy.
(29:29):
So now, now we kind of get intoactive ingredient territory.
Active ingredients are kind ofyou know, whatever, any, any
part of this movie that washealing for you, that was, that
was medicinal for you, thatchanged your perspective,
changed your mind on something,made you better, uh, anything
that it could even be catharsis,anything, anything about this
(29:51):
that was medicinal for you.
What was your active ingredient?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
probably the topic of beauty, how beauty is not
always what it seems.
I think society has deemed onething to be beautiful and it's
like no, everything is beautiful.
There's beauty in everythingand that's what sophie kind of
learns is everything isbeautiful, including myself.
(30:17):
Sophie starts out being likeI'm not beautiful, I don't, I
don't look like what people wantand stuff like that.
And then Howell comes along andhe's like Sophie, I love you,
you're beautiful to me.
And Sophie learns it reallydoesn't matter how I look to
other people, as long as I lovemyself and I love the people
around me who think I'mbeautiful.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It kind of reminds me of I did an episode on the Last
Samurai.
Have you ever seen that thesamurai was talking to Tom
Cruise and he was telling himthat a perfect cherry blossom is
a rare thing.
You could spend your whole lifelooking for one and it wouldn't
be a wasted life.
It all came to a point wherethe samurai realized that all of
(31:01):
the cherry blossoms are perfect.
It gives me the same kind offlavor as that.
I really appreciate that.
For me, uh, for me, not notquite so deep my, the active
ingredient for me was, uh, Iwatched, I watched Sophie have a
little bit of a freak out aboutbeing old, right at the
beginning, right, and, and afterthat she just kind of seemed to
(31:24):
accept it and go with the flow.
I turned 40 this year.
I've been kind of feeling mymortality a little bit like in
in a really weird way, not likeI don't even know that it's like
midlife crisis sort of way, butlike, but there there are
definitely times where I startto think to myself as I'm, as
I'm thinking about things that Iwant to do or or pursue or
(31:46):
whatever.
I think to myself that I don'thave as long to do those things,
as I always used to think.
Watching Sophie just go withbeing old and that being old
didn't mean you have to bemiserable it kind of makes me
embrace my age and think of itkind of in the way that that I
can go into the second half ofmy life with some power in my
stride.
Cause she did.
(32:07):
She definitely did Like she.
She went from being a youngwoman to an old woman in no time
and and yet she was.
She was going to travel acrossthe countryside.
Nothing was going to stop her,and so that's kind of what.
That's kind of what I took fromit was just because I'm 40
doesn't mean that I can't learnhow to do new things, that I
can't learn to do those thingsthat that I always wanted to,
(32:30):
and that I still have plenty oftime.
I don't know.
That's that's just kind of whatI took from it.
Uh, anyway, thank you, chrissy,it was great having you on.
Yeah, um, do you have anythingyou want to plug?
Any social stuff like maybe, uh, senior hamster travels?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
senior hamster travels on instagram yep all
right, is there?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I don't know how you do it on instagram.
Is it like a?
Is it just simply seniorhamster travels?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
uh, yes, I believe so so what is that?
Um, a hamster doing goofythings.
If I see something funny, it'slike get the hamster get a photo
.
This past one I did.
They had a criminal justicesetup at PCC that had a
mannequin on the floor andsenior hamster's just like dang
(33:22):
college is weird.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
But he's based off of Tiny Hamster Tales.
That's a talking hamster justbeing annoying to everybody
around him.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
That's awesome.
But yes, thank you for being on.
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Now, if you have a movie that's been medicine for
you and you'd like to be on theshow, you can email me at
contact at movie-rxcom.
You can also leave a voicemailor text me at 402-519-5790.
If anxiety is what's keepingyou from coming on, you can
write me a couple of paragraphsabout a movie and I can read
them on air.
Remember, this movie is notintended to treat, cure or
(34:03):
prevent any disease, and we'llsee you at the next appointment.
So Thank you.
Hello and welcome to MovieRx, where I prescribe
entertainment, one movie at atime.
I'm your host, Dr Benjamin MD.
What does the MD stand for?
Um moving doctor?
I don't know, I'm lazy about ittoday.
Anyway, today I bring onanother new guest, one whose
(00:41):
birthday suddenly made me makesense as a middle child.
Today, my guest is my littlesister, Chrissy.
Welcome, Chrissy.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So this movie.
This movie took me a while tosee.
Oddly, I resisted it.
Despite that, it's StudioGhibli.
Today we talk about Howl'sMoving Castle and a little bit
of basic info about this oneStudio Ghibli film released in
2004.
Directed actually justcompletely made.
(01:11):
Written and directed by thegreat and mighty Hayao Miyazaki.
Stars Christian Bale, emilyMortimer and Billy Crystal of
all people.
That was kind of a strange oneto see on here.
The IMDB description on thisone is tell me what you think of
this one.
If you think this one fits.
When an unconfident young womanis cursed with an old body by a
(01:34):
spiteful witch, her only chanceof breaking the spell lies in a
self-indulgent yet insecureyoung wizard and his companions
in his legged walking castle.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That one's a pretty good description, I guess.
Really like everything StudioGhibli, it's kind of hard not to
just get it right the firsttime.
How familiar are you withStudio Ghibli?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I know a few of the movies they've made, like Ponyo
and Spirited Away, are much morepopular.
They're the more well-knownones, right?
But I think the part that mostpeople like about it is the art
style.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yes, just how it flows and moves yeah, the I
think the studio ghibli kind ofhas its, has its signature
everywhere.
I mean the animation style,even everything, just from the
smoke to liquids to you.
You know, uh, the way thatpeople react and and their,
their expressions, and I meanall the way, all the way down to
(02:30):
the music.
Even like everything aboutstudio Ghibli films, you watch
it and you just know, and a lotof those things are the things
that I kind of like to talkabout.
First is in, like, rather thana touchy sort of way, I like to
talk about the kind of thetechnical stuff with the movie
and like I'll go first on thisone.
So animation it's good.
(02:50):
As always with Studio Ghiblifilms, there's not a lot of
hang-ups, not a lot of goofyextra animation, you know, curly
cues when people get bonked onthe head and all those stupid
goofy things.
Music, again, is what you'dexpect from a Miyazaki film, Joe
Hasaishi directing the newJapanese Philharmonic.
I mean, I don't know that itgets any more incredible than
(03:14):
that for anime.
And the story the story ismoving, Even if it is a little
kind of confusing, I think, formost American viewers.
I think a lot of the timeStudio Ghibli films tend to be a
little bit of out of reach forsome people, but even then it
was still moving, even from avery simple standpoint.
(03:36):
Voice acting, I mean ChristianBale.
He only did the Batman voiceonce, that I remember.
What are your general feelingson the movie?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
The animation, the scenery is very full, and that's
something that I think someanimation lacks is it doesn't
have color and detail andnegative space of just random
things, so it makes thebackground just full.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah Well, and Jen pointed out to me I didn't
really notice it because I'mreally horrible about noticing
those kind of things with art,like with especially animation,
the textures.
There is nothing withouttexture in this movie.
Everything from the backgroundsto the foregrounds to the
people in it, I mean absolutelyeverything has a texture that
(04:23):
you can almost, you almost feellike you can just imagine what,
what the things feel like, andthere's lots of questions, like,
like you had said, with thenegative space there's.
There's things that like it'salmost like they didn't draw
anything, but your mind puts therest of it in Um, just really
really good stuff.
Uh, in the art, what about thestory?
What?
(04:43):
What did you kind of feel aboutthe story?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
just kind of in general, the story is confusing
and I'm sure that the book it isbased off of a book clears a
lot more of it up probably Idon't care that the story makes
doesn't make sense.
It's.
It's good.
It has good characters andflows.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Like you said, it moves well, and I think I think
another like really cool thingto think about with it is that,
especially with the way thatit's animated and and kind of
the, the style of the area thatthey're in you, you could almost
imagine that this is a worldwhere hogwarts exists, like
wizards are just a thing thatpeople know are there, but it's
(05:21):
like but there's a few of them,um, it almost feels like an
english, like an old englishtype of of area and everything.
I mean they, they answer to aking, you know, and all this
other stuff.
So I mean it, it's almost likeI I wonder if the book was kind
of was was like another versionof, like harry potter.
I haven't read the book forthis movie.
(05:42):
Have you read this one?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Not yet, but I want to yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now on this one, I actually have a big list of
characters and everything butthe last couple episodes I've
recorded.
I've actually really just likedtalking about the favorite
characters, so I'll let you gofirst.
Tell me about one of yourfavorite characters.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Dean the dog.
He's so silly the the way theyanimate him is.
He.
Is that comic relief?
Yes, he's a joke of a characterand I love him for it.
His animation he's just like afloppy little puddle on the
ground half the time and I lovethat about him and he, and he
(06:24):
doesn't have to say a word.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He's goofy as shit and it can be anything from just
a little wolf to a course Idon't know I'm.
I'm a little weirded out by it.
Almost looks like he haschicken feet.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It does, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
It's so goofy to me.
I'm like ah, that's a dog withchicken feet would suddenly make
me be like no, I don't likedogs anymore, but I'm glad that
dogs don't actually have chickenfeet.
I'm just saying if I had topick a uh, pick a very, very
favorite character, I think I'dhave to go with calcifer.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
He's such an interesting character.
I love how how Billy Crystalbrings the personality of a fire
to life in a way that I didn'tthink that Billy Crystal could
ever bring fire to life, but hesure does.
Like, uh, I mean, when he gets,when he gets all roared up and
angry and he starts yelling, he,he just embodies that that
(07:18):
roaring flame.
And and when he cowers and andmakes that that quiet little
voice as he does when he'shelpless and getting ready to go
out, uh, you know, there's justthere's so many fun things
about it that really cameforward with this character and
the fact that he is not only theheart of the castle as it moves
(07:39):
, because the castle cannot movewithout Calcifer.
If he goes out, then the castledoesn't move anymore.
But we also find out later thatif he goes out that could be
devastating for Howl, becauseHowl's heart is in Calcifer.
So it was just a reallyinteresting dynamic seeing how
(08:01):
some of those things made somuch more sense, Like some of
the interactions that he hadwith Calcifer, that Howell had
with Calcifer, like especiallylike after his hair turned red
and all of that stuff, Like someof those things were.
When they kind of came togetherit made a lot more sense after
you find out that Howell's heartis within this little fire
demon, and I really enjoyed kindof the way that connections
(08:24):
were made there.
Tell me about another one ofyour favorites definitely sophie
yeah she's nice and kind oftimid.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
She's also very caring and just an all-around
really good character.
She.
I love the moment when she getsreally, really angry.
And uh, markel, how a littlehelper tells a customer there's
an angry witch on a rampage.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And is that when she was cleaning?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, yeah, and telling all the all the bugs and
mice to you better get out ofhere before I bite your little
heads off.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, that was, uh, that was a lot of fun.
Uh, sophie, I, if you didn'tpick Sophie as your, as your
next favorite, then I definitelywas.
Um, there's, there's a lot ofinteresting things about Sophie,
and some of the things I kindof want to talk about, cause I'm
I'm not sure that I fullyunderstand, and I'm wondering if
maybe you do, but there'sthere's so many different facets
(09:21):
to Sophie, uh.
The the best about it, though,is that, from the time that
she's making a hat at the verybeginning of the movie, all the
way to getting her job atHowell's Moving Castle is, she
doesn't change at all, despitethe fact that she has this
horrible curse on her that turnsher into an old-ass woman and
(09:42):
everything.
She doesn't change.
She is the same person that sheis, and she doesn't like and
she just.
The only thing that reallychanges is, that is, that she
kind of like deviates off overinto doing what Letty told her
to do.
Her sister her sister told herto, you know, find what makes
her happy, and it was almostlike getting cursed to be old
(10:05):
gave her that permission to doso, which was really cool.
I don't know.
I just I really like, likeSophie's tenacity, just a lot of
fun.
Uh, hopping into the, into thepoints of interest here, the
first one, the first one that uhthat I have down is one that
you had on and that was the uh,sophie's transformation, how she
, how she still looks likeSophie as she ages.
(10:26):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So I think a lot of animation can kind of struggle
with aging characters, makingthem look older, but also
changing them drastically.
Where you're like, are we sure?
This is still the characterthat we're following, but Sophie
still looks like Sophie andeven as she slowly de-ages
(10:48):
throughout the movie, you canstill tell that Sophie, it's
still her.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's really and it is kind of neat how quite a change
.
Right at the beginning Inoticed that, uh, that
especially with Studio Ghiblifilms, they really like to
emphasize how there are certainfacial features that continue
growing as you get old.
Most namely those are your noseand your ears.
They continue growing andgetting bigger as you get old,
(11:18):
even if the rest of your body isshrinking.
So that's why when you look atold people, a lot of the time
they have really large ears andlarge noses.
You remember Grandma teasingabout her big old nose.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Don't.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You don't remember her ever doing that.
She always used to say thisthing to me about how she had
this big old potato nose.
You know old German woman withher big potato nose, you know
old old German woman with withher big potato nose.
But uh, but they, they reallyseem to emphasize that with
studio Ghibli films.
If you take those two thingsaway, those massive ears and the
(11:55):
massive nose, and you reallybring it down, then yeah, you're
right.
I mean it really is just Sophiewith a little uh, with some,
with some extra wrinkles andthings like that.
But when her age does climbback down as the movie continues
, when she starts to come backto her normal age, sort of
because she still has the silverhair at the end, yes.
(12:18):
Yeah.
So I mean her, she, she kind ofcomes almost back completely to
herself.
She, she still looks just thesame and there are times in the
movie where you're like wait asecond, is she old?
Is she old right now?
Or is she not old right now,like it's?
I don't know.
And again, I I've got questionsabout that that I'm hoping
maybe you can answer.
The next talking point I hadwas Sophie going in her own
(12:42):
direction.
You know how we were justsaying that she had kind of
taken Leti's advice and findsher own way.
That really kind of seemed likeit was out of nowhere.
Did that feel like it was kindof out of nowhere for you, where
she just gets up and leavestown?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Not really.
I feel like that moment whenshe leaves is she feels like she
doesn't have a choice, kind oflike, oh, I'm old, I can't
really stay here.
People will be like who are you, they?
It feels kind of in characterfor her to leave um.
The main um part where Ithought of of letty taking
letty's advice was when sophSophie's mom comes back the
(13:22):
second time.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, yeah, when she comes back when they go back to
the city.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And her mom's like Sophie, you should come live
with us.
And Sophie's like I'm fine here.
I feel like that would havebeen really out of character
because her mom was her familyand she's like come live with me
.
I feel like old sophie wouldhave been like let's go right.
New sophie's like I'm fine here.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
This is where I want to be yeah, well, and she really
did kind of find a family.
I mean, how, how even dictatedthis being family, uh, at one
point where it was probablyabout the goofiest damn found
family you've ever seen, becauseit was, uh, sophie, howell,
heen, markel, uh, the witch ofthe waste.
(14:09):
I mean, just like all thesepeople that you're like wait a
second, where, how, how did allof these people suddenly become
a family?
um, not not to mention themissing prince turnip head right
, yeah, turnip head, uh, he, heshows up too, like, but I mean
it just, it's such such a ragtagfound family that that it feels
(14:31):
weird, but at the same timeyou're like they feel like a
family so but yeah, I mean, andand you could really kind of see
that when she, when she startedworking as a cleaning lady for
Howl, she really did start tojust kind of own it.
This is me and this is what I'mdoing and this is my life and
I'm enjoying every moment of it.
Like I don't know, it was justreally kind of neat and
(14:55):
inspiring.
Now you would put that for ournext talking point you had
Howl's Castle is its complexdesign, both inside and outside.
Now I kind of feel like Howl'sCastle is almost like a
character of its own.
I don't know if I'd use theword complex Like as dirty as
(15:17):
Sophie insists that this thingis.
On the inside it is a goddamnmess.
On the outside it is so badLike the, the the.
The best thing that Sophie saidabout the way that this castle,
this so-called castle, looks iswhen it shows up and she looks
up.
She looks up at it and she goesyou call this thing a castle.
(15:37):
Like that's not what this is,this is, this is somebody
grabbed some some ball of ahouse and rolled it through an
industrial complex and said thisis a castle now and and it's
great, but it still has its owncharacter.
It still has its ownpersonality and at times it even
has a face, which, I mean, thatkind of took me by surprise a
(16:00):
little bit.
I didn't notice that until thelast time I watched it, like
when I watched it this morning.
That was the first time that Inoticed the face.
But uh, I mean, how do you feelabout the castle?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
well, you mentioned how the, the found family, is
just a mishmash of a bunch of ofdifferent people, different
backgrounds.
Well, that kind of feels likethe castle.
Every piece of the castle islike something else.
You can see bits of like woodhouses in there, there's domes
and like exhaust pipes, likeit's just a mishmash of
(16:35):
everything and that's just whatthey become.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It's so cool, but I don't know.
The castle almost kind of makesme a little mad too, that whole
thing where, where Markle or Imean well, anybody really they
go down to the front door andthen they twist that little knob
and then they open the door andthey're wherever they want to
go.
Like I want that yeah.
I really, really want that,because I'm I'm sick of driving
(17:00):
cars after watching this movie.
I want that.
I want that, that teleportationdoor that takes I'm I'm sick of
driving cars after watchingthis movie.
I want that.
I want that, that teleportationdoor that takes me to wherever
I want to go.
Another another talking pointthat I put in here was Howell's
freak out.
Uh, he goes absolutely bat shitcrazy.
Uh, christian Bale, bat shitcrazy.
Um, he, uh, he went.
(17:21):
He went crazy over the factthat she messed around with his
potion bottles in the shower andhe comes running out as a
ginger and he is just so upsetby this.
He ends up collapsing into achair, putting his head in his
hands and his elbows on hisknees, and he just falls into
(17:43):
despair.
This is where we start to see adifferent side of Howell.
We see that he's obsessed withbeing beautiful, and I think we
also kind of find that ourunderstanding of Howell is a
little bit backwards, because sofar, up to this point, we're
led to believe by all the womenthat we're talking in town
around Sophie at the beginningof the movie, that he only goes
(18:04):
for beautiful women and only themost beautiful of women, that
he's cold.
But now we see a vulnerableside of him where we see that
he's really more concerned abouthis beauty and that, aside from
that, he's quite kind.
He's not near as cold as whatyou're led to believe.
I don't know how did you takethat first vulnerable moment
(18:29):
from hell?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So the first time we see him he steps in and saves
Sophie from two guards that arejust kind of being a little too
insistent.
And he's just calm.
He's just so calm and he's likewhere shall I be taking you in?
In the most gentle and kindestvoice that you've ever heard.
So then, when we get to thisfreak out.
(18:51):
He screams, he's runningdownstairs, he's in the panic.
It's just, it's kind of funnyto to see these two different
sides.
It's like a different, adifferent coin right, the calm
side, and then the oh my god,what do I do?
Why did this happen?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
like ah and it really seems to upset sophie quite a
bit because she left the houselike she left the castle at that
point when, when he came downand he started freaking out and
everything, if I remember, rightturnip head is the one that
kind of comes in and gets her tokind of go back into the house
and then he's covered in thatgreen goo.
The way that I kind ofinterpreted the green goo is
(19:33):
that it's kind of a it's it'salmost kind of a physical
representation of depression.
The reason why I felt like thatis because depression is kind
of a slippery sort of mentalhealth condition where it's
really hard to get a handle on.
It makes everything just feelheavy, distorted, sluggish, and
you and everything just feelsdirty.
(19:54):
Watching this, just just thefeeling that I got off of
watching her try to pull him upout of that chair, carry him up
the stairs which, by the way,when his towel fell off, in that
expression she had, that was,that was priceless, but um, but
the whole, the whole thing, justit just felt like this is
(20:14):
depression and that is exactlywhat this green goo is there to
represent.
Did you kind of feel the sameway about it, or?
Or?
Or did you kind of interpretthat a different way?
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You, you make a good point with the, the
representation of depression.
I never thought of it like that, just heavy and almost oozing
out where, where there was likea layer of protection, and then
the moment it got cracked, yeah,it broke and fell apart, and so
did Howl.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, that's.
I don't know.
Maybe that's something that Ican get some of my listeners to
comment is kind of how theyinterpret it the green goo.
We'll see what everybody elsethinks.
Next we have on here is a pointthat you had put in Howl's room
All the colors and detailsinside.
(21:04):
Tell me about yourinterpretation of Howl's room.
All the colors and detailsinside.
Tell me about yourinterpretation of Howl's room.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
There's a lot of very shiny things very pretty and
shiny and when I first saw thisit's like is Howl a crow?
Because crows are known forcollecting shiny things.
They like things that sparkleand they collect them, and this
feels like what how's room is.
It's just his nest, where hebrings everything that he loves,
(21:28):
the beautiful, shiny thingsthat he wants to keep close to
him there's another bird thatdoes that, owls.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's kind of where I went.
Was that?
Because owls will, will hoard,like owls are like a real world
version of a dragon.
They go out and they findthings and they hoard it and I
mean the the difference is isthat with owls it's it can be
anything, it can be, like I meanthey could find a cat bone and
that'll be good enough for them,you know, to be to be treasure.
(21:57):
But I mean it's it's kind ofthe same premise really.
Owls and crows both collectthings and keep, keep them in
their den.
I'm kind of glad we we wereabout on the same page.
They're just two different outor two different birds.
Um, we kind of already talkedabout heen, a little bit the dog
, as the comic relief,especially the comic relief part
(22:17):
, where when they were leavingthe castle, when they were
leaving the king's castle, andheen comes flying in with those
ears.
I don't know why Sophie didn'tat some point just be like wait
a second, you could fly thiswhole time.
You asshole.
You made me carry you up thosestairs, but you could fly this
whole time Like it's just, it'sgreat.
Now, this, this one was onethat I was kind of actually
(22:39):
really looking forward togetting to Um.
When.
Looking forward to getting toum when, when I read your notes
the uh, the valley of theflowers scene you have down here
that this is one of yourfavorite scenes for for sophie
and howell.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Tell me about that so how takes her here?
And it's like, sophie, I wantyou to have this place.
You could open up a flower shopyou can come here to, to relax
and rest, and it's, it'sbeautiful and it's a beautiful
gift, and it feels like howbeing like?
When I think of this valley, Ialmost think of you, or I do
think of you.
This is for the beautiful girlthat I love.
(23:12):
Kind of like, um, it almostfeels like the same as beast
giving bell the library oh right, yeah, yeah, well, and what a
gift.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I mean I don't know anything about the magic
involved with it or whatever,but like she can go there
whenever she wants.
I don't know where that Valleyexists in real life.
Like I mean, is that someplacewhere she might run into other
people, travelers or settlers orwhatever, like you know
whatever, but if it's untouchedand it's hers alone, then wow,
(23:48):
what a gift.
That's so incredible.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
They didn't run into people, though, but they did see
a battleship flying overhead.
They did see a battleship.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, I do remember now that that's where they were
when they saw the battleship.
Oh, that could have had somebad stuff happen.
Would have made the story alittle bit different, though I
think I'm kind of glad they leftit alone.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Mostly.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess I kind of feel like theValley of the Flowers kind of.
I feel like there's somethingdeeper there that just went past
me, like that it somehowrepresents Howl past me, like
that it that it somehowrepresents howell, um, and that
it it somehow represents howelland sophie's relationship.
I just don't really know how,like I I wasn't able to put it
(24:33):
together.
I just I just got this generalfeeling about it and I couldn't
really put it together.
Do you, do you?
have any insight on that uh,howell's past was.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
That was where he caught calcifer and calcifer
took his heart oh right how?
How gave calcifer his heart?
I don't know.
There's it's.
It just requires a lot ofthinking.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's a very yeah, there's, there's something there
like I, I don't know what it is.
There is something there.
Maybe, maybe, if I do thispodcast for 30 years, that it'll
come around again and somebodywill have some insight on it.
But I, I, just I there's,there's something that feels
like there's.
There's something moreimportant about the Valley of
the Flowers there that I cannotfigure out.
I've seen this movie a total, agrand total, of four times since
(25:17):
2004.
Um, the the first time, I think, was in like 2008,.
I don't remember any of it fromthen, and so I've watched it
three times in the last twoweeks, uh, once in Japanese.
All three times, uh, that thatI've watched it.
I've like there's, there'ssomething more about this Valley
(25:39):
of the Flowers that I'm justnot seeing.
If somebody has seen, seen thisscene, seen the scene, uh, and
and kind of figured that out,like tell me what it is, because
I'm, I'm, I've been racking mybrain over it for a couple of
weeks now and I still can'tfigure it out.
The next talking point you haveon here is Sophie's hair, why
it never changes, uh, why itnever changes back to brown and
(26:02):
instead stays silver.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I feel like it represents Sophie not being able
to go back to who she was.
It represents her transitionfrom the old Sophie to who she
is now.
She can never go back to beingthe same person because she's
been through everything, she'slived a very different life as
an old woman and she just has adifferent perspective now and
(26:29):
found somebody that thinks she'sbeautiful and who loves her.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And who makes her happy.
I mean, on some level, I thinkthat's kind of the thing that is
kind of a draw for humans ingeneral is just somebody that
makes them happy, and that'sreally what the story is.
I think Howell finds her in thebeginning and she's young and
she doesn't think much ofherself at all.
Um, and then she gets made oldby the, by the witch of the
(26:57):
waste.
I think that she believes thatHowell has no idea who she is.
I think that Howell knowsexactly who she is and he
doesn't care.
He just has her there with himand that makes him happy.
And despite who she is, whatshe looks like, all of that
stuff, this is still the personthat he decides that he wants to
(27:18):
have at home with him to makehim happy.
Then they start to break thespell.
And yeah, I think you're right.
I think that that silver hair iskind of representative of a lot
of those, a lot of thatself-doubt and self-loathing
that she had when she wasyounger being gone, goes away,
like the color of her hair, andwhat you're left with is this
(27:40):
you know, brilliantly colored,silvered hair that almost shows
like a like, that almost showslike a new Sophie, even though
silver hair is usuallyrepresentative of an old person.
So in here we're kind oftalking about the.
You know, as things get towardsthe end here, sophie goes back
to her normal, younger body, butwith the silver hair, and then,
(28:02):
as you put it, we kind of getthe, the ending that everybody
wants talk about that it'speaceful, they, they rebuild and
the flying castle now kind offeels like they've joined the
stars, which how does refer toher hair like starlight.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And calcifer, I believe, is kind of a fallen
star himself, as we see him falland land in Howl's hands.
But we see Calcifer there in anew fireplace, we see the Witch
of the Woods sitting Markle'sthere, he's having fun, and then
there's Sophie and Howl sittingon a balcony and then they kiss
(28:40):
and it's just peaceful.
It seems like they're enjoyinglife.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It's almost like the twilight of life, where two
people get to be the two peopletogether and they don't have
anybody to answer to, they justhave the rest of their lives
ahead of them.
Yeah, it really is just kind ofa beautiful scene.
I mean, not to mention thatanimation and that whole ending
part.
Actually everything, I thinkreally everything, from dropping
the castle to make it fallapart, animation and that whole
ending part.
Actually everything, I thinkreally everything from from
(29:05):
dropping the castle to make itfall apart and then calcifer
reviving a very small version ofthe castle, everything from
that point on the rest of themovie is astounding.
Animation.
I couldn't imagine working on ateam doing that kind of art for
that much time, and howdemanding that would be.
Oh, not, not a job for this guy.
(29:29):
So now, now we kind of get intoactive ingredient territory.
Active ingredients are kind ofyou know, whatever, any, any
part of this movie that washealing for you, that was, that
was medicinal for you, thatchanged your perspective,
changed your mind on something,made you better, uh, anything
that it could even be catharsis,anything, anything about this
(29:51):
that was medicinal for you.
What was your active ingredient?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
probably the topic of beauty, how beauty is not
always what it seems.
I think society has deemed onething to be beautiful and it's
like no, everything is beautiful.
There's beauty in everythingand that's what sophie kind of
learns is everything isbeautiful, including myself.
(30:17):
Sophie starts out being likeI'm not beautiful, I don't, I
don't look like what people wantand stuff like that.
And then Howell comes along andhe's like Sophie, I love you,
you're beautiful to me.
And Sophie learns it reallydoesn't matter how I look to
other people, as long as I lovemyself and I love the people
around me who think I'mbeautiful.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It kind of reminds me of I did an episode on the Last
Samurai.
Have you ever seen that thesamurai was talking to Tom
Cruise and he was telling himthat a perfect cherry blossom is
a rare thing.
You could spend your whole lifelooking for one and it wouldn't
be a wasted life.
It all came to a point wherethe samurai realized that all of
(31:01):
the cherry blossoms are perfect.
It gives me the same kind offlavor as that.
I really appreciate that.
For me, uh, for me, not notquite so deep my, the active
ingredient for me was, uh, Iwatched, I watched Sophie have a
little bit of a freak out aboutbeing old, right at the
beginning, right, and, and afterthat she just kind of seemed to
(31:24):
accept it and go with the flow.
I turned 40 this year.
I've been kind of feeling mymortality a little bit like in
in a really weird way, not likeI don't even know that it's like
midlife crisis sort of way, butlike, but there there are
definitely times where I startto think to myself as I'm, as
I'm thinking about things that Iwant to do or or pursue or
(31:46):
whatever.
I think to myself that I don'thave as long to do those things,
as I always used to think.
Watching Sophie just go withbeing old and that being old
didn't mean you have to bemiserable it kind of makes me
embrace my age and think of itkind of in the way that that I
can go into the second half ofmy life with some power in my
stride.
Cause she did.
(32:07):
She definitely did Like she.
She went from being a youngwoman to an old woman in no time
and and yet she was.
She was going to travel acrossthe countryside.
Nothing was going to stop her,and so that's kind of what.
That's kind of what I took fromit was just because I'm 40
doesn't mean that I can't learnhow to do new things, that I
can't learn to do those thingsthat that I always wanted to,
(32:30):
and that I still have plenty oftime.
I don't know.
That's that's just kind of whatI took from it.
Uh, anyway, thank you, chrissy,it was great having you on.
Yeah, um, do you have anythingyou want to plug?
Any social stuff like maybe, uh, senior hamster travels?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
senior hamster travels on instagram yep all
right, is there?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I don't know how you do it on instagram.
Is it like a?
Is it just simply seniorhamster travels?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
uh, yes, I believe so so what is that?
Um, a hamster doing goofythings.
If I see something funny, it'slike get the hamster get a photo
.
This past one I did.
They had a criminal justicesetup at PCC that had a
mannequin on the floor andsenior hamster's just like dang
(33:22):
college is weird.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
But he's based off of Tiny Hamster Tales.
That's a talking hamster justbeing annoying to everybody
around him.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
That's awesome.
But yes, thank you for being on.
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Now, if you have a movie that's been medicine for
you and you'd like to be on theshow, you can email me at
contact at movie-rxcom.
You can also leave a voicemailor text me at 402-519-5790.
If anxiety is what's keepingyou from coming on, you can
write me a couple of paragraphsabout a movie and I can read
them on air.
Remember, this movie is notintended to treat, cure or
(34:03):
prevent any disease, and we'llsee you at the next appointment.
So Thank you.
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