But if it wasn't for the Suliman stuff then a lot of the things wouldn't have happened! At least I'm glad it all happened because that gave the excuse for Sophie to visit and give that great speech and for Howl to grab life by the horns and fight for what he believes in *sniff* XDD (totally exaggerating here XD) I see what you mean though, but at the same time I'm glad it's at least there (especially TH). Still not sure about Madame Suliman though. It's as if she was supposed to be an antagonist, but she never really came out as such, only for a few scenes. But other than that it was more focused on Sophie's curse. I don't think it took away THAT much from the main plot, but I see what you're saying. During the scene where Sophie goes, "Find me in the future!" I didn't understand it at first either, I thought it was random, but I had to think about it and realize that since she said that the rest of the movie's events occurred, so that's why I'm glad they at least included some of the things you mentioned.Cerceaux wrote:^I meant like (highlight quote to read spoilers)
The weird time travel element, the war/prince/turniphead, the Madam Suliman stuff, it was just too much going on at once and took the focus away from Sophie and her curse.
I amended my earlier post because I know what you mean. I think because I've seen it so many times now that it's become obvious that there's a war and all that, but I remember first noticing that one line and saying, "Oh, so that's how you find out about the prince/war...Geez, is that how we're supposed to find out?" But that was a while ago. I don't think it's AS preachy or watered down as you say, but I remember being "What? Why's Howl doing this?" at first. The parts that I thought were somewhat preachy though didn't ruin the entire movie for me or affect how I feel about it, and as you said, most of it was excellent and beautiful. The rest of it in my opinion makes up for its shortcomings. At the same time I do enjoy having to guess at what things mean and thinking about the plot. For example, I thought a lot about Calcifer's relationship with Howl because it was so odd and you never truly find out what their contract was. Maybe that could be seen as something jumbled and weird, but I enjoyed coming to my own conclusions. I think I came to my own conclusions about a lot of things in that movie, especially in regards to Madame Suliman, why Markle is there, the prince situation, the origins of Calcifer, and why the castle is moving in the first place... It's a lot of fun for me at least!It's not bad to have a multilayered plot, but it got really jumbled. And the thing with the war is, it's not well-developed, it's just like...there. The first time I watched the movie I didn't even realize what the cause was; it was only on a second viewing that I heard the one line uttered by a background character near the beginning about the kidnapped prince being what started the conflict. I guess for something that does play such a large role in the second half of the film, the conflict should have been fleshed out a little better, but instead it's this watered-down "silly humans with their guns and bombs, when will they ever learn?" thing.
I totally relate to the Witch though I feel like that every time I go up the subway stairs or something XD (Escalators are awesome.)Best part is the stair scene, oh man. Who knew two fat old ladies and a dog climbing a staircase could be so entertaining?
I donno, the more I think about him and see the movie lately, the more I pity him. He's definitely the "bad guy," but at first you only thought about him as a jerk, the usual stuck up jerk you meet in life who thinks he can do whatever he wants. He was funny and c'mon, everyone loves the song "Gaston." That isn't the standard villain song by any means. If anything Beast was the main antagonist during the beginning/middle since he had a temper/a negative attitude since childhood, was holding Belle in the castle and was getting all, "HAVE DINNER WITH ME!!!! YOU DON'T WANT TO? FINE, THEN STAAARRRRRRVEEEEEE " and that's why she ran away in the first half. Maybe since we already knew that Beast and Belle would end up together it made us see Gaston as the obstacle. (I'm really glad Beast and Belle ended up together though~ "Something There" has to be the sweetest song ever!)Oh but Gaston is SUCH a villain dude. xD I agree he's a little more interesting than some of the Disney villains because he's more like a closed-minded jerk than some evil sorcerer cackling at his own evil, but he's definitely the "bad guy" in that movie.