"Hal's Moving Castle" can actually be regarded as an anti-war film that calls for love and peace, and although the entire film runs through the love story of Sophie and Hal, it actually wants to express much more than that. In fact, careful viewers can find that the Japanese people's enthusiasm and support for the war at the beginning of the film is an allusion to World War II (including the fascist flag in it), and all people in the war are doing everything, even if they lose themselves to win the war. But Hal is different, he lives in the mobile castle to avoid war and the Badland Witch, and also makes up terrible lies so that all people dare not come near him, Sophie and his encounter can really be counted as fate.
Hal can actually be regarded as the "most handsome male protagonist" and "face value bearer" in all of Miyazaki's works. Hal, who has a variety of shapes, is not only a good magician, but also a big boy full of innocence and cuteness at heart. He would be embarrassed to let his hair be stained with potions and be covered in a green, asphalt-like liquid; he would let Sophie pretend to be his mother because he didn't want to go to war and not face his teacher; he loved Sophie and was willing to be brave for her, no matter how she looked. It is worth mentioning that Hal's voice actor is Takuya Kimura... Isn't this really the most perfect male protagonist in history?
And Sophie is really a girl with good qualities, and she deserves Hal's love. In order to live up to her father's expectations, she stayed alone in the hat shop; no matter how good she was to her mother, she was betrayed; even if the Wasteland Witch had turned her into an ugly and old old woman, Sophie did not complain, took care of the Wasteland Witch when she needed to be taken care of most, and rescued her from the palace. Moreover, when he incarnated Hal's mother, he bravely contradicted the teacher, and when Hal was injured all over his body and when he was demonized and fled, he still did not abandon and guarded his side. Why is Sophie and Hal's relationship destined? In the film, Sophie enters Hal's childhood, where she cries out that Hal must wait for her, and Hal does hear it. So it's certainly not a coincidence that Hal saves her at the beginning of the movie, and it is known at the beginning: This is the person I love.
Many viewers should be curious about the story of Hal and the Badland Witch, in fact, there are hints of Hal and the Badland Witch's emotional line. Hal himself once said, "I thought the Wasteland Witch was a very interesting woman, so I took the initiative to go near her, but I didn't expect her to be terrible, so I hid." So, after Hal meets Sophie, the Wasteland Witch turns Sophie into an old lady because she is jealous, in order to hurt Hal's love, and feels that if Sophie becomes old and ugly, Hal will not love her anymore.
And the Wasteland Witch had always stressed that Hal's heart belonged to hers, even when she was stripped of her magic and returned to her actual age and was unconscious. In fact, the Wasteland Witch here does not mean to eat Hal's heart, but she loves Hal, so she wants to get Hal's heart... In the original story, there is indeed an emotional line between the witch and Hal, but Miyazaki deliberately downplayed this point when adapting, and also scandalized the image of the witch.
"Hal's Moving Castle" is indeed an animated film with three views and excellent character design, which is very worth watching. Although a lot of metaphors and foreshadowing are used in the film, it does not affect people of all ages to watch, which can be said to be suitable for all ages. Hal dedicates his heart to the meteor just to make a wish, so that the innocent act is the supreme romance.