Now, since I saw an english dub instead of a subtitled version, it's always possible that things made sense in the original japanese. While there's that window of possibility, it's highly unlikely that the english script wasn't checked for consistancy with the original dialogue. I've seen dozens of fansubs that made more freaking sense and those are put together by freaking otakus who likely learned japanese from anime and community college language classes.
I should have known this movie would have been a piece of crap though. I really didn't like Princess Mononoke either despite all the people wanking themselves over it when it came out. It was just needless esoteric and self righteous. Hell, I ended up cheering for the humans with the guns to kill all the monsters the entire film. I thought the NRA should have used the film as an educational tool to show people the value of home defense when you're attacked. Spirited Away was equally confusing but at the end, I have no clue what the take home message is supposed to be other than a generalized pollution/development is bad? I can't even be sure.
So how I'm faced with a dilemma. I have Howl's Moving Castle downloaded and ready to view but it's by the same wankjob and I'm not sure I want to put myself through it. I have heard from plenty of people who said they liked it and I would normally take their word for it, if they didn't make up the same population of people who gushed about spirited away and princess mononoke. WTH is with the japanese anyway? Why can't they do a normal film with a normal plot instead of something that feels like it was put together by a hippie mental patient on LSD?