The Boy and the Heron review: Ghibli’s Miyazaki has still got it
At the grand age of 81, it would be understandable to assume that The Boy and The Heron is the final movie of Studio Ghibli great Hayao Miyazaki. After all, the man who inspired a generation has retired before, in 2013, before reversing the decision and working on this movie. According to Ghibli executives, Miyazaki isn’t thinking of hanging it up any time soon, but with a movie this lovely that’s no bad thing.
Set in 1943, the film focuses on Mahito Maki, a 12-year-old who lost his mother in a fire. His father has remarried, and has a baby on the way, but the boy struggles to adjust to his new home, school, and step mother. One day, however, he is visited by a talking heron, who informs him his mother is still alive. The news leads him on a fantastical quest into a magical land where nothing is as it seems
To say a Miyazaki film is beautiful is almost redundant at this point, however a decade on from his last feature (The Wind Rises) it’s nice to be reminded of just what’s possible with the medium of animation. Focusing on familiar themes of loss, right of passage, and secret worlds within nature, we’re taken on a colourful adventure that’s equal parts moving and surreal. It is a reminder of everything that makes the director, and the studio itself, great: sincere stories, thoughtfully told, with magic that makes even the most cynical viewer gasp.
This review is based on the subtitled version, however there is also a dubbed cut featuring the voices of Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, and Christian Bale. Whatever choice you make, fans of Studio Ghibli, and storytelling in general, are in for another classic.
The Boy and The Heron is in cinemas from 26th December.