The Boy and The Heron Explained Review Analysis

Hayao Miyazaki might be one of the greatest living filmmakers in any genre, so it is always a treat to be able to see a new release in the cinemas. The Boy in the Heron is a story about a young boy processing grief and using a fantasy world to come to terms with it. You could also interpret the fantasy world as a showcase for Miyazaki's style and as a metaphor for his entire career. At first I was slightly worried about some pacing issues, but now I've learned my lesson which is never to doubt Hayao Miyazaki because he really never misses. I'm Charlie from Gateway to Anime and this is my review of The Boy and the Heron. The Boy in the Heron tells the story of 12-year-old Mahito, who struggles to settle into a new town after his mother's death. When a talking heron informs Mahito that his mother is still alive, he enters an abandoned tower in search of her, which takes him to another world. For long-term fans of Studio Ghibli, there are a lot of familiar things in this film that you are going to love. We have a protagonist entering a magical world. We've got a wonderful score by longtime collaborator Joe Hisashi. There are things that we come to expect from these movies. Studio Ghibli has given us a range of films. We have the whimsical Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away. We also have darker themes that are always explored in these films and some more so than others. This one really marries both of those tones together. The first half very much sitting in a more realistic setting, a bit darker themes, there's some heavy moments in it. And in the second half, we do a bit of a narrative shift into some of the more whimsical, fantastical elements that Ghibli is really famous for. So there's kind of a bit of everything in here, and I don't think that that is an accident. Like Spirited Away, this has a character who steps into a fantasy world, but this happens a lot later in the film than usually would happen in a narrative like this. But that's actually a good thing because we really get to know the characters and how they are and why they're feeling this way. Just a lot of exposition is dealt with in that first hour or so, and it's worth it for the payoff. One thing I liked about the portrayal of Makito in this film was that it really went there. It really explored the levels of grief and the silence that this poor child is suffering. There's some quite intense moments at the start of this film, and it is quite ugly, and they're not afraid to show that side of grief, which I think a lot of films, particularly animated, don't really get the nuance in that. And this one, it's quite staggering how they managed to get that across, particularly in the first half of this film. Although the start of this film is a slower pace with some heavy themes, they really tease the magical elements of The Heron really well with some delicate piano themes coming from Joe Hisashi. People often use birds to symbolize freedom or beauty. This film kind of takes the opposite approach and is more of an Alfred Hitchcock representation of birds. You'll see what I mean when you watch this movie. And they tend to represent the intrusive thoughts of grief. The flashbacks to Mahito's mother and the fire are quite incredible. With the smear animation, it is truly breathtaking. The motif of fire and the power of fire is used really well in this film, and the shift from it being something frightening and destructive to being something that is beautiful and powerful is really interesting. The imagery and imagination that comes with the Hayao Miyazaki film is unparalleled, and this one is no exception. It is gorgeous, it is imaginative, it is everything you would want to see in a Ghibli film. And it feels a little self-referential. There are certain landscapes in here that really throw back to other films. So there's a moment where it looks like we're in Hal's cottage, or there are just kind of little tidbits here that are kind of clearly inspired and feel deliberately self-referential. His characters are very similar in design to a lot of his most iconic looks. I think that they kind of cohesively feel like a mixture of all of them, which I think is a deliberate choice, particularly when it comes to the overarching theme of this film. The Boy in the Heron is a story about a young boy processing grief and using a fantasy world to come to terms with it. You could also interpret the fantasy world as a showcase for Miyazaki's style, and as a metaphor for his entire career. In this film, we have a character called Grand Uncle, who's voiced by Mark Hamill. This character is the master of this fantasy world, and it's all about holding different pieces in balance. The ending features Mahito coming to the decision of whether he wants to pick up the legacy from an aging master. And I think this is a really clever and concise way of wrapping up both of those ideas in his decision at the end. This feels self-referential. It's about this character finding someone to carry on his legacy. And this film has a lot of autobiographical kind of things involved in it, particularly when it comes to Mahito's childhood and Miyazaki's childhood. For example, the character's father in this also runs an airplane factory, which is bought to make parts for World War II, which is what Hamizaki's father also did. This is what makes it so special about seeing all these visual tributes to his past work, because they reinforce the themes of his legacy. When I first finished this movie and the credits were rolling, I kind of had a mixed feeling about it. I went, I don't know if this is in my top five, you know, for Ghibli. I didn't know. And then as I left the cinema literally minutes after and started to debrief what I'd actually had seen and some of the more powerful moments towards the ending of the film, in particular the conversations with Mahito and the master, I started realising what I think that the film was trying to say. And now it's been with me for days. And I honestly think that it's one of those films that really stay with you. And there's so much to unpack there. My own reading on this is kind of beautiful, generous idea of like, having your own kind of empire, own artistic, you know, legacy. This is a master of cinema. This is someone who's one of the greats, you know, who is ageing. And the idea of kind of passing on to a new generation, but not to continue just building the blocks that you have set up, but doing your own thing entirely, or just, you know, letting it all burn down and starting again. Hayao Miyazaki has often talked about retiring with lots of his films being touted as his final. This one is another one where people were speculating this would be his final film. However, he has not confirmed that. And there are other sources that have claimed that he is currently working on new ideas for his next film. So this might not be the swan song that we all thought it was. If that is the case, then I think that this would be a really, quite a magical place to end on, particularly with the themes that are running through this film and the ending. I think it would be quite poignant if that were the case. Studio Ghibli have been known to pull out all the stops in securing their English voiceover dub cast. And this movie is no exception. We have a completely star-studded cast, including Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, Robert Patterson, Willem Dafoe, and so many more, which I'll get into later. I think that the reason they do this is because they know that these films are going to be accessible for a lot of other people who might not be used to watching anime with subtitles. I personally often prefer to watch anime with subtitles, but for this review, I will be talking about the dub because I think that Gateway to Anime, our channel talks about kind of getting into anime and the Studio Ghibli dubs are famously good. The English voice cast did a fantastic job and despite having some very famous voices in there, it didn't break the immersion for me, which is a fantastic thing. And always a bit of a risk when you're dealing with very famous actors. The amount of effort and love that some of these actors have shown towards this film, you can tell that they are all most likely fans of the medium and of the director. So that just goes to show the star power that Hayao Miyazaki has. Robert Pattinson plays the Heron and I think he is a bit of a scene stealer. You would not know that that was him voicing it. You can tell he did a lot of character work on this and he really committed to the role. There's a lot of range required for this role. The Grey Heron has to be sinister, yet it also has to be comedic, desperate, a bunch of things. And I think Robert Pattinson really does nail that and it is a tough role. He's altered his voice so much that it sounds like Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin or very much inspired from that. What exactly are you? Which is interesting because Willem Dafoe is also in this movie as Noble Pelican. Quite a beautiful moment in the film. One of my favorite scenes in the film, actually. I know it's a lie, but I have to see. I'm looking for someone. Our protagonist, Mahito, is voiced by Luca Padovan, who is a child actor, who is giving a fantastic performance. I think really nails the pathos and the, honestly, the quite intense emotional range of this character, who is going through grief. There's a lot to handle there. It's very emotional. It's very subdued. It's a very layered performance. And I think he does a fantastic job. Mahito is a very introverted and subdued character, particularly at the start of this film. And it leaves room for the other characters to be larger than life in that true Maheo Miyazaki style. One of the more wildcard casting choices was Dave Bautista as one of my favorite characters in the film. We must protect this world ourselves. Rounding out this Hollywood A-list voice cast, we've got Christian Bale, Gemma Chan, Mark Hamill, Karen Fukuhara, and Florence Pugh. And they all do an incredible job. The Boy and the Heron is absolutely worth seeing in the cinema for the incredible sound design and the amazing visuals. If you do want to bring along some friends who aren't so used to watching anime, the English voice dub cast do a fantastic job and the film is still fantastic. Studio Ghibli is the ultimate gateway anime. I think that you could watch any of the movies and have a great time. You could walk into the cinema right now and watch this having never seen anything and get a lot out of it. However, I will say, I think that this movie is really one for the fans because I think if you've seen all of his stuff, you'll get a much greater understanding. This film does have a lot of heavy themes and I think that handles it with really wonderful nuance and I think that's to do with the amount of time that they give this storyline in the first half of the film. So what initially I felt was dragging actually ended up being really, really important to the overall arc of the film. And I'm glad that they gave the time to the protagonist so we could understand exactly what mental headspace he was in before the events of this film really kick into high gear in the second half. Miyazaki is known for his whimsical, fantastical worlds such as The Spirit Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, that is in this movie but it also marries some of his heavier themes that he is known for as well. Overall, this film does have a long runtime so do be aware of that but I think it is absolutely worth a visit in the cinema just to see the beautiful visuals. I absolutely love this film. I think it is one of my top ones of 2023. Highly recommend. It's a bit of an emotional time. Yep, go see it while you can. The Boy and the Heron has just released in Australian cinemas. Big thank you to Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll for bringing this to Australia and inviting us along to see it at the service.