One such studio is Studio Ghibli. The brilliance of films like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo have made the release of any Studio Ghibli film a cinematic event. Countries where Asian animated films are normally only shown in select cinemas treat Ghibli releases like they are Hollywood blockbusters and such is the art of the studio’s releases that you could argue that Hayao Miyazaki is the greatest animated filmmaker of all time.
Now Miyazaki returns with his latest film – The Boy and the Heron – a labour of love that took seven years to make and is one of the most expensive Japanese films ever made. If you ever needed a reminder of just how painstaking the art of making an animated film can be, keep in mind that there were times during the production of The Boy and the Heron where Miyazaki was only directing one minute of footage a month.
Plotwise, The Boy and the Heron centres around a young boy named Mahito Maki (voiced by Luca Padovan – No Hard Feelings), who during the Pacific War loses his mother in a hospital fire. Shortly afterwards, his father, Shoichi Maki (Christian Bale – The Dark Knight), marries Mahito’s Auntie, Natsuko (Gemma Chan – Eternals), and they are relocated to the countryside.
Mahito, who is still reeling from his mother’s death, is not happy about the change in his life and soon finds himself confused about his interactions with a talking heron (Robert Pattinson – Twilight), who promises him that he can take him to his mother.
At first Mahito is sceptical, but after following the mysterious Kiriko (Florence Pugh – Oppenheimer) into an off-limits tower he finds himself transported to a supernatural world where there are man-eating birds and he has to put his trust into the likes of a younger version of Kiriko and a young pyrokinetic woman named Himi (Karen Fukuhara – Suicide Squad).
The Boy and the Heron is a perfect example of style over substance. When watching the film you can tell why the film took so long to make. Every single frame of the movie looks like a piece of art that should be hanging in a fine art gallery. It is easy to see that film cells from The Boy and the Heron are one day going to sell for a very high price, but sadly the same can’t be said for the screenplay.
When it comes to the plot of the film, things are sadly lacking. It feels like Miyazaki was trying to capture the magic of his films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle and then blend it with the vibe of a film like NeverEnding Story, but it feels like the world that he has created here becomes a little too convoluted at times. This certainly isn’t a good introduction to somebody that has never watched a Japanese animated film before ‒ and even if you are a seasoned veteran, you may want to keep your focus in the cinema 100% on the screen because this is the kind of film where if you miss one simple piece of information you will spend the next half an hour completely confused about what is happening.
Even with a weaker screenplay than we have come to expect from Miyazaki, there are still some things that make this story something pretty special. The fact that the film is willing to dip into dark territory such as a boy self-harming while he is going through grief means it deals with some important themes for the audience, while Miyazaki is also brilliant at keeping the audience guessing at whether some characters are good or evil. As an audience you do get a really strong feeling of why at times Mahito is unsure of who he can trust.
The Boy and the Heron is far from Studio Ghibli’s best film, but it is a stark reminder of what a fine filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki really is. There is almost a sense of mad genius around this film, and while there may be some things that you might find frustrating about it, there is very little doubt that this is a film that true fans of Japanese animation will want to watch over and over.
The Boy and the Heron is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘G’
3.5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He is also an accredited reviewer for Rotten Tomatoes. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus