It’s been a while since I’ve gone to the theater to see a film, but when Hayao Miyazaki released a new film, I knew that this was one I couldn’t skip. The Boy and The Heron is supposedly the master of animation’s last film, but seeing as how he stated that multiple times in the past, I’m holding out hope we may still see future work from him. However, if this does happen to be Miyazaki’s last work I think I’d be satisfied as this is easily one of his most layered and complex films to date.

The basic story of The Boy and The Heron follows a youth named Mahito living in Japan during World War II. Mahito’s father is a weapons manufacturer and after the tragic death of his mother, he moves to the countryside to live with his Aunt. There he encounters a mysterious tower and a Grey Heron which transports him to a world filled with the dead and other mysterious creatures.

The Boy and The Heron excels in the usual areas for a Studio Ghibli project. The animation is fantastic throughout. There are excellent hand-drawn backgrounds, along with impressive visuals that invoke a sense of wonderment and expressive character designs that incite your imagination. I particularly enjoyed the opening scenes which depict the trauma of hospital fire.

Miyazaki plays with the visuals to create an environment of stress and confusion while illustrating our main character’s helplessness during the situation. Once the supernatural starts occurring, the audience is then treated to a feast of impressive transformation sequences and whimsical environments that will enrapture you throughout the two-hour runtime.

While the worldbuilding here isn’t quite as clear cut as you might expect I still found it to be a strong point of the film. I appreciate that most of it is told through the visuals rather than exposition dumps. It makes good use of the film as a primarily visual storytelling medium. The accompanying score composed by Joe Hisashi is also fantastic. It perfectly conveys the haunting dreamscape that is this world and contains many leitmotifs (a recurring musical phrase) that illustrate the unknown faced by our protagonist, along with the memories that continue to weigh heavy on his mind.

The Boy and The Heron is also littered with heavy symbolism that develops a myriad of core themes. There’s discussion on grief, loss, war, morality, and life and death along with a commentary surrounding the artistic process towards the end of the film. I’m sure there’s a few more but these are the ones that stuck out clearly to me.

There’s so much symbolism here that at times it causes the film to lose focus and the messages can become rather muddied. This is my biggest issue with it. Though I don’t mind having to search for meaning in a piece of media, there’s certainly a point at which the endless complexity can cheapen the importance of individual symbols. I certainly left The Boy and The Heron feeling as though I needed to watch it again to fully grasp aspects of it.

The ending of The Boy and The Heron is also rather weak for me. The pacing feels rushed compared to the rest of the story and I felt there was a lack of consequences for our heroes. Part of this is most likely due to the lack of concrete antagonists but also the rather forced close relationships between Mahito and his various allies.

I wished there was more time spent developing Mahito’s relationship with his Aunt in particular, especially since her disappearance is the driving force behind Mahito’s quest. Doing so would have added more time to an already long film, but I feel it would have left a more satisfying end product.

While I don’t think The Boy and The Heron is Miyazaki’s finest work, what is presented still manages to amaze me at times. Though I wish the overall vision could have been clearer there’s enough here that I believe warrants your time.

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The Boy and The Heron

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful animation
• Imaginative world
• Complex imagery

Cons

• Can lack distinct focus
• Weak character work at times
• Pacing can be sporadic