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In Theaters Now
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 4 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 4 m
Summary A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning.
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Written By: Hayao Miyazaki
In Theaters Now
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 4 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 2 h 4 m
The Boy and the Heron
6.9
Where to Watch
Summary A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning.
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Written By: Hayao Miyazaki
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 46 Critic Reviews
92
96% Positive
44 Reviews
44 Reviews
4% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 46 Critic Reviews
92
96% Positive
44 Reviews
44 Reviews
4% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s nearly an apotheosis, in that the movie synthesizes his greatest achievements into a stirring, standalone work of art.
The folklore underpinning The Boy and the Heron is crazily sui generis: it rushes and sparkles and sploshes like a child’s imagination, making the sort of synaptic leaps in both image-making and storytelling that should be impossible for an adult brain to pull off.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 79 User Ratings
6.9
67% Positive
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
14% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
19% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 79 User Ratings
6.9
67% Positive
53 Ratings
53 Ratings
14% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
19% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
Well, at first the movie has confusing **** the whole point is a message to the audience and I think a lot of people here do not understand that. Nor do they understand that this is not his last movie either. Overall it’s a great story of a reflection of how Miyazaki does film making and how he is now changing the way he does his movies. The surreal story telling and world he created is one like no other. Animation style was amazing. Once you get the message of it becomes an amazing letter to those who understand Miyazaki. The bad scores on here reflect this who don’t understand Him or his work. Looking for a movie that’s simple and just another easy understanding movie with lots of action and low quality story.
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It mixes the comfort and reliability of a greatest hits album with the bold visionary direction of a thrilling, experimental album from an artist at the peak of their powers. If The Boy and the Heron is really the end of Miyazaki’s career, he’s gone out with a triumph.
Hayao Miyazaki delivers the perfect coda to his illustrious career with a stunning animated adventure that reminds us how lucky we are to live at a time when Studio Ghibli is making movies.
The Boy and the Heron leaves us with questions about our place in the universe and whether it’s worth saving. You may also exit the theater contemplating the afterlife. Regardless of the ideas swirling around in your head, you’ll have witnessed the work of a director who has not lost his ability to stoke your imagination.
In a career full of continuous surprises, The Boy and Heron’s biggest surprise might be just how magical and unique his work still feels after all these years.
The Boy and the Heron is a gentler and slower though no less soulful addition to his canon.
One of the Most Animation Masterpiece Would of Hayao Miyazaki is Give it Perfect Score Credit Review 10/10
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As someone that has been a fan of Studio Ghibli since the early nineties, it's difficult for me to say that this the first of the studio's output in which I found nothing personally resonant or redeeming of the clear effort that was put into it visually. It's a meandering, aimless story, more nonsensical than charmingly surreal. In the brief moments that the film deigns to have an overt plot, it postures as a rumination on grief and the acceptance of inevitable finality. The performances suffered at turns from the worst deficits of nuance or warmth and the grossest excesses of shonenesque overacting, no relationships were meaningful, no characters had arcs that felt earned or organic. Every action and world happened in service of getting to an ending so abrupt and bereft of weight that one would be forgiven assuming that it was an intermission in the seconds between the fade out and the amateurish white Comic Sans credits against an insipid blue background. That design, whether conscious or not, is a reasonable approximation of the film as a whole: painfully color backgrounds existing only to demarcate the borders of narrow, infrequent negative space; specifically narrative, emotion, and growth rather than just letters.
Aesthetically and kinetically there are things to enjoy, even celebrate on the rare occasion, but on the whole, if it be the last of his work, it's a swan song unbefitting of its author, an seeming expression of disenchantment with the very ideas of thematic meaning and growth from someone in the uttermost sunset of their days. Watch out of a need for completionism or morbid curiosity. Those wishing any sort of mental or emotional stimulation, seek opportunities elsewhere.
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It’s a surrealist film about the visuals and experience like eraser head rather than being a real movie.
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Nonsensical disjointed story. No real over arching plot. Narrative structure not fleshed out, and no exposition given to watcher. It is completely unaccessible as a singular film without pre-existing knowledge of Ghibli films or Miyazaki himself. If this would be your first Ghibli/Miyazaki film it’s a horrible watch. Good if you do have the required knowledge, but homework should not be required to have complete understanding of the film. The message should be clearly presented in the time, and should push the viewer to want to do some research on their own time to encourage a rewatch at a later time if pulled off correctly. This does not accomplish that.
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Awards
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
• 2 Nominations
Astra Film Awards
• 2 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
