Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Florence Pugh
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Rating: PG
‘The Boy and the Heron’ is Miyazaki’s
12th film, and while not his best, it’s still exceptional animation
with a nice story and a bit of weirdness thrown in to make it interesting. This
time, we follow the titular boy, Mahito (Padovan) as his father (Bale) moves them
from Tokyo to the Japanese countryside during World War II, after the death of
his mother. There he has to deal with his new step-mother, Natsuko (Chan) and
new environment.
There’s a bit of effort that
goes into the set-up – and the fire scene in Tokyo is excellently animated –
then a lull as Mahito tries to find his place in his new circumstances. This is
where he encounters the Heron (Pattinson) – with a cool face-swap trick – who
leads him to an abandoned tower, which transports them to a hidden world, a we’re
on a bit of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ trip. Kiriko (Pugh), Himi (Fukuhara) and
Grand-Uncle (Hamill) are (mostly) helpful to Mahito here, as he has to
figure-out how to save Natsuko and get back to his world.
I don’t think this lives up to ‘Princess Mononoke’
or ‘Spirited Away’, but is similar to ‘Ponyo’ or ‘The Wind Rises’. Possibly a
bit long at 2 hours, but it does have plenty of weird creatures, a great voice
cast (including Dafoe as a pelican and Bautista as a parakeet!), some
beautifully painted backdrops, a great score and a nice little moral about looking
out for others and choosing your own path.
Overall: Interesting animated other-realm adventure
Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars
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