Release Date – 26th December 2023, Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 4 minutes, Director – Hayao Miyazaki
After the passing of his mother, 12-year-old Mahito (Soma Santoki) is whisked to an unfamiliar new home, where a heron (Masaki Suda) takes him to a fantastical other world claiming that his mother is still alive.
In each of his films, no matter how many times he’s retired, there’s always been something deeply personal from Hayao Miyazaki poured into the inner-workings. His last-film-until-the-next The Boy And The Heron is no different. Amongst the unmistakably Ghibli-infused worlds, landscapes, creatures and food another part of his heart and soul is injected into a narrative of grief and legacy.
12-year-old Mahito (Soma Santoki) is whisked away by his father (Takuya Kimura) to an unfamiliar countryside location after his mother is killed in a bombing in Tokyo. The very formal child tries his best to keep himself to himself in the strange surroundings, no matter how much the various elderly women residing there try to talk to him. It could be so easy for Mahito to seem beyond his years, and in some regards he does, but Miyazaki does a good job of reminding us that he is still a child. During a key sequence, after having been annoyed by a heron at his window, he constructs his own bow and arrow. It’s a simple sequence capturing a youthful creativity and drive which reminds us, just before we dive into the adventure proper, that our protagonist is a child.
He fails in killing the heron, which it turns out not only has a big toothy grin but can also talk (an enjoyably irate and taunting voice from Masaki Suda). The creature tells the child that his mother is actually still alive, and in turn takes him to another world. The fantastical world which he is taken to sprawls with layers and details. Finely animated there’s plenty to like about the visual landscapes that are on display, and the figures that reside within them – including Ghibli’s answer to the Adipose Child. However, there are moment where it feels as if the plot is somewhat wandering.
As you can see the stages of the narrative the jumping between locations and characters begins to make the just over 2 hour run-time feel overlong. Things wind around without it always feeling as if the film knows where it’s going to lead to, largely led by Miyazaki’s personal influence and feelings, which still manage to be an engaging fore. As with his previous films such touches allow for a depth in the emotional elements of the piece, even if the surroundings feel somewhat drawn-out and winding. Yet, even during the longer moments – sometimes made to feel more so by occasionally gradual pacing – there’s still a good deal to be drawn in by visually, and a handful of times tonally.
Miyazaki’s latest personal animation is another visually detailed work from Ghibli which is led by engaging tones and ideas, but with an occasionally wandering and jumpy narrative feels slightly overlong.
Just A Little Bit Random 