The Boy and the Heron
Directed by Hayao MiyazakiWhile the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
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The Boy and the Heron Ratings & Reviews
- VarunOctober 19, 2024I watched this in theatres because it’s a rare opportunity to catch a Miyazaki film in IMAX. I seem to be in the minority of people who just can’t get on the hype train for this movie. Beautiful animation and an imaginative world isn’t enough to save a lame boring story. I couldn’t decipher a single theme or meaningful moment in the entire runtime no matter how hard I tried. It just meanders aimlessly and you aren’t rewarded for your patience. If someone tells me the story was a metaphor for something, it still doesn’t excuse writing bland characters and building a world with no rules to it. It’s crazy to me that I didn’t have even an ounce of fun watching a Studio Ghibli film (cue the gif of Homelander sitting stone-faced in a theatre). There’s not that much dialogue and the pacing is all over the place. I usually like watching YouTube videos explaining films but I’m not even going to bother with this snoozefest. Pretty visuals for 2 hours alone can’t immerse me when the plot is so hollow I have nothing to connect to. I haven’t been this disappointed at the theatres in a long time.
- Lucas CraparottaMarch 28, 2025Miyazaki is a master of making these worlds full of wonder and mystery.
- Noah Austin BrooksApril 17, 2025Boy and the Heron is truly an extraordinary masterpiece!
- neuroparadox4d agoI dunno, I didn't really connect with this one. Probably because I haven't experienced that sort of grief before.🤷♂️ So this isn't a rating for the movie itself so much as my experience with it, because on a technical level it's still Miyazaki so it's fucking gorgeous. It was hard not to set my expectations high too, since I consider Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke to be perfect 5 star movies and I've seen them both multiple times. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Movie_NerdFebruary 16, 2025I don’t expect less from Miyazaki
- Kevin WardJuly 2, 2025Unmistakably a Hayao Miyazaki film with gorgeous animation, a trippy, dream logic adventure, and some of the most hideous depictions of old people ever. Didn’t love it on first watch, but most Miyazaki films grow on me over time. Saw the English dub, and Pattinson’s voice work is wild.
- NonPlayableContentJune 15, 2025These stories are always amazing but being captivated the whole time is rare for me. Nearly perfect in every way.
- PapaHamzehApril 2, 2025I'm gonna get thrashed for every one of these Ghibli movies I rate. And that's OK. I accept my punishment from the masses. Ghibli movies are like the Nintendo games of film; a rabid fan base that will, time and time again, show up for their turn at the watering hole and come away saying 'Gee I'm glad I got to drink that, whatever it was!' In my experience, the movies are Big Concept but the bag is fumbled in execution. I want to be clear: I think they are beautiful, I think they are well designed...and that may be it. The philosophical discussions often feel like stream-of-consciousness that leads to nowhere in particular. The themes frequently are put upon the table in high fashion, but I never see anyone really pig out of the food, so to speak. This movie was beautiful. Truly. And it got weirder and weirder, which I absolutely love. The voice acting was...pretty good (bait and switch by a certain BIG casting choice was irritating). Overall, my turn at the watering hole made me think 'Well. I certainly drank something and now my mouth is wet.'
- RyezooFebruary 4, 2025Feel like this didn’t connect for me as much as it did everyone else. I thought that the animation was gorgeous. I ended up seeing the English dub and I thought it was OK. Some audio performances were noticeably bad at times. Robert Patterson was really good though and I can’t believe it was him. I thought that the film was just a little confusing to me and I struggled to grasp all the grandiose ideology that was going on, it also felt a little boring at times but not to a point where I was taking out of it. Maybe on a rewatch will help it click more.
- NicolasOctober 8, 2024The morals and scenario is lost in too many metaphors
