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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Cast of The Boy and the Heron
The Boy and the Heron Ratings & Reviews
- MetroidTalonAugust 22, 2025Miyazaki returns with a deeply personal and beautifully strange tale that blends grief, fantasy, and memory into something haunting and heartfelt. The Boy and the Heron isn’t always easy to follow, but it never stops captivating. The animation is breathtaking, filled with surreal imagery and quiet emotional weight. It feels less like a traditional story and more like a dream being worked out in real time. A meditative farewell that lingers long after the credits roll.
- ProfSolonAugust 17, 2025The latest video made by the legendary studio, ghibli, still amazing.
- neuroparadoxJuly 29, 2025I 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. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- George BananzaJune 18, 2025Two hours of people unperturbed by bird shit.
- NonPlayableContentJune 14, 2025These stories are always amazing but being captivated the whole time is rare for me. Nearly perfect in every way.
- Movie_NerdFebruary 16, 2025I don’t expect less from Miyazaki
- 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.'
- NicolasOctober 8, 2024The morals and scenario is lost in too many metaphors
