The film depicts the psychological growth of a teenage boy through interactions with his friends and uncle.... (Full plot summary below)
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The film depicts the psychological growth of a teenage boy through interactions with his friends and uncle.
Leave your thoughts about The Boy and the Heron.
| Rolling StoneDavid FearNo one needed further proof that he’s a master. This meditation on grief and growing up does solidify the position, however, that Miyazaki remains the greatest living animator today, period. |
| IndieWireDavid EhrlichWhile this dream-like warble of a swan song may be too pitchy and scattered to hit with the gale-force power that made “The Wind Rises” feel like such a definitive farewell, The Boy and the Heron finds Miyazaki so nakedly bidding adieu — to us, and to the crumbling kingdom of dreams and madness that he’ll soon leave behind — that it somehow resolves into an even more fitting goodbye, one graced with the divine awe and heart-stopping wistfulness of watching a true immortal make peace with their own death. |
| The PlaylistCarlos AguilarThe Boy and the Heron is Miyazaki’s strong-willed encouragement for us to persevere. If this is, in fact, a swan song, then it’s a ravishing one because no one has the ability to distill elemental truths into vividly rendered moving paintings like Miyazaki. |
| BBCCaryn JamesThis may be Miyazaki's most expansive and magisterial film. If it is not the most instantly stunning, that might be because he takes the time to deliver worlds within worlds, layers under layers, to create an overwhelming experience by the end. |
| New York PostJohnny Oleksinski“Heron” is not as perfect as some of Miyazaki’s past movies. The trippy story is dizzying by the end as too many characters are introduced too late and we navigate a thicket of hastily explained narrative elements. But it nonetheless leaves a powerful emotional effect if you let it wash over you. |
| IGNRafael MotamayorHayao 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 Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe film could be read many ways, but fundamentally, it plays like a heartfelt depiction of resilience in the face of conflict and grief, a gentle call to find friends and trusted allies, to move forward and bring humanity and understanding to the world. |
| TheWrapTomris LafflyIf this is indeed his final film — this time for real — what a way for Miyazaki to launch into retirement, with a swan song so personal, artful and ultimately timeless. |
| New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreThe Boy and the Heron is irresistible in its dream logic, straddling the adorable (white blob creatures called Warawara that inflate like balloons) and the dark (parakeet soldiers that are on the search for fresh meat). But what makes it most compelling are the ways in which the real and the magical are equal presences. |
| The Daily BeastBarry LevittIt 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. |
