'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.
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.