The Boy and the Heron - AniMat's Reviews

Comments 5

• Lady Tyler Bio Rodriguez December 13, 2023
  Can't wait for the next movie...
• Kenneth Stoddard December 13, 2023
  Willem Defoe has voiced an English dub of Studio Ghibli movie before and that is Tales From Earthsea where he played the main villain of that film just to give you the correct info about his involvement with that studio
• Justin Monti December 13, 2023
  It’s honestly great to see Hayao Miyazaki is back making animated films and he’s still got it. While I definitely don’t think this is among Studio Ghibli’s best animated films of as good as Miyazaki’s other animated films, it’s still a worthy addition to the Ghibli collection. The Story is interesting, the animation is absolutely beautiful, and the characters, while not the best, are still pretty solid, on top of the movie having a great English Dub. Overall, while not the best animated film from Studio Ghibli, it’s still a worthy addition to the lineup and I’m looking forward to seeing what Hayao Miyazaki has planned in the future in terms of animated films.
• Kenneth Stoddard December 13, 2023
  Well, it is great to see a Studio Ghibli movie made by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki again after The Wind Rises after a decade later on or even since When Marnie Was There upon playing to theaters so it been a long time coming. I first got myself introduced to Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki, and anime in general when I first saw Spirited Away and that one just blew me away as a kid I been watching some of his works later with Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Castle in the Sky for example and almost all them are masterpieces upon seeing them as a kid to now being adult. With the exception of Tales From Earthsea and Earwig and the Witch, all of them were solid including the ones made by other filmmakers like Isao Takahata for example. When I heard that The Boy and the Heron was coming soon in the states, I decided to watch all the films made by Studio Ghibli Miyazaki’s last film The Wind Rises which I find it to be amazing too just to prepare with this movie and see where I would rank this movie. After watching it in early IMAX screening through the sub version and the English dub version a few days later, my feelings is that it great but not one of best film from Ghibli or even from Miyazaki to be honest. It not even on to my top ten favorites to be completely honest with you. I find the story while getting that vibes like Alice In Wonderland and Labyrinth, it a bit more dense than I expected especially how it progresses later when the fantasy elements kicks in and I find the characters to be hard to connect with due to how they were developed and written and at best not interesting like the Majito example. I know some will connect with him because of his lost of mother and grieving is part of that theme along the meaning of life, but it just that he’s not that interesting as a quiet but emotional distance character. I also found the ending to be abrupt and little fast in my opinion and I think they could’ve fix around that issue though. Other than that, I found it great thanks to it compelling themes, the gorgeous animation which is nice to 2D hand drawn animation on the big screen, strong voice acting from both sub and dubbed versions particularly with Robert Pattinson being the main highlight of his performance, lovely visuals, beautiful score by Joe Hisaishi which he deserves some nominations over at the awards season especially now that he got a Golden Globe nomination recently, fantastic directing by Miyazaki, and the heart was definitely in the right place. Is it best animated movie I seen this year? No but it is great to see Studio Ghibli being back again after being away for so long. 8/10. As for award season goes, I believe everyone unanimously agreed that the awards are gonna be given to either this or Across the Spiderverse for Best Animated Feature or even some getting some attention like Best Original Score for attention. I know this film did well at the box office and doing well with at the awards where some critics called this one of the best films of films of year but given how the awards shows work, I think Spiderverse will again which to be fair, I love Spiderverse more so than this movie but I think this film only work for those not just most movie critics, but including cinephiles and people who are familiar with Miyazaki’s work because I did check and not everyone like myself is on board with this movie. But still coming down between this and Spiderverse in getting the most accolades. I’m fine with either or as long everyone is happy with it.
• Mat Brunet (AniMat) December 15, 2023
  I was going for Hayao Miyazaki movies specifically, but since I didn't word it well, I took note of what you said and updated the video to make it more clear