The Boy And The Heron (Kimitachi Wa Do Ikiruka) (12A)

In 1943, 12-year-old boy Mahito wrestles with the recent loss of his mother in a fire. His father Shoichi remarries his wife's sister Natsuko and uproots the grief-stricken boy to a house in the countryside tended by an army of ageing maids. Left to his own devices, Mahito follows a mysterious grey heron to a dilapidated tower close to the estate where he tumbles into a magical netherworld connecting the living and the dead.

LondonNet Film Review

The Boy And The Heron (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

Likened to Walt Disney for his enduring impact on the world of animation, 82-year-old Japanese writer-director Hayao Miyazaki has been entrancing audiences with fantastical creations since his 1979 feature debut, The Castle Of Cagliostro. He co-founded animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli in 1985 in Tokyo and steadily built a filmmaking legacy of emotionally rich, otherworldly adventures including My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle…

Miyazaki comes out of retirement for a final hurrah with this semi-autobiographical odyssey set in 1943 Japan as Allied air raids decimate key targets during the Pacific War. The Boy And The Heron is handsomely crafted with the filmmaker’s soulful flourishes but in the midst of bidding Miyazaki a fond and teary-eyed farewell, it’s hard to dampen down feelings of familiarity and disappointment with his swansong. Striking imagery from the back catalogue replays in a final tumble down the rabbit hole led by a spirited 12-year-old boy, mourning the loss of his mother, and flocks of anthropomorphic birds.

There is an emotional disconnect in the frenetic second half as the adolescent protagonist climbs along branches of his family tree and ultimately plummets back to solid ground to confront his grief and reconnect with the living. Mahito (voiced by Soma Santoki) is haunted by the image of his mother perishing in a hospital fire. Aching loss intensifies when the boy’s father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura) marries his wife’s sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura), and uproots the family to a house in the countryside tended by an army of ageing maids.

Left to his own devices, Mahito follows a mysterious grey heron (Masaki Suda) to a dilapidated tower built by Natsuko’s eccentric great uncle with the promise of finding his mother. No such supernatural encounter materialises. Natsuko subsequently vanishes and one of the maids, Kiriko (Ko Shibasaki), joins Mahito as they search the tower. They encounter the heron, a benevolent wizard and a young woman called Himi (Aimyon), who is blessed with pyrokinetic abilities. The mystery deepens as the adventurers move through the tower’s interconnected chambers and face a Parakeet King (Jun Kunimura) determined to protect his feathered kind.

The Boy And The Heron feels like the greatest hits of Miyazaki, deftly woven into a magical coming-of-age story. Signature hand-drawn animation is beautiful and counters the argument that the future of big screen animation relies on technical wizardry. No one casts a spell like the Japanese writer-director, even if his final incantation lacks some of the usual sparkle. Alongside the subtitled version of The Boy And The Heron, the film is released in the UK with English language dubbing courtesy of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Willem Dafoe, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.

– Jo Planter