Without crushing the integrity of my review, and somehow not coming across as a believable fan of Hayao Miyazaki, I should mention that I’m not a completionist. There is at least one Miyazaki movie out there I still have not seen. There are also a few I own on physical media. My favorite headed into this is still Spirited Away, not because I’m a basic bitch, but because it is an excellent work of art. It wasn’t my first Miyazaki experience, but it has been really hard to beat.
So, when he announces a new film, when everyone thinks he’s already done, I’m paying attention. Miyazaki, to me, doesn’t seem like a director who has lost their touch in their later years, just instead more like Martin Scorsese, who has raised the bar so high for him with certain projects, it is actually impossible to think “the best is still to come”. I refuse to believe that is true. Both these directors, and others like Steven Spielberg, seem poised to make great films, but not career topping films. Honestly, even if Ridley Scott won the Oscar this year for Gladiator 2, it would feel like how Scorsese won for The Departed. Surely a solid choice, but overdue.
The Boy and the Heron feels a little like an amalgamation of some past ideas Miyazaki has already dealt with, including loss and dealing with grief, the need to travel somewhere to rescue someone, and a fanciful world just outside our own where the rules are very different, and only one young boy has the chance of following the path and setting things right. It feels like Miyazaki is paying homage to himself, taking what worked in his previous films and blending them together.
It creates a fanciful experience for the audience, but perhaps a shadow of a previous work is still less effective than the work it aspires to replicate. It isn’t my least favorite, nor is it my favorite. I’m not sure Hayao Miyazaki has made a bad movie. He’s just made some that can be debatably ranked, in very likely different orders, depending on what means something to someone. Even this film, if specific enough, i could see being someone’s favorite. But I would also guess that person is likely short a title or two.
the dubbing was decent, with Christian Bale coming back for another attempt at Miyazaki voice acting, and the audio description does a nice job of managing two very different worlds. The first world is one where a post-war boy is trying to recover from the loss of his mother, by moving in with his father and his new paramour. The other, is this bizarre “don’t go in there” world of danger, with a heron who is basically an asshole for the duration of his time on the adventure. He’s not really the villain, but as far as team ups go, he’s the short straw. And the imagination of this realm, the mechanics of how it worked, were well described.
I’d say comfortably, I could put at least three films of Miyazaki’s over this, maybe 4. But, I can definitely put at least one, maybe two, below it. Even in that, Miyazaki doesn’t fail. It’s like looking at a painting made by one of the greats and realizing that it isn’t the famous one, but you can still find beauty in it. This isn’t starry Night, or the Mona Lisa, but it’s still a great painting done by one of the best there ever has been and ever will be.
Final Grade: A-