| RELEASE DATE | RUNTIME | IMDB | ROTTENTOMATOES | METACRITIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 8th, 2023 | 2hr 4m | 7.6 | 97% | 92 |
Premise:
A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
Director(s):
Hayao Miyazaki
Writer(s):
Hayao Miyazaki
| JAPANESE VOICE CAST | ENGLISH VOICE CAST | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soma Santoki | … | Luca Padovan | … | Mahito Maki (voice) |
| Masaki Suda | … | Robert Pattinson | … | The Grey Heron (voice) |
| Takuya Kimura | … | Christian Bale | … | Shoichi Maki (voice) |
| Aimyon | … | Karen Fukuhara (as Lady Himi) | … | Himi (voice) |
| Kô Shibasaki | … | Florence Pugh | … | Kiriko (voice) |
| Yoshino Kimura | … | Gemma Chan | … | Natsuko (voice) |
| Shohei Hino | … | Mark Hamill (as Granduncle) | … | Great-Uncle (voice) |
| Jun Kunimura | … | Dave Bautista | … | The Parakeet King (voice) |
| Kaoru Kobayashi | … | Willem Dafoe (as Noble Pelican) | … | Old Pelican (voice) |
Just got out… It makes an interesting bookend with Spirited Away, lost parents, a journey through the spirit world, an interesting mix of both Western and Eastern archetypes.
+1 - will watch again!
Haven’t seen the movie but if you told me the trailer was an AI recreation of Spirited Away I would have believed it.
I’d definitely recommend seeing it. It’s really nothing like Spirited Away outside of both having a kid going into another world. The themes have some crossover but are not really the same.
From a visual perspective it was great but It kind of went over the head from a story perspective. Based on the reactions from the theater at the end everyone there felt the same. Someone help me please.
spoiler
Spoilers: Like what was the reason his aunt was in the chamber? Why did the heron make a fake version of his mom? What was the parakeets deal with capturing Hime just to drop her off and not make any demands. If his uncle wanted him there why were the sentient things so hostile toward him? What was the deal with the baby souls if this whole place was fiction?
I found this Reddit comment that I think explains the movie pretty well. I agree it can go over your head easy but this makes the most sense to me and is closest to how I felt about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/189iju6/the_boy_and_the_heron_is_beautiful_and/kbtzvns/
It did explain one bit which I knew had to be some Japanese folklore I didn’t know. The rest I dk. I agree the overall plot is simple, it’s just the details I do not understand and felt there must be more back story from folklore or something which took away from the experience. Other Gibli movies like ponyo or howls moving castle didn’t leave me as confused on why they chose to show the audience something.
Wow, there’s some big names in the English voice cast.
Well I very much enjoyed it. It’s perhaps Miyazaki’s most beautiful film. There’s so much detail and the animation is top notch. I was particularly impressed with the sound design.
I saw the English Dub, since I’ve never watched any Ghibli film dubbed before and this has a stacked cast. Ill rewatch it in Japanese at some point. They were all great, especially the kid who plays Mahito, Luca Padovan. Christian Bale, while good, felt a little like he was in a different movie with his regional American accent he was doing, that no one else did. Robert Pattinson’s voice was completely unrecognizable and I continue to praise him despite all the people hating on him because they only know him from Twilight.
The themes of getting over grief/anger are present like a lot of Ghibli films and they are done so well here. Well deserving to be Miyazaki’s last film and a great addition to his legacy.
One scene that was a bit confusing, one minute hes talking to the old guy about the building blocks, next minute he’s in parrot jail . also why didn’t the fire lady tell him who she was earlier
