Blair Loveday
It’s not exactly a controversial opinion to say that Hayao Miyazaki makes dang good movies for Studio Ghibli. Yet, here I am going to say it, he makes dang good movies.
Well unsurprisingly, he has made yet another dang good movie with The Boy and the Heron. And now that it is out on Bluray and in 4K the question is should you buy a copy?
The Boy and the Heron is set during World War 2 where the young boy Mahito is in Tokyo.
A fire at the hospital sees his mother die and so his dad moves out where he has a job in a factory making parts for the war. He meets a new woman who wants to become Mahitos’ mum. The boy in his country house discovers a strange heron, who tells him his mother isn’t actually dead. The heron has a strange mouth and nose poke out of it’s beak, which if it wasn’t for the Ghibli animation would be truly horrifying.
Anyway, the boy follows the heron who seems to be especially nasty. A weird confrontation happens and a mysterious man sends them to another world. This world is similar to earth with some stark differences.
Weirdest of all though are they seem to be linked. There are dolls of real people Mahito knows, there are giant parakeets who like eating people, it’s all kinds of messed up.
Getting back to the point, I really don’t wanna spoil this more. The movie touches on Mahito’s grief, but not as on the nose as I was expecting. Instead the story seems to be more around him connecting with his dads new wife as he journeys through this world looking for her. The heron seems to also go through a journey, where at the start he’s a dick, but by the end, well he’s still a dick but you like him more. Some really fascinating characters come in via the strange world and I really don’t want to spoil any of these because it’s really interesting.
The Boy and the Heron does that classic Ghibli thing of having mystery, wonder and strange magic in a world that looks super familiar. The animation is, as usual, stunning. There were some amazing fire scenes that look beyond gorgeous and really justifies making sure you get it on 4K. These scenes just can’t be done the justice they deserve without that sweet sweet detail.
The included Bluray also has a bunch of special features going into the making of the movie. The movie is semi-autobiographical from Hayao Miyazaki’s life, obviously without the crazy magic in the other world. But this had me curious about some of the behind the scenes more than usual. They were decent features that are well worth visiting after the movie is done. It would be really cool if they included these on the 4K disc in the future so you don’t have to switch to watch them afterwards.
The Boy and the Heron is classic Studio Ghibli. Beautiful animation, strange worlds, and shocking amounts of depth. Every time I watch it I seem to notice more depth, making it the perfect movie to own and revisit. If you have a 4K player this is the best way to watch this stunning film.
