The Boy And The Heron Film Review

 

If the late and great Walt Disney ever really has any serious competition for who can tell breath taking stories then it's quite clearly Hayao Miyazaki. With him having retired and come out of retirement so many times that it's become a bit of joke amongst his fanbase and well the man himself has just released a new film and well after little over a month of waiting i've finally been able to sit down and watch it and so then join me as I review that for now at least is Hayao Miyazaki's final every film with the film in question being called simply just "The Boy And The Heron" enjoy.

The plot of this film is four years after the death of his mother Mahito Maki discovers a magical place near his Aunt's house that may or may not contain his dead mother. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented t us in this film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with this film plot being really refreshing as we don't often see animated films deal with the themes that this film and this film plot not only deal with but also deal with in a mature way that both kids and adults can also fully understand and comprehend and I will admit that the plot of this film was also really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Soma Santoki as Masato Maki , Aimyon as Himi , Kou Shibasaki as Kiriko and Masaki Suda as The Gray Heron. Also starring in this film is Takuya Kimura as Shoichi Maki , Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko , Jun Fubuki as Maid 2 , Jun Kunimura as The Parakeet King , Kaoru Kobayashi as Old Pelican , Karen Takizawa as Waru Waru , Keiko Takeshita as Maid 1 , Sawako Agawa as Maid 3 , Shinobu Ōtake as Maid 4 and Shohei Hino as Great Uncle.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which is really nothing new for a Studio Ghibli film as alot of if not all of their films have always had some really solid acting in them and when you add in who is writing and directing as well then it was pretty much certain that this film was going to have some really good acting in it and that's exactly what we get in this film with all of the films cast members turning in some truly wonderful performances with the cast really being helped b the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films cast just have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a really good performance will come out of them naturally.

Doing the animation for this film is of course the legends and the greats that are currently over at Studio Ghibli. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I inn all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good which just like the acting is really nothing new as the animation in alot of the Studio Ghibli films has always been stunning with the same thing also being true for this film with there being alot of scenes where the animation is just truly mindblowlingly great with the film also having alot of really stunning backgrounds that help to make the film feel even more beautiful and stunning that what it ready is with the characters also having some really fluid movements to them all of which help to make this movies animation really high quality animation.

One of the many things that this film gets right is how it deals with the theme of death and how to recover and move on from the death of a loved one. Which was something that was rather interesting as it's something that not alot of animated films deal and how this film deals with it is really interesting as it allows the main hero to meet the person who they know is going to die and still form a connection with them which then allows him to move on and form a new bond with his husbands new wife all of which was a really interesting way to tackle this subject matter and the film tackles it such a mature way as it doesn't really speak down to any kids who might be watching this film as it basically says that death is going to happen like it or not and seeing this film tackle this theme in a mature way really does make it stand out as the film doesn't shy away from it's subject matter it faces it head on which was really refreshing to see.

Undoubtedly this film is most famous for it's lack of marketing which in all cases would be seen as a really bad thing. However in this case it was done mostly because of the fact that the name of the films writer and director was more then enough to sell people on the movie which was a really smart move as there right all you'd need to sell people on this movie is the fact that it's being written and directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki and that's really all you need to know about the film but really at the same time seeing the films American distributors GKids take a different approach with it's marketing was rather interesting as with the blessing of Studio Ghibli Gkids took really a more traditional approach with it's marketing by releasing a tone of trailers and a ton posters for the film was rather interesting as it shows that both methods of marketing this film really worked well enough to this films advantage that you really have to give the filmmakers credit for taking such a strange bizarre tactic to marketing this film. 

If there's one thing that this film gets wrong it's the fact that it doesn't take the time to fully develop the world that Mahito goes to. As they don't really take the time to fully develop that world nor explain how that world work especially when compared to our own with the world that Mahito goes to feeling more like a heightened version of our world with nothing all that different added to it except that they can apparently time travel in that world which really does come out of nowhere all of this is something that could have been fixed if the film took alot less time with Mahito prior to entertaining that strange world and more time giving us some world building once we get there and explain to us how that world works and what the rules of that world are which given this films really long running time is something that they could have done.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and one second exactly. Which for any anime film is such a long time for this film to have as even tho this film really does have more then enough plot to cover that large amount of running time the film could have and more importantly should have done so much more with that extended running time with this film both not and fully taking advantage of that running time as the film does take the time to fully develop Mahito and make him a more well rounded and fully developed character because of it but at the same time it doesn't really take full advantage of this running time as it doesn't fully develop the world that Mahito visits either but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a drama that means that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this films drama really being the true highlight of the film as it was really well built up not just in one scene but all through out the whole entire movie with the best scene being the scene where Natsuko just snaps at Mahito with her even going as far as to say that she hates Mahito which was just such a good and powerful scene that it really does hit home just how broken there relationship is at this point with the drama in this film also feeling kike it's very character as well with it feeling like the type of things that these characters would say in these situations in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall if you get the chance to go and see this film on the big screen as it is well and truly worth it with this film being just as good as all of the reviews that are out there are making it out to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that means that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 9.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all f the images that I personally used in this very review well then boy and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Studio Ghibli fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this very / particular / exact film being the official Studio Ghibli fandom wiki page since alot of the images that are from this film and that are currently still indeed up and on Studio Ghibli fandom wiki page are all really fairly freaking high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly freaking high in definition.