Over the years I have grown a huge respect for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. All his films have great animation, music, and of course mouthwatering food. Seriously how is there not a Studio Ghibli themed restaurant yet?! His most recent film The Boy and the Heron (How Do You Live?) was supposed to be Miyazaki’s last film before he retired “again” but he changed his mind and is starting on another film. The Boy and the Heron takes place near the end of World War 2 and focuses on a boy named Mahito Maki. After his mother dies, he moves in with her sister/new step mother. While there he comes across an abandoned tower which leads him into a fantasy world populated by birds. This film has a lot of the tropes Miyazaki likes to use such as a child protagonist, a fantasy world, war setting, and either a flying creature, flying scene, or even both.
Like most Ghibli films the voice talent here is impressive. Famous actors like Mark Hamill and William Dafoe all do a fantastic job. The biggest stand out of the entire cast to me has got to be Robert Patterson as the heron who you probably know as Cedric Diggory from the Harry Potter series, Batman from The Batman and especially Edward from the Twilight series. What’s so impressive about his performance is that while most actors use the same/similar voice for all their roles, Robert Patterson as the heron sounds nothing like his other roles. You can’t even tell it is Patterson. It’s really impressive when an actor is able to hide his voice so well.
The animation of course being a Ghibli film and also an anime film is incredible. The animation gives this fantasy world such an amazing and epic scale to it. One of my favorite little details in the movie is the wind animation. Something about the sound and the way things move in the wind, you really feel the wind as if you actually in the movie. The music again like all of Miyazaki’s films is fantastic. The composer Joe Hisaishi is to Hayao Miyazaki what John Williams is to Steven Spielberg. It’s hard to imagine a Miyazaki film without Hisaishi. His score gives the world so much whimsy and magic to it. My favorite bits of music in the film have to be the Warawara theme and the music when they fly away. Bascially any music involving these cute creatures are great.
Spoilers: If there was one problem, I had with this movie is that the whole blocks being stacked thing near the end isn’t really set up or explained very well. It’s not really a huge problem I just wish it was explained better. Even if this isn’t Miyazaki’s last film, I still think this would’ve been a great sendoff for this beloved director. The Boy and the Heron is one of Miyazaki’s finest films he’s directed. It’s got everything that makes a Ghibli film amazing.
Verdict:
+ Joe Hisaishi’s score
+ The animation
+ The voice acting
-The blocks plot device
Score: A
JacobsonCinema 