Story: 7
On paper, the story is a slam dunk. Boy loses his mother in a fire. His father remarries. Boy has a hard time adjusting to his new family and settings. Fantasy hi-jinks ensue. It is a very similar idea to Spirited Away. The issue is that the fantasy hi-jinks are harder to follow. Whereas Spirited Away quickly tells you the world you're in, the rules that need to be followed, who to trust and who not to trust, The Boy and The Heron takes much longer to set up. One moment it's fantasy, another moment it's dreamscape, another moment it's pure imagination. The goal posts for the plot also move around a lot.The overarching goal of "rescue Natsuko" stays the same. But we also go on lots of subplots, that make it easy to forget what we were doing in the first place. I honestly feel like this movie would've done better as a TV show. We could meet all these different characters, explore all these different settings, piece the mystery together, and then complete the main objective at the end. If you're already well versed in visual storytelling, and you are smart enough to piece everything together as Mahito does, then this isn't a problem. But I can see some people getting lost. It's a good story. It's just a tad inaccessible to audiences expecting to sit back and not think.
Art: 9
As per usual, the animation is impeccable. It is so refreshing to see a movie that uses little to no CGI. The movements are all fluid. Even small things like curling up in a bed, or walking up stairs is beautiful to look at. The transitions between facial expressions is also a joy to look at. There are a few shots where the movements look too fast. But that is a nitpick. The liquids also look like voluminous jelly in some shots (specifically a scene with some blood.) But once again, those are nitpicks. You could put this movie on mute and have a blast looking at the smooth animations and beautifully painted backgrounds.
Sound: 7
I saw this movie in theaters, so I was stuck with the dub. Nothing to write home about. But the soundtrack was nice. There were moments of pure silence, and then the theme would subtly creep in. The music was not doing the heavy lifting. But it's also clear that the music wasn't supposed to be doing any heavy lifted in the first place. And the fact that the music knew when to take a backseat was a sign of good directing choices.
Character: 7
Honestly, the characters weren't much to write home about. One of the weak points of the story is that Mahito doesn't really go through much character development. His character development just kinda happens at key moments when it needs to. Nothing super jarring. But also nothing the make the character stand out on his own. The other characters are largely archetypes. Well done archetypes. But still archetypes. Natsuko and the Dad are typical supportive adults, even if Mahito has mixed feelings about them. The old ladies are typical friendly busybodies. Himi is the adventurous female tomboy. The two most interesting characters are the Heron (who makes for a good reluctant ally) and Kiriko, who obviously has a lot of sass, attitude, and unspoken history behind her. If you've seen a Miyazaki movie, you'll recognize these archetypes right away. But just because they are recognizable does not make them bad.
Enjoyment: 8
I am someone who loves abstract storytelling. And I love stories that respect the intelligence of the viewer. This movie does both of these things. My only gripe with it is that it switches between concepts too fast. We have the movie start as a kid trying to adjust to a new environment. He tries to build a bow for himself, and we enjoy watching him figure it out in detail. Then a few scenes later the bow is unceremoniously destroyed. So why did we spend so much time on it? We see Mahito almost get forced into an area he's clearly not supposed to go. But thanks to some help, he avoids catastrophe. But then we immediately switch to fishing. But if the bad place was such a big deal, why did we switch away from it so suddenly? Why not just skip straight to the fishing? There are lots of good ideas that either don't get explored enough, or get tossed away just as you start feeling invested. It's part of the reason why I think this would've been better as a TV show. The ideas we are presented with are genuinely cool. And seeing them is fun. But you end up hungry for more when they suddenly switch away from them, or when the concepts are left under-developed.
Overall: 7
I'm glad I saw this movie. The message of the movie is clear. A creator has created a great world, and is struggling to keep it sustained. And a boy who is struggling to find his place in a new environment gets roped into it. Considering how long Miyazaki has been making worlds, it makes sense why he made a movie like this. And I genuinely enjoyed it. But it is also not super accessible if you aren't ready for a deeply personal and abstract story. I love the visuals, I love the deeply personal aspects of it, and I love the messages behind it. But this movie should really be approached as a personal art piece, as opposed to a consumable movie. I'm actually glad the movie was PG13. Because I think that will help filter the right audience towards a film like this anyways.
