Review: The Boy and the Heron

Official synopsis: 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.

If you've been around here for a while, you know of my love for Studio Ghibli films. My family and I watched all of them together and I have a running ranking list on letterboxd. Spirited Away is one of my all time favorite films. My anticipation for The Boy and the Heron was off the charts. 

And I was so disappointed. Despite the glowing reviews and love from Film Twitter. This just did not work for me. My hope is if I sit with it for a while, I might find change my mind. It wouldn't be the first time a Ghibli movie did that for me. But it's a new release and I have to go off my feelings now.

The Boy and the Heron is kind of a mess. The pacing is very uneven. It starts off slow, almost taking too long to get going, then when it does it throws everything at you all at once. The animation is beautiful, and the score is easily one of my favorites of the year, but I just couldn't vibe with this. My husband dozed off at one point and asked what he missed. When I had to explain the kids interrupted a birth, got attacked by bandages and now a bunch of parakeets want to eat them, I knew truly just how far off the deep end this went.

It's not horrible. We're not looking at another Earwig here, it's just lower end Ghibli for me. It exists with The Secret World of Arietty, and Tales from Earthsea. In no way bad films, just not ones I feel like revisiting any time soon. But who knows. Maybe this will pull a Porco Rosso and make me want to see it again some day and re-examine how I felt. Anything is possible. 

Grade: C+