I am a big fan of the films of Hayao Miyazaki...so much so that I went out and got a tattoo of his Totoro characters. And, I've seen and enjoyed all his films. So, when I say I didn't particularly like "The Boy and the Heron"...well, that says a lot.
The story is confusing and the ending seems, well, to kind of contradictory. I'll TRY to give a brief overview. The story is set in Japan during the later portion of WWII, though the war seems to play very little part in the story. It begins with a fire in which Mahito's mother is killed. A few years pass and Mahito and his father have moved out to the country because the father's fiancee lives there...plus, it is the war and being in a city was NOT a good thing. Mahito is shocked when a heron begins talking to him...and a weird human-like face emerges from the bill. Eventually, he and the heron enter a weird parallel world caused, apparently, by a strange meteorite and his great-great uncle. What happens next is confusing, so I'll just stop here.
So many confusing story elements. Why did Mahito smash a rock against his skull early in the story? Why did the great-great uncle say he wanted Mahito's help...but then Mahito wakes up in chains! And, later, the great-great uncle says how much he likes Mahito...but what about the chains? There were more strange and inexplicable occurrances.
While some might say that Miyazaki had made other confusing and difficult films, if you know about Japanese folklore and religion, films like "Spirited Away" make MUCH more sense. But this one is just confusing...and probably will be to Japanese audiences as well.
I'm giving the film a 6 simply because the animation was nice and the film was original. But apart from that, the confusing story isn't fun, the characters aren't lovable and I think it's possibly his weakest movie.
The story is confusing and the ending seems, well, to kind of contradictory. I'll TRY to give a brief overview. The story is set in Japan during the later portion of WWII, though the war seems to play very little part in the story. It begins with a fire in which Mahito's mother is killed. A few years pass and Mahito and his father have moved out to the country because the father's fiancee lives there...plus, it is the war and being in a city was NOT a good thing. Mahito is shocked when a heron begins talking to him...and a weird human-like face emerges from the bill. Eventually, he and the heron enter a weird parallel world caused, apparently, by a strange meteorite and his great-great uncle. What happens next is confusing, so I'll just stop here.
So many confusing story elements. Why did Mahito smash a rock against his skull early in the story? Why did the great-great uncle say he wanted Mahito's help...but then Mahito wakes up in chains! And, later, the great-great uncle says how much he likes Mahito...but what about the chains? There were more strange and inexplicable occurrances.
While some might say that Miyazaki had made other confusing and difficult films, if you know about Japanese folklore and religion, films like "Spirited Away" make MUCH more sense. But this one is just confusing...and probably will be to Japanese audiences as well.
I'm giving the film a 6 simply because the animation was nice and the film was original. But apart from that, the confusing story isn't fun, the characters aren't lovable and I think it's possibly his weakest movie.