Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-nominated movie The Wind Rises, released in 2013, was supposed to be the director’s final movie. It seems, however, that the writer-director can’t be stopped. The famed animator — best known for Studio Ghibli classics Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro – has released a new hand-drawn animation, originally called How Do You Live? but re-titled The Boy and The Heron in the US.
Audiences went in blind, since Studio Ghibli decided to not drop any trailers, cast list or plot summary before its release, but we now have some first-look reviews and images for the movie that give us a bit more insight into the mysterious, highly-anticipated project. We also have our first look at the film’s English language cast, which includes none other than R-Patz himself, in a new trailer that just dropped.
You can watch it below, alongside everything else we know about The Boy and The Heron.
What is the plot of The Boy and The Heron?
In an interview with The New York Times in 2021, Hayao gave us a bit of info on the movie and its central themes. The Boy and The Heron is inspired by the 1937 novel How Do You Live? — the original title for the movie too — by Japanese author Yoshino Genzaburō. The novel tells the story of the gifted and popular 15-year-old boy Koperu, who goes to live with his uncle following his father’s death.
But Miyazaki’s adaptation is a little looser. The official English language plot states: “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.” Studio Ghibli are also calling it “a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship.”
Is there a trailer?
Studio Ghibli decided to release the movie with no trailer or first-look images at all. But now the film is set to launch in countries outside of Japan, we’ve been thrown a few crumbs: a number of mysterious first look images, and a teaser trailer in Japanese. Above is the new trailer in English, which showcases most spectacularly Robert Pattinson’s creaky croaky take on the Heron. Slay!
When was The Boy and The Heron made?
Like previous Ghibli films, The Boy and the Heron is entirely hand-drawn, with Hayao taking the lead on most of the frames’ artwork himself (he began work on the project before it had officially been signed off in 2017). Originally planned to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympics, that same year Toshio shared that it was taking longer to produce because Hayao was only able to create one minute of animation per month, compared to the 10 minutes per month he was averaging when he was younger. However, it seems as though being forced indoors during the COVID lockdowns helped. By the end of 2020, the 125 minute-long film was half complete.
Who is in the cast and crew?
Behind the scenes, many longtime Studio Ghibli collaborators were brought back to collaborate with Hayao on The Boy and the Heron. When asked by The New York Times why he came out of retirement to produce the film, Hayao simply replied: “because I want to.” Fair enough! Voice actors involved include the relatively unknown Soma Santoki as central character Mahito, Masaki Suda as The Grey Heron, and Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill Vol.1, The Wind Rises) as The Parakeet King.
Who’s in the English language dub of The Boy and the Heron?
Luca Padovan plays the lead character Mahito Maki. Christian Bale will play Shoichi Maki, the father of the film’s protagonist. Dave Bautista will play the madhatter character The Parakeet King, while Willem Dafoe plays Noble Pelican. Gemma Chan will play Natsuko, the stepmother of the film’s protagonist, while Karen Fukuhara will play Lady Himi. Mark Hamill appears as Granduncle, while Florence Pugh plays the plucky Kiriko. Finally, Robert Pattinson makes an appearance in the film as the cunning and strange titular character, the Gray Heron.
What are the reviews for The Boy and the Heron?
“Every frame of this film feels like a separate work of art — one that only becomes grander when put together as part of the greater whole,” the Anime News Network said of the movie after its Japanese release. “It’s a film you could watch a hundred times and still discover new things in the background of any given scene. It cannot be understated how the little visual details take the film from real to surreal — like a heron flashing a toothy grin or wooden dolls vibrating as if in sympathetic laughter. It’s an animation tour de force unlike anything seen in the past decade.”
The Eiga Channel also gave a very positive review, writing: “It is no exaggeration to say that this film is among the best of Ghibli’s works in terms of visuals and story… Ghibli, which has produced fantasy works that are easily understandable by children, has finally released a work that requires time and consideration to understand, so it is natural that there will be reactions of confusion. And there must be many viewers who were simply overwhelmed by the visual beauty.”
World of Reel also reported some moviegoers were comparing it to Inception due to the intricate, complicated structure of the story, while Time Out Tokyo writer Emma Steen said: “Miyazaki’s latest film stands as a testament to his enduring legacy. It’s a mature, complex masterpiece, weaving together the director’s past, present, and future – a beautiful enigma that promises to be worth the wait.”
How did The Boy and the Heron do at the box office?
The Boy and The Heron grossed $13.2 million over its first weekend (beating out Howl’s Moving Castle for the biggest-ever Studio Ghibli debut) and set an IMAX record by making $1.7 million in the first three days post-release. Its Japanese box office gross to date sits at $46 million.
Is The Boy and the Heron Hayao Miyazaki’s final film?
Apparently not. “Other people say that this might be his last film, but he doesn’t feel that way at all,” said Studio Ghibli executive Junichi Nishioka through a translator. “He is currently working on ideas for a new film. He comes into his office every day and does that. This time, he’s not going to announce his retirement at all. He’s continuing working just as he has always done.”
When is The Boy and the Heron released?
After hitting Japanese cinemas on 14 July, The Boy and the Heron will hit US theatres on 8 December and in the UK on Boxing Day: 26 December.