 Well, I can finally knock off seeing a Miyazaki film in theaters off my bucket list. Ooh, that's a hot mug, guys! Hey guys, this is my review for Boy and the Heron. This is a film that I actually had quite a bit of excitement for. The fact that Miyazaki just seems to say he's gonna retire and then not do it, it hits almost as much as Ric Flair in terms of wrestling. The guy just never stops retiring. Technically speaking, my first introduction to Miyazaki was Kiki's delivery service, but I didn't really know it was him. I just was there watching it with friends, but my real first experience was spirited away and then Howl's Move in Castle. And I love Howl's Move in Castle. And an interesting note that I read about while watching that film is that Miyazaki starts these movies without really knowing how they're going to end or how they're going to progress. He doesn't really have an ending to the script. He makes it up as it goes along. And through that unfiltered chaos comes the beauty and the majesty that are his movies. At the same time, that is a bit of a narrative risk. And then it has happened with a few projects. As much as I love Howl's Move in Castle, the ending is pretty much like 30 minutes wrapped up in four. And in The Boy and the Heron, that writing style is on full display as this narrative is chaotic. The Boy and the Heron is based off a boy named Mahito whose mother dies in a fiery accident during the Second World War. The father then marries Mahito's aunt, the wife's sister, and they move out to the country to this house that has a very strange Heron and a boatload of weird mystical stories happening in it. For those of you who know about a short sci-fi anime film called Memories, I had a lot of vibes from this film, especially within the first initial story. As Miyazaki does with most of his films, it takes a minute for it to get started, but you're just caught up in the beauty of the artwork, the sound design, the music. The Foley is so good as Mahito's moving through the house, all the creaks in the wood and the staircase and the doors and the cupboards. It reminds me of all these houses that are in this area where a group of my family are. A lot of these houses are from the early 20th century, so they have a lot of history in them, not just in terms of what is in them, but also the design of them. I got a lot of that, a lot of satisfaction just from that noise ASMR. And then when the Heron speaks that the story really starts to get started, and there are moments where best way I can describe it is when Miyazaki hits the NOS button on the animation and everything goes up to 11. The delity of the movement, the texture, the clarity, the color just goes up. And this happens a couple of times in the movie. It takes your breath away. It is majestic to see. From that initial moment, the movie really starts to get started, but at the same time, the water on earth that's actually happening really starts to creep in. You are enamored with the events that are happening around you, from the environments and the characters and the birds. You really had a thing for birds for this movie. But at the back of your mind, at least for me, the whole time was, okay, where is this leading? What is the connective tissue of it? It's not so much an actual narrative. I find that this film's story is quite messy. But in terms of connecting to Miyazaki's previous works, there's a lot in here. Whether it was intentional or not, there's all of these references to all of his older works, not just in terms of visual matter, but also how the story portrays itself. There's a lot of similarities to Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Fantasy-esque elements like Castle in the Sky and Hell's Within Castle. And also the fact that this takes place in Japan during the Second World War. Harkening's back to the Wind Rises. The last time I thought he said for sure he was retiring, it's always crazy to me to see just what he can get from his imagination. And while I feel the narrative will falter throughout this film, and it becomes more and more messy, the connections between what is this key focus of the story and the overall branches are just like, yeah, sure, it's like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. To the point where the film comes to an end and I was just sitting there going, what actually happened in this movie? It's the visual fidelity of the movie that really pulls you in and you are able to excuse those narrative kind of strangeness oddities. And I enjoyed myself. I had fun, I was laughing, I was a little bit freaked out at some points. I was intrigued. But one of the bigger criticisms I can say is it didn't hold my attention the whole time. There were moments where it would almost grip you and then it kind of slipped away. And then it would come back again and then it would slip away again because it just hadn't nailed down what the actual fuck this movie was about. While having an incredibly messy narrative in my opinion still has a lot of the quintessential monikers that people who enjoy Miyazaki movies will love. The animation is beautiful. The music is beautiful. And the similarities and homages, like I said, whether intentional or not to his previous works, are really nice. I like those elements. But I wouldn't say this is one of his best ones. One of the people I went and saw this film with had a very good point in that after House Moving Castle, Miyazaki's edge slightly started to dull. And not so much in the terms of his animation, but just the story element. Like I said, House Moving Castle wraps up a lot of shit in the last five minutes. I love the movie, but it is a bit of whiplash. And this film is a very prime example of that kind of storytelling unhinged, I would say. So in the end, I'm going to give The Boy in the Heron a 4 out of 7. I thought it was fun. It's not one of my favorite ones of his. But again, you can't fault the animation, the music, the Foley and the ambition, I guess of it all. But anyways, that's all for me, guys. I hope you enjoyed this review. Please let me know what you guys liked about this movie. Also in the comments, I'd love to see lists of what your favorite Miyazaki movies are. I still have a few others to see, and I'm planning to make my way through that list over time. But yeah, just interested to see what you guys have to say about the guy and his work. Anyways, guys, that's all for me. I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did, leave a like, and if you're interested in more, subscribe. Until then, I'll see you guys next time.