The Boy and the Heron (2023)

I wanted to see this the moment I learned that it was the first feature directed by Hayao Miyazaki since he semi-retired a decade ago. I didn't bother to look up much else about it. The reputed semi-autobiographical nature led me to suspect another realistic story like The Wind Rises, but only the first act could pass for realistic.

In World War II, when Mahito is a preteen or early teen, his mother dies in a fire. Following Japanese tradition, his father marries her pregnant sister, Natsuko, and moves from Tokyo to her country home, where a bunch of seniors also live. Traumatized Mahito isn't keen on his new classmates or his new maternal figure, but he does take interest in a ruined building in the nearby woods. Moreover, a mysterious gray heron seeks his attention with increasingly abnormal behaviors, provoking curiosity and spite. When Natsuko disappears into the woods and no one can find her for hours, Mahito decides to follow the heron, fully expecting a demonic trap.

Yup, it appears to be a tengu in the shape of a heron -- or rather, on closer inspection, in the shape of a cartoonish little man in a heron costume. He's not the only potentially deadly avian menace to face either. Fortunately, Miyazaki is big on antagonists who change their ways, so it's not exactly an anti-bird treatise.

The ruins lead to an adventure in an alternately bleak and colorful realm, where Mahito encounters some vague parallels to people he knows. It's one of those fantasies where the hero keeps learning the rules right up to the end. Sure feels like we went deep into the rabbit hole. And unlike Alice, Mahito doesn't go alone.

Unlike some Studio Ghibli productions I could name, this one has a sufficiently clear point. It just takes most of its 124 minutes to get there. And as usual, you're likely to get distracted by the audiovisual trappings. (It's not often that I notice good work by Foley artists.)

It's a Miyazaki work through and through. Not one of his cuter or more feminine-focused efforts, but neither does the violence reach the disturbing level of some others. The old man hasn't lost his touch, even if he had to work more slowly than before. If you normally like his stuff, you should be satisfied with TBatH.