The Boy And The Heron (2023) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Instagram post:
When it came to new cinema releases that I wanted to see, few had me as excited as seeing a new Hiyao Miyazaki directed Studio Ghibli story. I had heard some incredibly positive things about this newest animated odyssey, which, of course, raised my already high expectations.
The film is an allegory of grief, much like other Miyazaki works. What is so impressive to me, is how Hiyao is able to re-explore this theme in so many unique and fresh ways. The man is an unstoppable force of creativity. But, I am reviewing the film and not the man. So, how was the execution of the story?
The answer was not as easy to come to as I would normally find with Miyazaki. I think there were a myriad of bright, creative and fascinating ideas, as per usual, although I think the film felt a bit cluttered, or over-filled. The strings of the narrative arcs were not so tightly bound as in Myazaki's very best films.
I loved a lot of the different stands of the story, but how well they fitted together, I wasn't so sure of. If I was to use one word to sum up my criticisms, the word would be unfocused. That really is how it feels. I thought that everything needed tightening up, to make a more concise and driven narrative.
I had one other nagging issue with the film, and that was with the main character, or rather, how he responded to the events around him. Aside from his initial traumatic experience, he either under-reacted, or simply did not react at all, to the vast majority of the bizarre, wonderous and, at times, scary happenings that take place.
It should come as no surprise to know that the animation art style was absolutely beautiful. The scenery was stunning, and I found a lot of the character design to be absolutely exquisite. I also really appreciated some of the subtle evolutions of the actual animation, which brought to life some hugely imaginative scenes and sequences.
I watched the English-dubbed version of the film, although I do plan to watch a subtitled version in the future. As such, my actor performance reviews reflect that, in that they describe the English voice cast, rather than the original Japanese voice cast.
The voice performance of Luca Padovan was a bit of a quandary for me. In truth, it wasn't entirely his fault. The above issues hampered him a fair amount, and while he clearly committed to the character and was, at times, rather emotive, I just felt that his performance wasn't big enough for such an emotional role. It definitely was not all his fault, and I do definitely believe that he had some well-voiced scenes.
My favourite performance came from the talented Karen Fukuhara. She brought so much energy and joy to her character, which made her so lovable and easily the most memorable character in the film, despite not featuring for much of the actual runtime.
I was pretty impressed with Florence Pugh, who I thought gave a pretty varied performance, and helped to give her supporting character plenty of depth and personality, which made her all the more interesting. It's easy to forget just how talented she is as an actress.
I loved the performance of Gemma Chan, whose voice I found very endearing. She brought a sincerity and softness to the character that I simply adored. She also helped to elevate one of the key character dynamics, between her role and Padovan's, and made it very easy to invest in.
I was actually a little disappointed with the performance of Robert Pattinson. Usually, he can evoke so much depth in his roles, however, I felt like he wasn't all that memorable, unfortunately. His actual voice acting was okay, but I definitely had the impression that he could have done more with it.
I'd say that Mark Hamill needed more screentime to have fully realised the potential of his character. That said, for what it's worth, his performance was a pretty successful one. I just really wish he had more time - his character could've been very memorable.
Dave Bautista once again proved why he is a hugely underrated and varied actor in film. I adored his brief voice acting role here, and I desperately wish he had more time and more lines, because he was such a joy to listen to. He created so much personality with so little dialogue, I could only be impressed.
The last two actors I want to mention, I felt very differently towards. Willem Dafoe was wonderful in his very small role. I didn't realise it was him at first, which I'm a little ashamed about. The character was very memorable, despite only appearing in one scene.
By contrast, I found the voice acting of Christian Bale a little underwhelming. I adored Bale in 'Howl's Moving Castle', but his performance in this just didn't hit the same.
Overall, I respected and enjoyed this expansive and colourful story, but I'm not sure I loved it. Had it been more focused, then I think I really would have. But, alas, it didn't quite reach those heights I was hoping for. Even so, I enjoyed the experience of watching the film, and I think a second viewing will be well worth it.
Comments