When my wife and I found out there was going to be a new movie from Studio Ghibli, we were eager to see it. But we only got the chance to do so yesterday after it was released few days ago. We decided to see the film in the cinema where the picture and sound quality was better than others. OK, I'll get right at it then.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1943, the 12 year old Mahito (Soma Santoki) had moved with his father Soichi (Takuya Kimura - Long Vacation TV series, Hero etc) to a big house in the country side belonged to his wife's younger sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura - Masquarade Night etc). 

From the first day of their move, a grey heron seemed to take interest on Mahito. As he was getting used to the new life, Mahito was approached by the heron who apparently could speak (voiced by Masaki Suda - Gintama, Kamen Rider W TV series etc) and was informed of something that intrigued him. But not until an incident happened that Mahito went along with the Heron and entered in a mysterious world where he met a lot of characters including a fisherman (Ko Shibasaki - xxxHolic etc) and pyrokinetic woman named Himi (Aimyon).

So would Mahito be able to return to his world? You could find out in the movie.

End of Brief Story Line

My wife had been a major fan of films from Studio Ghibli way earlier than I was. But ever since I watched My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away via online streaming, I could appreciate and understood the reasons for so many people adored the movies. I also watched few other fIlms and enjoyed them as well, though not as many as the ones she had watched. Anyway, since this movie was the latest work by Hayao Miyazaki (director/writer for the two movies I mentioned above and few others), we do not want to miss the opportunity to see it on the large screen.

When the movie started, we could feel that the quality of the animation was still as high as the previous films. But after a bit of exciting moment, the story moved in a very slow pace. To be honest, both of us felt unclear where the movie was heading even though we could feel the emotion of Mahito. And it really took a toll on us as we felt really sleepy. Not until we reached almost half of the film that the story became clearer and the fantasy element that was such a trademark on Miyazaki's prior works were shown. The pace also became faster and was more exciting as the story now focused more on the adventure of Mahito and the Heron.

During the whole movie, the one thing that I really felt great was the musical score by Joe Hisaishi (composer of other Ghibli films like Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle and many others). Those piano instrumental music was amazing especially during the emotional moment involving Mahito and in the final third. The story itself was actually pretty simple about a young boy who had to deal with huge loss and how he had to cope with it, obviously combined with those fantasy elements. Once again Hayao Miyazaki showed his wonderful writing ability and his fantastic imagination. 

After reading more info on the internet, I found out that the title was in reference to a 1937 novel written by Genzaburo Yoshino but it focused on an entirely different story. From what I know, the movie was highly praised and already got several award nominations including Golden Globe. So the long wait (due to various reasons for delay including Covid-19 etc) and expensive production value was really worth it. As at now, this movie was said to be the final work of Hayao Miyazaki after his supposed retirement in 2013.

Despite the universal praise, for me and my wife who are not as deep minded as those professional film critics, we were not as appreciative of this movie as other Ghibli films probably because of the unclarity where it was heading in the first half which also reduced the interesting part of the fantasy world. The film had duration of 124 minutes including closing credit that did not have any mid or post end credit scene, but we were accompanied by a lovely song tItled Spinning Globe by Kenshi Yonezu. The cast in general were OK, though I thought Soma Santoki sounded a bit too mature for a 12 year old boy. In addition to those names, there were also the voice cast of Shohei Hino (Emperor etc), Kaoru Kobayashi (Midnight Diner TV series etc), Jun Kunimura (Kate etc) and few others in their respective roles.

So if you are huge fans of anything released by Studio Ghibli, likely you would appreciate this film. But if you have never experienced them before, you might find this not as easy to absorb as the movies created for the casual audience. Even hard core fans like my wife or the medium level fan like myself felt too much of a challenge to be fully entertained by this movie. Don't get me wrong though, this movie is still an amazing one. It's just not exactly my cup of tea, especially when compared with the others from Ghibli that I had seen before. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars