If you're looking for a movie to stream this weekend, look no further than "The Boy and the Heron." Max just added the latest animated fantasy movie from legendary director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, and it's a must-watch.
Seriously, this was one of the best fantasy movies in recent years it's my most anticipated movie coming to the best streaming services this month. "The Boy and the Heron" was an incredible success last year, securing Miyazaki's second win for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and scoring an impressive 97% "fresh" rating from the review aggregation platform Rotten Tomatoes. However, it's been a long wait to stream this movie. Despite being released back in July of last year, it's only just dropping on Max today (Sept. 6).
So if you're like me, you've been foaming at the mouth waiting to escape into Miyazaki's latest fantastical world. But if you haven't heard of "The Boy and the Heron," here's why this movie is the movie you need to watch on Max this week.
What is 'The Boy and the Heron' about?
"The Boy and the Heron" centers around Mahito Maki (Luca Padovan). Mahito's father (Christian Bale) moves the family to the countryside after Mahito's mother is killed in a hospital fire. Once there, Mahito encounters a mysterious grey heron (Robert Pattinson), which leads him to a sealed watchtower that used to be the home of his mother's granduncle.
Mahito's new stepmother (Gemma Chan) — his late mother's sister — also came with them to the countryside. But one day, she disappears, and Mahito and the family's maid Kiriko (Florence Pugh) enter the watchtower to try and find her. They get more than they bargained for though, and instead begin an epic journey through a world shared by the living and the dead.
As I already mentioned, this movie is up there with Miyazaki's best and was crowned the Best Animated Feature at the most recent Academy Awards. This English-language version features an incredible voice cast, which besides those already mentioned includes Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Willem Dafoe and Dave Bautista among others.
The other added layer to this movie is that it's also loosely autobiographical, drawing inspiration from Miyazaki's childhood. Like Mahito's father Shoichi, Miyazaki's father worked for a military plane manufacturer. They also had to evacuate to the countryside during Miyazaki's childhood. Even the loss of Mahito's mother is a nod to Miyazaki's feelings about the loss of his mother Yoshiko.
'The Boy and the Heron' is my most anticipated new to Max movie this month — maybe this year
Given its deeply personal themes, it's no surprise that "The Boy and the Heron" has been lauded for its story.
Diana Tuova from Spotlight on Film called it "Miyazaki’s most metaphorical animated film to date" and praised it for its "bitter-sweet" fantastical adventure story.
Brandon Lewis from Geek Vibes Nation similarly praised the movie, saying that "If Hayao Miyazaki did conceive it as his last movie, The Boy and the Heron is a stunning closer, where the director looks inward to chart the path to an imminent future without him."
I'm not sure this will be Miyazaki's final movie. Studio Ghibli has struggled to find a successor, and by all accounts, Miyazaki has shown no signs that he has the capacity, let alone the desire to stop working.
However, I do know that as long as he keeps producing films like "The Boy and the Heron" I will keep watching. I cannot wait to finally watch it on Max now that it's available to stream, and I can't promise I'll only watch it once.
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