I wasn’t too impressed tbh. The plot felt a bit too messy. I liked Across the Spiderverse better.
It feels like Ghibli just won it for the sake of it being Ghibli. I won’t say I disliked the film. The visuals were great and the voice acting was very well done as usual. But yeah, plot left a lot to be desired. It felt like we were missing half a movie in the middle
To offer a dissenting opinion: As a Ghibli fan, this might honestly be my new second favorite Ghibli movie.
I’m also a fan of Ghibli, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. But your opinion is just as valid :)
I greatly enjoyed the movie, especially how real it felt as a goodbye from Miyazaki. But I do think it was a bit disjointed, and the first half of the plot wasn’t as well done.
Glad you enjoyed it! Could you please explain why it’s your new second favorite Ghibli movie? I’m honestly curious.
It’s tough to give a reason other than “vibes,” but it made me feel a broad range of emotions throughout the film, had beautiful scenery/animation, and had fun and quirky characters. Plus, this one felt much more “adult” than most Ghibli movies, which surprised me in a good way.
People are saying the plot is jank, but I’ve never gone into a Ghibli movie for the plot. It’s more of an emotional experience to me.
I feel like such a fake fan. This is obviously one of his most personal and sincere artistic offerings as a film maker… but I was just bored the entire way through. It was beautiful and whimsical, but the story left me so cold and unsatisfied. Nothing resolved, nothing really mattered, nothing felt like subtext. And I know I’m wrong, it MUST be something I missed.
I guess I’m just basic, but hit me with that Porco Rosso or Wind Rises or Laputa vibes. But thats art, there’s no accounting for taste. I’m going to watch Heron again and see if it takes a second viewing for it to hit home.
Regardless how I feel about it, I was so happy to finally catch a Miyazaki film in theatres with my kids. That was great.
As for nothing being resolved, I feel like the main character did work through his grief and trauma surrounding the death of his mother, which imo was the central conflict.
That said: You don’t have any obligation to like anything. If it didn’t hit for you, that’s 100% okay. You aren’t “fake” or “wrong” if it didn’t vibe with you.
I guess my favorite is spirited away, will I like this?
The moving castle, mononoke and some earlier ones too.
Of all Ghibli movies, imo this one is most similar to Spirited Away. Hard to say for certain if you’ll like it, but I definitely think it’s worth a watch.
I’ll be honest. I always autofill heron with heroine every time I read the title. I’m too news pilled
Do you mean heroine, a female lead character; or heroin, a highly addictive opioid?
I think they meant Herobrine, the mob Mojang keeps trying to remove from Minecraft.
The weakest Ghibli film I watched. granted I didn’t watch every one but a lot of them. My main problem is the last third of the film. Nearly every arc they started is not paying off at the end because this stupid bird just destroys everything. Nothing is explained, like in a lot of Ghibli films, however most of the other films imply meaning in a lot of ways and explain the world in subtle ways which this one just misses so hard…
Yeah, I agree with this. Also each of his films has a clear motif, but this one is super vague. It’s about acceptance of death maybe? Or growing up? Letting go of… stuff?
The weird thing is: the first time I saw this movie I thought “ah the first Ghibli movie that is not from Miyazaki” and its the exact opposite xD
I loved all of the Miyazaki films except The Wind Rises, which I found to be awful and boring. So I’m kind of afraid to watch this one. Is it more like his earlier work or more like the wind rises?
It’s mainly surreal fantasy used to explore the protagonist’s trauma. The WWII aspects are mostly in the background, besides the first scene.
Hmmm it’s hard to say because its theme is definitely similar to The Wind Rises in that it’s semi autobiographical about his childhood during WWII. However it has more of Myazaki’s trademark mystical elements than TWR.
For me I genuinely loved it and thought it poetically blended aspects of his real childhood and how time distorts memory. It’s kind of a culmination of his old work and his more “realism” movies like TWR. In the end, it stands as a unique work of art as anyone would expect from a Miyazaki film. Highly recommend it.
As a note, Mark Hamill and Robert Pattinson were particularly exceptional performances in the Eng version.
Same, could not finish Wind rises either but I guess I will just have to go see the new one.
Very unstimulating and dull in my opinion
