Der Junge und der Reiher

Less a swansong and more a heronsong from the Japanese maestro Hayao Miyazaki, a mystical and ambitious message of hope for the future.

Miyazaki proves he's still a master of the medium.

...a gentler and slower though no less soulful addition to [Hayao Miyazaki’s] canon.

...a fable about, among other things, the cost of searching for truth in the unreal—is all the more resonant for it.

...utterly gorgeous, Miyazaki’s most visually complex and impressive movie.

The legendary Japanese animator treads familiar ground, in a good way, for what could be his final film.

The film is as complicated as the man it is about, and this is what makes The Boy and the Heron a masterwork.