Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ogblynz
Rating: 5/10
"How Do You Live?" was a disappointingly mediocre and fake feeling experience. The film was overwhelmingly quiet for roughly 85% of the runtime, which could have been effective if the silence had served a purpose. Instead, the lack of dialogue and explanation felt frustrating. The film presented ideas and events with little to no context, leaving everything for the audience to interpret. While ambiguity can be a powerful narrative tool, here it just felt like the story was being intentionally vague to the point of annoyance.
The protagonist barely spoke and seemed to move through the story as if guided by the wind rather than his own decisions. There was no internal monologue, no moments of reflection, and no attempts to ask essential questions like "What is that?" or "Why i…
Read at the sourceSahil_K_Chandio
I have eagerly anticipated this film’s release ever since the day it was announced way back then and now it is at last here. The Boy & The Heron is a visual spectacle, akin to most Ghibli films a single frame from this can go for a solid wallpaper. They went overboard with some of the stuff here; even “minor” stuff like the flame animations and the cloth physics are sure to fill up oddly satisfying boards online when this drops on digital.
If I were to make comparisons to previous Ghibli films and their artistic direction, I’d say this feels like an amalgamation of The Wind Rises and Howl’s Moving Castle. Joe Hisaishi’s score is, as usual, magical, and it perfectly complements the movie. Kenshi Yonezu’s Spinning Globe is also a beautiful vocal track that hits hard when it graces your ear…
Read at the sourcePanda_Roll
Miyazaki came out of retirement for one last hoorah.
However he was in said retirement for 10 years, also it's Miyazaki so who's going to tell him "no" to anything?
I went into the Boy and the Heron blind not knowing a thing about it beyond the poster... two hours later I still know nothing about it and I'm rather sleepy.
I can see the general outline. A boy dealing with the grief of losing his mother and the growing pains of integrating into a new family. The way it's presented however is nonsensical. More like other characters and actions from other ghibli productions were just rehashed here in a watered down version. Spirited away + princess mononoke being the two most prominent influence.
While I don't mind the dreamlike logic the movie was going for my question with any show is:…
Read at the sourceMapinha
How do you live?
Miyazaki desperately seeks an answer to this question as he makes it again to the author of the original book, in which the film is titled in Japanese (“Kimitachi wa dou ikiru ka?”; “How do you live?”). The octogenarian and multi-award winning director demonstrates his non-response with an exposure of his self on screen for over 120 minutes; that is, a conscious work on his personas as an artist, as a father, as a human being and, above all, as an idealist. There is no clear answer: the film is an amalgamation of a life filled with uninterrupted attempts to seek beauty in the corruption of reality, the real world.
At times, the film features countless self references: it's as if Miyazaki knew he was making a... Miyazaki film. The director presents the public with an inte…
Read at the sourceEmpireDeLuna
Hayao Miyazaki saying goodbye to his viewers whom he considers as his grandchildrens, is a narcissism that I didn't expect to break my heart this badly.
The Boy and the Heron is the Miyazaki's that needs the most of context to begin with. The most personal, an Endgame for Studio Ghibli. An intimate message that those who weren't raised on his grand tales may not understand.
But for those of us who found a friend in Totoro. For those of us who fantasize seeing Laputa when looking up at the sky. For those of us who can't wait to grow up like Kiki. For those of us who fell in love with San and Ashitaka. For those of us who found home and identity in Yubaba's Hot Springs of the Spirits. For those of us who were mesmerized by Howl's moving palace and Sophie's miraculous maturity. For those of…
Read at the sourcebergars
I'm extremely shocked of not liking it.
The beginning times of “The Boy and the Heron” were this beautifully haunting portrayal of loss. A sudden, traumatic event that sticks with every step of your life from then on. It was a quiet, subdued movie, never vomiting any information, leading us into a slow, methodical build-up. I was engrossed, tense, wondering where the story might lead, this may be a masterpiece. The movie itself gave me these expectations of what to expect, and when it turned whimsical, I was still hyped up, until I got… bored?
That can't be right. The movie was being so good, but then it started losing me. It went off the rails into a surreal, fantasy world, that was cute, fun, but ultimately unfocused as hell. I didn't get any of the emotions in terms of hitting me. I c…
Read at the sourceAngry_Anime_Nerd
I think I get what Miyazaki was trying to go for here, but the movie struggles with being too ambitious. From what I'm hearing, in interviews, it seems more of a reflection on Miyazaki's worldviews rather than actually being a good film. I don't mind this being different from other Ghibli projects, but it really wasn't a good movie, Ghibli or otherwise.
About 75% of the film is a basic slice of life adventure. By the time things get interesting, the movie is almost over. Instead of spending so much time on the mundane stuff, there should've been more time spent on the symbolic, spiritual and fantasy-world aspects. There's something with these things, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. There are even some important characters that don't get introduced until that 75% o…
Read at the sourceSwoss
I walked into the cinema not knowing a single thing about The Boy and the Heron.
And I walked out still not knowing anything. Nothing about the plot, the characters and what they represented, especially the rather 'Okay, I guess that's it,' ending and, in particular, what Miyazaki was getting at, what he aimed to actually achieve with this movie. You can't just come out of a 10 year long pseudo-hiatus and decide to come back out swinging with a nearly 3 hour experience with literally nothing to tell. Yet, for some reason, that's exactly what happened. Walked out with absolutely no clue what the hell just happened.
No, I had not left immediately after entering. And no, I did not fall asleep; yet after a while I was borderline comatose. I sat and watched the full 2 and a half hours, comple…
Read at the sourceTangyAbleOrange
The animation is its best feature, followed by a solid soundtrack. The story, on the other hand... is bad. The first act where stuff is sort of set up is decent, but then the setup phase just does... not... end. More and more things keep getting introduced and it keeps going and going, and what's crazy is that nearly NONE of it is given time for a rhyme or reason for why it is part of the world much less the story. Or rather, nearly everything is given roughly the same amount of time, which leads to everything being given roughly the same level of importance, which leads to nothing being important. The film has starting points of ideas and elements of world-building, but it keeps stacking them up unrelentingly without giving them proper form, function, and stability which sadly leads to it…
Read at the sourceM0RR1S0N
This movie is bad. If you wanted the quick version, there it is, dont waste your time like this movie wasted mine.
Why is this movie bad? Well, like a child with an attention deficit, this movie jumps from one thing to the next, switching to random shit when it runs out of ideas, constantly forgets about established characters and plot lines, explains none of its bullshit, and then expects you to do all the work of making sense of it and “discovering” its “deeper meaning.” There isn’t one, so don’t bother looking for it. It just makes a half-assed statement about appreciating who/what you have and not overdoing escapism, something other Ghibli movies have done before in a much more coherent and interesting way.
Somehow this movie manages to feel both incredibly rushed and extremely overd…
Read at the sourceNerdodivergent
I am not lying when I tell you that watching this film healed a deep wound in me.
The art in this film is stunning and breathtaking like all Ghibli films, but there’s a new style to it. It’s almost like a touch of softness from pastels or water color. It adds a wonderful dimension that’s unlike previous films. The use of music, especially in place of characters speaking is a new choice that had me on the edge of my seat every time. I felt that if I had made a noise I would’ve broken the characters focus; that’s how powerful it was. And of course the scenes with swelling, thunderous vocals with music are just incredible. The plot line is meandering in a way that captures your heart throughout the journey. A wonderful cast of characters that are able to walk the line between gripping drama…
Read at the sourceRyanSpring
My wife and I saw this in theaters last night. Other than watching the trailer for the film the day before, we went in completely blind. My abridged thoughts are more or less unless you're a really hardcore Ghibli fan who likes anything and everything they put out just because it's Ghibli, you'll probably be some amount of underwhelmed with this.
The Boy and the Heron very much LOOKS like a Ghibli movie. It has the classic Ghibli art style with a 2023 coat of paint. It's not the prettiest anime I've ever seen but it definitely looks nice and it brings a very vibrant and colorful palette to the table, but unless something absolutely blows me away with how good it looks, or unless it's hideous, I'm not too caught up on the aesthetics these days as the general statement "This looks some degr…
Read at the sourcemichaelchr42
watching this really soon after watching THE WIND RISES is so funny (they honestly make a good double feature). in a way, they're very similar. both deal a lot with the meaning of creation and art in a world where everything inevitably decays. both touch on the kind of purity in dreams that clashes with the corrupt and imperfect world they are chased in. both are bittersweet, reflective examinations of Miyazaki's own life and career. but while THE WIND RISES is more about why we must choose to keep on living, THE BOY AND THE HERON asks: how do we live?
it's very poignant watching this old man and his bizarre world of dreams and fantasy on the brink of collapse. he wants to find a successor to his kingdom but, eventually, he has to make peace with what he's built falling to rubble. Miyazak…
Read at the sourceLight_Hinata
First of all, I'm not a fan of Ghibli. I watched some of their works but liked only Spirited Away, so I didn't have high expectations for this movie. We have a very leisurely start with a lot of injection, then it all is like Tom and Jerry till the very end - heroes just run, crawl, go through different locations, symbolic event which were supposed to mean something, but heroes just pass through it and never ever remember them again. None of the raised topics were paid enough attention or got a development, same goes to all characters of the story. This movie reminds me of a modern art - strange events or pictures with a bunch of people pretending they understand what author meant. Art is the only thing that is good in this show.
And let's not talk how fast boy's father switched to his d…
Read at the sourcechweab
Ghibli's latest production attempts to be a thought-provoking, existential commentary on life, dealing with grief, and moving on after loss. Instead, it offers more questions than answers and fumbles it's pacing by drawing out the beginning half with world-building the world we are familiar with instead of the new one that we'd appreciate clearer knowledge about.
The main character does have a resolution with his development, albeit it is easily overlooked due to the his minimal lines and generally monotonous reaction to a lot of events. The relationships between characters are not complex, and were not impactful enough to make me feel a connection to any of them or their intentions. Sure, I felt bad for the main character and his grief, but his journey of self-discovery and identity fel…
Read at the sourceAnime_Flow
SPOILER FREE
Hayao Miyazaki's "final movie" was a disappointment.
The story was very weirdly paced, quite slow in the beginning and almost rushed towards the end.
The biggest issue being how vague it was. For the vast majority of the movie you do not know where it wants to go.
And when you finally reach the goal it feels pointless.
Okay sure, it's not about the destination, but the journey and bla bla bla...
But even the journey felt wrong. It's a mix and twist of different stories mashed up together hoping to bring you somewhere.
A little bit like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces seem to fit but you need to force them in.
-->Story 6/10 there is a lot going on, will need multiple viewings to fully understand it, we were a group of 4 and all aggreed. We could all be stupid though never k…
Read at the sourceSigsig
The movie feels like a series of short stories forcibly strung together with unrelated characters. I expect that there is some abstract meaning to it, but it was not obvious to me as an average moviegoer. The protagonist, while not very vocal, is unusually perceptive and somehow recognizes those seemingly unrelated characters and matches them with actual people he knows, which always turn out to be correct guesses. In the abrupt end, I was filled with more questions about the motivations and aftermath of what happened to the sub characters. Unlike the other Ghibli films that teaches a moral or converses a message, I didn't get what was supposed to be the point of this movie.
That said, the animation and sound are all on point which makes this a pleasing experience for the eyes and ears,…
Read at the sourcekeybore
This film is exactly what you would get if you were to go up to ChatGPT and prompt "Give me a Ghibli movie".
The erratic scene transitions, nonsensical story non-telling and almost zero character development for the characters (which they just keep throwing at you throughout the movie), it gives you the feeling of "it exists, it smells familiar, but it feels so off".
The movie stops for nothing; no reflection, reaction, or conversation. There is no humanity to the film compared to other Ghibli films. You are pulled by the ear from scene to scene, given no time to appreciate or take in anything. They instead force space for shallow renders of Ghibli tropes, such as "the cute little guys" or "look at this delicious food!", which only goes as far to give you some watered down feeling of em…
Read at the sourcemop
(spoiler free)
i live in japan and speak japanese, so i got the chance to watch this joint with my mom in theaters (she fell asleep for half of it since she doesn't speak japanese and there were no subtitles LOL)
to keep it brief: the flick's good. very watchable. production and vibes were beyond on point as per standard ghibli quality, particularly miyazaki's shit. script was serviceable enough to not actively detract from the stellar atmosphere and ultimately satisfying viewing experience.
something felt off, though. it was like an incredibly advanced ai was trained on every previous miyazaki movie and then fed a new script to generate a new miyazaki thing automatically. every scene, every character, damn near every shot felt like echoes of his past work with a little less gusto. i f…
Read at the sourceDoshigatai
Before I get into the review, this review may be difficult to understand as I am not a native English speaker. Please understand.
Studio Ghibli's new film, "Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka" ("How Do You Live?"), directed by Hayao Miyazaki, takes its title from Genzaburo Yoshino's novel "Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka" ("How Do You Live?") published in 2017. But the story is completely original by Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli's official website describes the film as an adventure fantasy. This is the first film by director Hayao Miyazaki in 10 years since "The Wind Rises," which was released in 2013.
The odd thing about this film is that only the release date, title, and key visuals have been announced. Producer Toshio Suzuki of Studio Ghibli has stated that no TV commercials or advertisements, let alone…
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