Le Garçon et le Héron

Original title: Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

92K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

694

A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

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Anime Fantasy Epic Hand-Drawn Animation Isekai Adventure Animation Drama Fantasy

In the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy ventures into a dreamlike world shared by the living and the dead in search of his missing stepmother.In the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy ventures into a dreamlike world shared by the living and the dead in search of his missing stepmother.In the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy ventures into a dreamlike world shared by the living and the dead in search of his missing stepmother.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

92K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

694

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 36 wins & 91 nominations total

Kiriko
(voice)
(as Kou Shibasaki)

Aimyon

Himi
(voice)

Yoshino Kimura

Natsuko
(voice)

Takuya Kimura

Shoichi Maki
(voice)

Keiko Takeshita

Maid #1
(voice)

Jun Fubuki

Maid #2
(voice)

Sawako Agawa

Maid #3
(voice)

Karen Takizawa

Wara Wara
(voice)

Shinobu Ôtake

Maid #4
(voice)

Jun Kunimura

The Parakeet King
(voice)

Kaoru Kobayashi

Old Pelican
(voice)

Shôhei Hino

Great-Uncle
(voice)

Nami Uehara

Additional Voice
(voice)

Kiyoko Nishimura

Additional Voice
(voice)

Ryûnosuke Watanuki

Additional Voice
(voice)

Takuya Yagyu

Additional Voice
(voice)

‘Snow White’ Stars Test Their Wits

Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and director Marc Webb take our Ultimate Disney Quiz.

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In December 2019, the film was announced to be 15% complete after three-and-a-half years of work. Producer Toshio Suzuki explained that Hayao Miyazaki, in the past, would be able to direct seven to ten minutes of animation per month, and they had scheduled five minutes of animation per month or about one hour per year on the film. However, Miyazaki was directing only about one minute of animation per month.

Goofs
When a knife is being honed on a steel the knife blade is facing up, it should be facing down. Whilst you can hone in either direction, up the steel away from you, or down the steel towards you, the blade should be facing towards the handle of the steel.

Quotes
The Grey Heron: I'll be your guide.

Connections
Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: End of the Year Embarrassments (2020)

Soundtracks
Chikyûgi (Spinning Globe)
Performed by Kenshi Yonezu
Courtesy of Sony Music Labels Inc

User reviews404

Featured review

6/10

At best, a monstrous and beautiful art piece

I'm a huge fan of Ghibli (I even have a Princess Mononoke tattoo to show).

I have to say, this movie left me wanting more.

The beginning of the movie feels slower (and mostly coherent) but slowly devolves into a beautiful collage of animation and music. Generally, it feels like the movie is formed as a sampler of the rest of Ghibli, pulling ideas and art from other titles like Spirited Away, Howl's, and Mononoke.

By the time the story comes together in a somewhat haphazard manner, you're pretty much at the end of the movie, and the deep ideas that were to be conveyed had no time to develop. There are various decisions made by the protagonists that lack rhyme or reason because everything critical was saved for the end. I imagine if you watch the movie another 2-3 more times you might catch onto what Miyazaki was intending, but it was certainly lost in a singular conventional theatre style viewing.

Is it worth watching simply based on art and music? In my opinion, yes, but if you're expecting a Ghibli level movie, you might be disappointed.