I'm a huge Ghibli fan and have watched Miyazaki's every film dozens of times each. But sadly I must say I'm disappointed with his latest work: How Do You Live? (or The Boy and the Heron, a much better title in my opinion.)
I really wanted to like this movie because it has many things going for it. Animation is dynamic and beautiful. Miyazaki builds an interesting fantasy world yet again, probably for the last time.
But story telling and character development are a bit off. The narrative feels forced and not flowing naturally. In the older titles like Nausicaa, Spirited Away, or Howl's Moving Castle, strange things happen but the mystical worlds have their own rules and Miyazaki was masterful in subtly convincing us the way things worked in those worlds. But this movie has just too many things hastily cramped together and they don't have enough room to really sink in. Simply put, it's difficult to follow. The same thing goes for character development. The main protagonist (Mahito) grows up through an adventure, which is great, but his momemts of growth come abrupt and not really earned.
It's a cliche by now that Miyazaki does magic, but this particular film doesn't have much of it. Strangely enough, it reminded me of Tales from Earthsea (2006) by Goro Miyazaki. This movie has many bits and pieces superficially resembling what we have seen in the previous Miyazaki films, but the sum is not greater than the parts.
I really wanted to like this movie because it has many things going for it. Animation is dynamic and beautiful. Miyazaki builds an interesting fantasy world yet again, probably for the last time.
But story telling and character development are a bit off. The narrative feels forced and not flowing naturally. In the older titles like Nausicaa, Spirited Away, or Howl's Moving Castle, strange things happen but the mystical worlds have their own rules and Miyazaki was masterful in subtly convincing us the way things worked in those worlds. But this movie has just too many things hastily cramped together and they don't have enough room to really sink in. Simply put, it's difficult to follow. The same thing goes for character development. The main protagonist (Mahito) grows up through an adventure, which is great, but his momemts of growth come abrupt and not really earned.
It's a cliche by now that Miyazaki does magic, but this particular film doesn't have much of it. Strangely enough, it reminded me of Tales from Earthsea (2006) by Goro Miyazaki. This movie has many bits and pieces superficially resembling what we have seen in the previous Miyazaki films, but the sum is not greater than the parts.
