The Boy and the Heron (4K Ultra HD SteelBook Review)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

An animated feature film by Miyazaki Hayao produced by Studio Ghibli, The Boy and the Heron follows the story of a boy named Mahito who moves into the Japanese countryside after his mother dies and his father marries his mother’s sister, his aunt. While there, he discovers a strange tower in the small village. When his aunt/stepmother disappears, Mahito suspects an odd heron-man of kidnapping her, so he takes off and heads into the tower with one of the elder grandmothers from the village, and he finds himself in a strange world inhabited by the living and the dead.

The Japanese voice cast for The Boy and the Heron includes Santoki Soma, Suda Masaki, Shibasaki Ko, Aimyon, Kimura Yoshino, Kimura Takuya, Kobayashi Kaoru, and Otake Shinobu. The English voice cast includes such Hollywood heavyweights as Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.

This entry in the Ghibli/Miyazaki canon has all the usual earmarks of a Miyazaki fantasy and a Ghibli film – the unusual creatures, the strange worlds, and the fascination with fate and the supernatural. It also has beautifully drawn animation and unique character designs that have that classic Ghibli look in the way a Disney animated film has a certain look that lets you know it is Disney. That said, the story and character development is one of the weakest of Miyazaki’s efforts.

Mahito is not a protagonist I felt very connected to, I am afraid. From the confusing timeline of when his mother died to how long it was when his father became involved with his aunt — this is skipped over – and the animus between him and his new stepmother, we do not get much exposition. When he runs off to help find her, it is more puzzling that he would be so invested in finding her than exciting.

The world inside the tower is one of the more inventive parts of the film and that Miyazki has ever created, however. From the strange, large, man-eating parakeets to the little flying creatures that float away into the “world above” to be born as babies, this entire act rescues the film as raises the stakes. But after the denouement, The Boy and the Heron ends abruptly and feels unresolved, and we do not seem to ever find out about one character from the world below.

In all, this feels like a film from a consummate artist and workman, it is competent and gorgeous to look at, it has some stunning sequences, and flashes of that Ghibli magic, but it is not the top tier of Miyazki’s work.

Purchase The Boy and the Heron – Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

The Video

The Boy and the Heron comes from a 2K digital intermediate and is presented in a 1.85:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement. It has HDR10 metadata that shows MaxLL of 991 nits and MaxFALL of 299 nits. This is not exceptionally bright, but the Dolby Vision grading adds just a little more vibrancy and a little more highlight pop to the very crisp and clean overall video quality.

The Audio

The Boy and the Heron comes with the original Japanese audio and English dub on 4K in lossless Dolby Atmos. The included Blu-ray gets the Japanese and English tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1. There are also English Audio Description DD 5.1 tracks on the 4K and Blu-ray and a Spanish DD 5.1 track on the Blu-ray. I listened with the Japanese Atmos mix as my reference and sampled the English Atmos mix. They both sounded the same. The Atmos track is not extremely aggressive, but there is some motion of sounds overhead and from side to side, a lot of atmospherics in the surrounds and overheads, and excellent dynamic range. The low-end is a bit anemic, however. Some moments where there could be some more bombastic low end, such as a scene with a boat tackling a big wave, there is just a very subtle rumble in the subs. The score gets good balance and air, with just a little bit of height.

The Supplements

The Boy and the Heron comes packaged in a gorgeous SteelBook case (a standard edition is also available), has a few interviews, and the usual feature-length storyboard feature as well.

Bonus Features:

• Booklet with stills and a 2016 project proposal for the film from Miyazaki
• Fold-out Poster
• Feature-Length Storyboards
• Interview with Composer Joe Hisaishi (1080p; 00:10:21)
• Interview with Producer Toshio Suzuki (1080p; 00:04:43)
• Interview with Supervising Animator Takeshi Honda (1080p; 00:19:40)
• Drawing with Takeshi Honda (1080p; 00:27:16)
• “Spinning Globe” Music Video (1080p; 00:05:13)
• Teasers & Trailers (1080p; 00:08:37)

The Final Assessment

The Boy and the Heron is an enjoyable Studio Ghibli film, but does not reach the level of engagement of many of their other films, despite being helmed by the master Miyazaki. This 4K SteelBook, however, offers up superb visuals and audio.

The Boy and the Heron is out on Limited Edition 4K SteelBook + Blu-ray July 9, 2024 from Shout! Studios

Purchase The Boy and the Heron – Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (for some violent content/bloody images and smoking.)
• Studios & Distributors: Studio Ghibli | Toho | Shout! Studios
• Director: Miyazaki Hayao
• Written By: Miyazaki Hayao
• Run Time: 124 Mins.
• Street Date: 9 July 2024
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 991 nits
  • MaxFALL: 299 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
• Primary Audio: Japanese Dolby Atmos | Japanese DTS-HD MA 7.1 (Blu-ray)
• Secondary Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible) | English DTS-HD MA 7.1 (Blu-ray) | English 5.1 Audio Description | Spanish DD 5.1 (Blu-ray)
• Subtitles: English for Original Language Version | English SDH | Spanish for Original Language Version | French for Original Language Version