The Boy and the Heron Review Roundup

Debuting with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Boy and the Heron is living up to the hype surrounding it.

Initially rumoured to be the final film of the Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki, The Boy and the Heron follows a teenage boy's psychological development when he enters a magical world with a talking grey heron after finding an abandoned tower in his new town.

The film was released in Japan in July with a unique marketing strategy in that there was none. Despite no trailers, no TV spots, no cast announcements, and no plot summary, the film raked in 1.83 billion yen at the box office.

The International Premiere took place at the Toronto International Film Festival, and now the Rotten Tomatoes reviews are rolling in, so here's what critics had to say about Miyazaki's first feature film in a decade.

Review roundup

• Little White Lies: The Boy and the Heron is richly self-synthesising and achingly sentimental, collating artistic motifs from across the Miyazaki filmography and nakedly articulating the hopes it places in the next generation.

• Vanity Fair: The Boy and the Heron is richly self-synthesising and achingly sentimental, collating artistic motifs from across the Miyazaki filmography and nakedly articulating the hopes it places in the next generation.

• Guardian: Miyazaki has few surprises left, but in The Boy and the Heron, it’s the familiar that feels like a comforting hug.

• Hollywood Reporter: If some of the film’s more fantastical narrative tangents can at times become perplexing, the images wash over you, a constant reminder of the descriptive power of Miyazaki’s visual language.

• Time Out: Miyazaki's latest film stands as a testament to his enduring legacy. It’s a mature, complex masterpiece, weaving together the director's past, present, and future -- a beautiful enigma that promises to be worth the wait.