‘The Boy And The Heron’ 4K UHD Blu-Ray Review – Hayao Miyazaki Crafts Another Stunning Achievement

From the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes an Academy Award®-winning* new fantasy adventure. After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events leads him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world and the truth about himself.

For in-depth thoughts on The Boy and The Heron, please see my colleague Brandon Lewis’s review from its original festival debut here.

 Video Quality

The Boy and The Heron debuts on 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a dazzling 2160p HDR/Dolby Vision transfer that soars to great heights. The colors featured in this transfer are a visual treat as they mesmerize with the wide range of hues permeating every inch of the frame. The included Blu-Ray looks exceptional, but the 4K UHD disc unlocks a formidable depth to the colors the lesser format cannot reach. The black levels are about as perfect as you could hope. In a completely dark room during moments of complete blackness on screen, the television completely disappears for a moment until sumptuous colors explode back into the frame. From the opening moments of the nighttime raid, you are rewarded with an expert handling of contrast. This presentation shows absolutely no hint of compression artifacts or other such digital anomalies. 

The textures, from the character designs to the environments, are wonderfully impressive and give the frame a real sense of depth. One of the areas where the film really shines is the fluidity of the character designs. The subtle touches that are added to each individual make them more complex and memorable. The level of detail these animators put into each environment shines through here. This 4K presentation subtly enhances all of the strong aspects of the Blu-Ray for something even more awe-inspiring. It is not a night and day difference, but those who appreciate what HDR and Dolby Vision can do to a film will get a real thrill from this one. 

Audio Quality

The Dolby Atmos track is presented in its original Japanese and an English dub with optional English, English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles. We always advocate for the original language track, but Studio Ghibli takes the utmost care with their English dubs with an A-list cast, so we would have a bit more understanding if you opted for that track occasionally. The track is a beautiful listening experience that brings the movie to life favorably. 

The film leans quite a bit on dialogue with a moving score from Joe Hisaishi tying it all together. Dialogue emanates clearly at all times without being drowned out by the plethora of environmental sounds or music. The score is a vital part of the film that is precise in its placement throughout the room as it surrounds the audience. There are really fun panning effects in the rear channels that add a nice expansion to the story. The height channels add some nice details overhead that you won’t soon forget. The track employs some thunderous activity in the low end when things get a little more kinetic. There is also a nice amount of sonic detail in the surround channels as the sounds of the new world are fully realized. This is a dynamite release that should more than please fans of the film. 

Special Features

• Feature-Length Storyboards

• Interview with Composer Joe Hisaishi: A nearly 11-minute interview with the composer in which he discusses how he tries to subvert the typical ways scores are created, his relationship with Hayao Miyazaki, creating a more intimate score for this film, his thoughts about certain compositions, and more. 

• Interview with Producer Toshio Suzuki: A nearly five-minute interview with the producer in which he shares Miyazaki’s real-life occurrence with a heron, how the creative based the heron on him, the reaction to the film, working with the animators, the future of hand-drawn animation, and more. 

• Interview with Supervising Animator Takeshi Honda: A 20-minute interview with the animator in which he discusses getting involved in animation, what Miyazaki is trying to convey in his work, the difficulties of various scenes, the themes of the film, and more. 

• Drawing with Takeshi Honda: A 27-minute featurette in which the animator guides you through his creative process. 

• “Spinning Globe” Music Video: A five-minute music video is provided. 

• Teaser & Trailers (8:37) 

• Mini-Poster

• Booklet

Final Thoughts

The Boy and The Heron is another stunning achievement from one of the most formidable creative minds in cinema. While we would be thrilled to get more from Hayao Miyazaki, this latest endeavor encompasses many of the themes he has woven into his work throughout his career to great effect. There is a sense of finality and commentary on legacy that feels very overt in its intentions, but it pays off narratively even without the metatextual reading on things. The animation is as beautiful as ever from the studio, and there is a lot to unpack with repeat viewings. It may keep you at a slight distance on a first viewing, but this one is truly fantastic. GKIDS and Shout! Studios have released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a terrific A/V presentation and some nice special features. Any Studio Ghibli fan will need to own this. Essential

The Boy and The Heron is currently available to own on 4K UHD + Blu-Ray Combo Pack, Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack, and Digital. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: GKIDS and Shout! Studios have supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.