The Boy and the Heron (2023)

World War II is underway and Mahito lives in Tokyo with his parents.  One night, the hospital, where his mother works, is left in flames after bombing.  His mother dies in the fire.  Soon after, his father Soichi (Christian Bale) relocates the family out of Tokyo to his wife's family's estate.  He has since remarried Natsuko (Gemma Chan), who happens to be his dead wife's younger sister.  No sooner have they arrived on the estate than a gray heron starts paying inordinate attention to Mahito.  He soon finds that it is a magical talking heron (Robert Pattison), which wavers between friend and foe.  The property has an old tower where his granduncle (Mark Hamill) went missing years ago.  There is also of story of his mother having vanished for a year in the tower only to return with no memory of the incident.  Of course, Mahito must investigate.

Like all Ghibli movies, the art is outstanding.  However, the story is lacking.  Mahito believes his mother might still be alive, clearly not yet reconciled with her death.  He does not get along with other kids at the local school and inflicts an injury to himself so that he won't have to go back.  Now with more free time, he followed the heron into the mysterious tower where he enters a fantastical world of giant man-eating parakeets led by the Parakeet King (Dave Bautista), villainous pelicans (Willem Dafoe), a strangely familiar fisherwoman (Florence Pugh), and Lady Himi the fire woman.  There are other bizarre denizens of this magical world that Mahito must navigate to save his stepmother and return home.  It is often confusing.

Obviously, it is a must-see for any fan of Studio Ghibli, but it is one of the weaker offerings.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

It has been a thousand years since the Seven Days of Fire that destroyed the world.  A toxic jungle now spans the earth and encroaches on the remaining lands where humans still live.  Princess Nausicaa (Alison Lohman) lives in a peaceful valley and explores the lands on her glider.  She regularly searches the toxic jungle for anything that might be of use.  Returning from her most recent exploration, she spots a man fleeing from an Ohm!  An Ohm is an immense insect, like a battleship that crawls at superspeed.  Using a variety of devices and her flying talents, Nausicaa calmed the infuriated Ohm and sent it back to the toxic jungle.  The fleeing man proves to be Lord Yupa, a famed swordsman who travels among the kingdoms.  Yupa (Patrick Stewart) tells how more towns have been consumed by the toxic jungle.  Happily, the idyllic Valley of the Wind is protected from the toxic jungle thanks to the winds that keep away the spores that spread the jungle plants.  However, an airship appears in the sky and soon crashes in the valley.  In its hold was one of the giant warriors from the Seven Days of Fire as well as samples of the toxic jungle!  Not only must the valley residents hunt for spores that may have spread from the crash, the Tolmekian Army arrives to take charge of the giant warrior.  Kushana (Uma Thurman) leads the Tolmekians and she will crush any who interfere.

The setting is amazingly well-realized and the characters have more depth than should be expected.  The art is outstanding.  Though this predates the founding of Studio Ghibli, it is the first original work by Hayao Miyazaki.  The story is substantial, the action is plentiful, and the voice acting is excellent.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended!

Porco Rosso (1992)

Porco Rosso (Michael Keaton) was cursed to be an anthropomorphic pig for reasons never quite explained.  However, his flying skills are unmatched.  A former WWI Italian flying ace, he now makes a living as a bounty hunter, shooting down pirates.  Tired of the constant trouncing, the pirates employ an ace of their own, Curtis the American (Cary Elwes).

Porco has an unrequited love with Gina, the widow of several pilots.  In fact, his best friend during the war had only just married her when he was killed.  Of course, as is obvious to everyone but Porco, she is also in love with him despite his porcine visage.

The art, as usual for Miyazaki, is fabulous.  The flying is exciting and fun.  The characters are often cartoonish in a standard anime way.  However, the failure to explain why Porco is cursed (it seems that his survival during a particularly vicious dogfight is the cause) or provide a way to undo it was a failing.  Either provide a really good reason for an unbreakable curse along the lines of Sisyphus, Tantalus, Prometheus, etc. or have a way to reverse it like Pinocchio, the Beast (from Beauty & the Beast), Snow White, etc.

Thumbs up!

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

The story opens with Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) lying in the grass and staring at the sky.  The radio announced that it was going to be a clear sky and a full moon.  Excited, Kiki rushes home.  She's going to leave tonight!  Kiki is 13, the age at which a young witch must strike out in the world, spending a year away from home to hone her magical skills.  Her mother is a witch who specializes in potions.  Under the light of the full moon, Kiki and her cat Jiji (Phil Hartman) take to the sky on a broom.  She plans to fly to the ocean and pick a town along the coast.  She finds a city!  The city finds witches quaint and looks at her as an oddity.  It is tough to find her place and Jiji would like to leave to find somewhere else.  By chance encounter, she stumbles upon the idea of a delivery service.  Her flying makes her unique.  When not delivering, she works at a bakery.  She soon has a repeat customer (Debbie Reynolds) who practically adopts her as a granddaughter.

This is a story of a girl moving to a new city and trying to fit in. This is a faux 1950s Europe that didn't suffer WWI and WWII. Here is a thriving city with no villains to purge or bigots to overcome. The big draw is the art, fantastic setting, and relatable characters. An early Hayao Miyazaki film with plenty of epic flying, beautiful scenery, and a fun story. Highly recommended.