Ah shit. I was so disappointed. Miyazaki’s latest swan song felt rudderless and disjointed, with all the expected Ghibli beats shoehorned into a weightless story that lacked persuasive relationships or a propulsive narrative. The characters felt like random archetypes rather than the usual compelling collection of charming interactions, the score felt derivative of more recent anime in the vein of Makoto Shinkai, and apart from the stunning moments around the fire much of the animation was… ugly? It genuinely breaks my heart to be so down on a film from one of my favourite directors, but I just didn’t get anything out of this one. It felt like an exercise in Ghibli filmmaking rather than a work of love and it left me feeling cold and a little confused. But with a legacy including such timeless masterpieces as Totoro, Kiki, Porco, Mononoke and Spirited Away, I can’t be too cross about The Boy and the Heron not doing it for me, and Miyazaki’s genius, of course, endures beyond one film that doesn’t quite tick my boxes.