The Boy and the Heron | 2023 | PG-13 | – 1.4.2

Why is “The Boy and the Heron” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some violent content/bloody images and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an embrace and off-screen kiss, a hospital fire that kills a boy’s mother, a fight between boys, a boy struck in the head with a rock, several threats with weapons and by oversized birds, characters manipulating fire, discussions of war and death, a few characters smoking cigarettes and a pipe, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Animated feature about a boy devastated by the death of his mother, who moves with his father to a place with enigmatic characters that help him find a way to deal with his grief. English dubbed version with the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori and Dan Stevens (the original title is “Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka”). Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. [Running Time: 2:04]

The Boy and the Heron SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman embrace and it is implied that they kiss (we see them from the waist down) as a boy watches and crawls back into his room quietly to be undetected.
► A woman tells a boy, “I’m going to be your new mother now,” and holds the boy’s hand to her abdomen telling him that he is going to have a new baby brother soon (the boy looks alarmed).
► A boy dresses and we see him wearing boxers briefly (his bare back and legs are visible).

The Boy and the Heron VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – Sirens ring out in a town near a city where we hear that a hospital is burning; a boy rushes through crowds and flames trying to reach his mother inside the hospital (we understand that she perished in the blaze). A man is struck by a giant bird and he appears to die with a deep grunt. A boy starts in a new school, other children scowl at him, he and another boy fight in a field later (we see the boy smudged with dirt), and the new boy hits himself in the head with a rock and blood spurts and runs down his face. A pelican with a gaping wound on its back and head (we see blood and tissue) pleads with a boy to put it out of its misery and it falls to the ground dead after spitting out blood.
► A boy is chained to a wall and a giant parakeet sharpens a blade nearby until a bird/man attacks the parakeet and breaks the chains on the boy’s wrists freeing him and they escape together. A boy approaches a woman that he is told is his mother lying motionless on a chaise, as another woman warns him that it is a trap; he touches the motionless woman and she flows into a puddle of liquid and onto the floor, the boy yells at a bird saying, “You defiled her memory,” points a sword at it, then shoots an arrow at it that chases the bird as it tries to fly away and it stabs through its beak; the bird struggles to pull it out and cannot fly.
► A boy falls asleep and flashes back to a hospital where his mother died and wakes up in tears. A boy searches for a woman and finds her unconscious in a bed; he tries to wake her and she awakens and yells at him saying, “I hate you”; they are wrapped with ribbons of paper (to look like bandages) and the boy collapses into a girl’s arms, they are zapped by a bright flash and they both fall on the ground unconscious. A girl lies motionless in a glass case as she is carried in a parade. A boy chases a giant bird as it cuts away a ladder and a platform causing them to collapse.
► A boy and a large bird/man struggle and the bird/man kicks the boy causing him to fall backward but the boy tears a feather that he is holding in half and causes the bird/man pain (he groans and tumbles on the ground). A large bird/man convinces a boy to make a small peg that will fit in a hole in his beak and they try several times to make just the right size.
► A boy and a girl run toward numbered doors and walk through them as the place inside the doors crumbles and floods with water. Many birds fly toward a boy and push against him until he falls through a large gate; a person carrying a flame shoos the birds away and back out through the gate leading the boy out of the cemetery unharmed. A woman tries to persuade a boy not to go into an overgrown tower, the boy walks inside and a large wall closes behind him (the woman goes in with him); a large bird appears and leads them through dark passages. A floor where a boy and a woman are standing appears to become liquid and they sink into it and float under the surface; the boy is then seen standing on a shore with waves flowing toward him and many ships sailing in the distance. A boy runs toward a building where many giant parakeets stand guard; two parakeets lead the boy through the building and each holds a knife behind their backs. A boy and a sailor struggle against waves and a rising tide to sail a boat away from an island; they heave a giant fish up to the surface and tow it with them to another island where characters appear to be opaque and the sailor says that they are not able to kill anything. Flames burst into a room and we see the silhouette of a girl inside the flames; a boy outside the flames reaches toward the girl’s hand and he is swept into the flames (unharmed) and they sail through the air together before crashing down a chimney and into a fireplace (no injuries are seen). A boy and a girl walk through dark passages and the girl conjures and carries a flame in her hand to light their way. Many giant parakeets pour out through a door and toward a man with a sword that slashes at them until they shrink to a natural parakeet size and fly away. A boy and a bird/man climb inside a large tree, the boy climbs a vine, slips and falls and the bird/man catches him and flies him back to safety.
► Scaffolding shakes at a construction site and people fall among debris and rubble; we hear that many people were hurt and some died. A boy arms himself with a bow and arrows and a knife and searches for a woman that we understand left the house and walked into a forest; he and another woman look through a dark forest following footprints. A boy dresses and leaves his house carrying a wooden sword and searches for a large bird that swoops near him biting the end of the sword off when the boy swings it at the bird. A boy accidentally shoots an arrow and it sticks into a wall. A boy prepares weapons making a bow and arrows and sharpening the blade of a knife. Many bubble-shaped creatures float into the air and swirl upward, many pelicans swoop toward them chomping many of them (we hear them pop like bubbles) and a woman in a boat bursts into flames and shoots fireworks into the sky burning some of them. A bird/man character swallows his human part, and is left as a bird.
► Many fish and frogs chant, “Join us” at a boy, and the frogs climb up his body and cover him completely leaving only his face exposed until a woman shoots an arrow that lands near a large bird, scaring the creatures away; the boy collapses (he is unconscious but not harmed). A large bird perches on an open window as a boy inside the room tells it to leave; the bird seems to be saying “save me” as it turns and flies away leaving feathers and droppings inside the room.
► A boy follows a large bird to a structure overgrown in a forest and tries to get inside as people search for him and call his name; a character says, “I hope he doesn’t get taken.” A large bird lands in a body of water and says what sounds like “Murder.” A large bird tells a boy, “I’ll guide you to your mother.” Several characters refer to someone that they call “The Master.” A person asks, “Is this Heaven?” A man says that a world has a short time left. A man talks about worlds being living things. A man says that a world can be either a thing of beauty or an abomination. People describe a man and say, “He read too many books and lost his mind.” A boy’s voiceover tells us that he and his father left Tokyo and moved away after the boy’s mother died. A character says about a young boy, “Let’s hope he stays safe.” An inscription on a large gate reads, “All those who seek my knowledge shall die” and we understand that the gate leads to a cemetery. A boy imagines his mother calling to him in a few scenes. A man yells and quizzes his son as to whom he fought with and who was responsible for his injuries. A woman tells a boy that she will get him a weapon if he gets her cigarettes.
► A doctor stitches a wound on a boy’s head and we see his hair shaved, and some blood; we later see the area wrapped in bandages. A sailor carries two large blades to carve a giant fish and slices it open revealing some goo and matter; a boy straddles the carcass and uses a blade to cut a slice down the fish’s back and we see goo bubble out of the opening, blood spurts on the boy’s face and intestines flop out. A person lies on a floor covered with a blanket and is motionless.
► Many bubble-shaped creatures move through an area and we are told that they eat a part of a fish in order to fly. Several characters are shown with deep and large wrinkles and one of them has a large mole on her face. A large bird seems to have a bulbous human nose in its beak. A boy eats a piece of bread with jam and we see jam smear on his face.

The Boy and the Heron LANGUAGE 2

 – 1 mild scatological term, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (liar, foolish bird, wrinkly old prune, you reek of death, weird, arrogant little [scatological term deleted], brat, dumb, amateurs, pushover, old grannies), exclamations (for goodness sake, stop it, no dilly-dallying, shut-up). | profanity glossary |

The Boy and the Heron SUBSTANCE USE

 – We see a quick glimpse of giant parakeets drinking in a tavern. A man puts a cigarette in his mouth but does not light it, a man smokes a pipe, a man smokes a cigarette, and a woman tells a boy that she will get him a weapon if he gets her cigarettes.

The Boy and the Heron DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a parent, war, grief, guilt, vengeance, stories, fear, obsession, ancestors, world building.

The Boy and the Heron MESSAGE

 – Dealing with grief can lead to imaginative solutions.