Celebrated Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement to deliver this Alice in Wonderland-esque fantasy about a young boy coming to terms with his mother’s death during the second world war, illuminating his grief with dazzlingly surreal visuals that are a joy to behold.
Twelve-year-old Mahito (voiced by Soma Santoki) is struggling to fit in after moving to the countryside with his father. When he follows a talking grey heron into an enchanted tower, he’s plunged into a bizarre parallel universe. It turns out his mother might be alive after all, so off he goes in search of her, encountering freakishly giant parakeets, adorable marshmallow spirits and a girl named Himi, who has the power to manipulate fire, along the way.
