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When legendary filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki announced a new project way back in 2017, we just knew it was going to be something special. And something special The Boy And The Heron – Miyazaki's 12th feature animation – most certainly is.

If The Wind Rises once felt like Miyazaki's swan song, then consider this the maestro's epic encore – a weird, wise and spellbinding fantasy adventure for the whole family.

Set in Tokyo during World War II, The Boy And The Heron centres around Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki/Luca Padovan), a 12-year-old boy who finds himself relocated to an old country mansion with his father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale) and new stepmother Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura/Gemma Chan) after his mother dies in a fire.

Grief-stricken and struggling to adjust to his new life, when Mahito meets the mysterious Gray Heron (Masaki Suda/Robert Pattinson) – who claims his mother may not be dead – he finds himself entering a decrepit tower and embarking upon an Odyssean voyage through a world where the living and dead co-exist.

As Mahito wends his way through a beautiful world whose future hangs in the balance, he encounters an unmistakably Miyazakian menagerie of creatures, cute (warawara – so fluffy!) and creepy (militarised parakeets – less so). A succession of stunningly hand-drawn set pieces and Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi's soaring, searching, piano-led score also propel our protagonist ever onward.

Simultaneously, Miyazaki – who originally titled the film How Do You Live? after the Genzaburo Yoshino novel he was given as a child by his own mother before she died – uses Mahito's coming of age to wrestle with Yoshino's question himself, contemplating his own mortality.

The result is perhaps Miyazaki's most vulnerable and moving artistic statement yet.

Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki recently revealed that Miyazaki is already working on his next film, conceding, "We can no longer stop him." Honestly, though, who'd want to? Don't miss Miyazaki's latest masterpiece at Picturehouse this Christmas.  Jordan King