Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Filmmaker docu features creativity, lots of smoking.
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Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Directed by Kaku Arakawa, NEVER-ENDING MAN: HAYAO MIYAZAKI follows renown Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki as he attempts to navigate his retirement and his first CGI film. In 2013 the Oscar-winning animator and filmmaker publicly announced that he was leaving the industry due to his age and inability to focus. But roughly a year later he began working on the short animated film Boro the Caterpillar (2018) for the Ghibli Museum, which showcases the work produced by the Japanese animation studio that he co-founded. But unlike his past films, which were hand-drawn, Miyazaki uses computer-generated imagery to tell what he claims is his last story. The experience is new and difficult, but he's determined to create a film that he will be proud of.
Is It Any Good?
The voyueristic Japanese TV documentary shows Miyazaki as he negotiates the experience of growing older with his never-ending desire to make films. As he talks about what its like to be a tired, elderly man who's surviving friends and colleagues, he sketches and paints hundreds of detailed animation plans by hand, develops a narrative, and pushes a group of young CGI animators to create a movie that he will be proud of. Watching the creative genius is inspiring, but the overall production is rough around the edges, and lacks depth; only Miyazaki's colleague Toshio Suzuki is interviewed. Nonetheless, fans and aspiring filmmakers and animators will find Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki worth watching.
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Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : December 4, 2018
- Cast : Hayao Miyazaki
- Director : Kaku Arakawa
- Inclusion Information : Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : NHK
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic )
- Run time : 70 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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