Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Emily Blunt
John Krasinski
Martin Short
Werner Herzog
William H. Macy
Edie Mirman
Mae Whitman
Mandy Patinkin
Jennifer Grey
Stanley Tucci
Elijah Wood

Hayao Miyazaki

126 mins.
Anime, Biography, Drama
February 21, 2014

Rated PG-13 for some disturbing images and smoking. (MPAA)

“The Wind Rises” is a fictionalized drama-biopic that just happens to be animated. The English dub and translation get the job done, but they’re not great. They don’t get in the way, though, so it’s not a big deal, especially since this is the final film to come from the mind of the great Hayao Miyazaki before his retirement. His images, as always, are expertly hand-drawn in 2D. The backgrounds are like paintings. Miyazaki isn’t just one of the greatest directors of animation, anime or otherwise, in history – he’s also a great storyteller.

The story is about the life of Japan’s Jiro Horikoshi, a visionary aircraft designer during the time of WWII. This story could’ve been told without animation, so why forgo live action? Well, Miyazaki is an animator, so there’s your obvious answer. However, there’s another reason: The subject matter lends itself rather well to animation. This isn’t solely about flight; it’s also about dreams. Horikoshi was a dreamer, and the animation allows for smooth transitions from the dream state to reality and back again. In live-action form, those shifts would have been less fluid. The animated dreams vary in extravagance, as dreams are wont to do. Some are close to this film’s animated version of reality, but they have slight variations on that reality; that’s how many dreams work in the real world, after all.

Overall, this is a gentle film. It glides effortlessly along. It’s not an animated film to which most kids will gravitate; only a child with mature tastes would enjoy this. Also, it comes from the perspective of a Japanese man who designed a war plane that was used by Japan during WWII, so that may not sit so well with some people. However, this film doesn’t glorify Japan’s actions and alliance with Germany during that war. In fact, one character clearly objects to the Nazis, and the use of Horikoshi’s Mitsubishi A6M Zero during WWII is presented as a corruption of his intentions for the aircraft.

In essence, this film delves into the quiet devastation of war: the negative effects that aren’t always brought to the forefront. It also tells the tale of two love stories: one between Horikoshi and aircraft design, the other between Horikoshi and his eventual wife. The end of each love story is bittersweet, meaningful, and touching. But the message we’re left with is that we must carry on. We must live.

In short, “The Wind Rises” is an animated drama for people who can appreciate storytelling with tenderness and subtlety. I know that Miyazaki put a lot of care into creating this, because it shows up in every frame.

Verdict: Good (in parts), Very Good (overall)

About: (Source: facebook.com/thewindrises)

In “The Wind Rises,” Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world’s most innovative and accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo. Writer and director Hayao Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in this epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.