The Wind Rises

Through the years animated films have been created to entertain, and to educate, all in amazing and different styles depending on the studio involved and the certain 'feel' of the film. The different studios have grown through the decades including Disney, Pixar, Sony, Blue Sky, DreamWorks, etc. Now we have "The Wind Rises" in the offing. This actually was a nominee for the Best Animated Feature for the Academy Awards, and now viewing this, I can truly see why it was nominated.

Jiro Horikoshi (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni (Stanley Tucci). Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927, learns his craft from his crusty boss, Kurokawa (Martin Short) 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 WWII. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko (Emily Blunt), and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo (John Krasinski).

Others to round out the cast are Mandy Patinkin as Hattori, Mae Whitman as Kayo Horikoshi, Jiro's sister, Werner Herzog as Castorp, Jennifer Grey as Mrs. Kurokawa, William H. Macy as Satomi, Nahoko's father, Zach Callison as Young Jiro, Madeline Rose Yen as Young Nahoko, Eva Bella as Young Kayo, Edie Mirman as Jiro's mother, and Darren Criss as Katayama.

This was whimsically yet eloquently directed by Hayao Miyazaki ("Castle in the Sky" '86, "My Neighbor Totoro" '88, Kiki's Delivery Service" '89, "Porco Rosso" '92, "Princess Mononoke" '97, "Spirited Away" '01, "Howl's Moving Castle" '04, "Ponyo" '08). His ability to delineate these characters so they integrate so well with each other is remarkable. It was also brilliantly written by Miyazaki based on his screen story and comic. Again, the cohesiveness of intertwining the historical events with his story was seamless. This is true storytelling at its finest. This is the English version, hence the English speaking actors, and the original version is, of course, presented in Japanese and their actors. The animation, as with his other projects are drawn in such a way that it is amazingly relaxing at the same time entertaining. It was 2 hours and 6 minutes and it just moved right along.

Even if you've seen this, go see it again, because there's so much going on that it would be easy to miss something. If you haven't, definitely put this on your must see list, and if you've liked his past films, you will certainly be riveted to this one.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                             Rated: PG-13                        126mins.