The Wind Rises

I have seen "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Princess Mononoke" by Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki previous to seeing "The Wind Rises". I have more recently seen "The Secret World of Arrietty", which he co-wrote and produced. This was your typical anime film with an ending that may be sad for American audiences but normal for moviegoers in Japan.

Honorable sacrifice is a very common theme in Japanese films. American audiences tend to favour resolution in their theater experiences. Because I have studied Asian cinema, I was expecting the ending we were given for "The Wind Rises". I think that this movie is slightly better than "The Secret World of Arrietty" because the story of Jiro Horikoshi is more relatable. One of the ironies of this film is that the aircraft that Jiro designs, such as Zero fighter plane, went on to cause so much death for the Allies in World War II. Horikoshi once said however, "All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful." It was that quote that inspired Miyazaki to create "The Wind Rises" and the film focuses on that instead of the Second World War. The story as a result becomes inspirational. It is a clear message that there are good and talented people on both sides of a war. Besides the war, the film depicts the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the Great Depression. The sound effects in this movie were not as good as in "Arrietty". At some moments they were but when it came to the sound effects for airplane propellers, they sounded far too cartoonish. When it comes to the musical score however, "The Wind Rises" was the clear winner between the two films. The musical theme by Joe Hisaishi was very powerful and emotional. In terms of the English dub, there are quite a few familiar names in the voice cast. At first, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's voice didn't quite fit the main character. As the movie progressed though, his voice did match his character pretty well and his performance was quite good. I really love Emily Blunt as Naoko. Martin Short's performance as the petit Mr. Kurokawa was the best out of the whole English cast. The reason why it was so good is that it didn't sound typical of him. I have heard him on animated films before (he and Gordon-Levitt both voiced characters on "Treasure Planet") and the voice he chose for Kurokawa was unique. I was also pleased that Werner Herzog, Mandy Patinkin and Stanley Tucci were part of the English dub. I couldn't identify Elijah Wood's character Sone and that bugged me. Oscar-winner Gary Rydstrom was the director of the English vocal track by the way and was assisted by Matthew Wood.

This film deserved its Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film. "Grave of the Fireflies" was on my mind a few times as I watched "The Wind Rises" but there are many differences between the two films. "The Wind Rises" is more inspirational in nature and not as sad as "Grave of the Fireflies". This is yet another beautiful film from Studio Ghibli.

4 Stars