Review for The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises tells the semi-factual story of Jiro Horikoshi who designed some of Japan's most innovative airplanes. As a boy, Jiro is unable to fly planes due to his poor eyesight, but thanks to a inspirational dream of Italian designer Caproni he decides that he will design them instead. We are taken through much of the history of Japan of the time. This includes The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the effects of the Great Depression, the TB epidemic and the lead up to war.

Jiro is accompanied by Honjo, another designer who has been ordered to create a bomber plane for Japan with the help of the Germans. During all this, Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, who becomes his inspiration and helps him focus on how to design the airplanes better than ever.

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest traditional animation directors that there has ever been. In the world of CGI animation being the normal thing, it is always nice to know that we can count on him to show us just how animation used to be. Sadly, this is his last film and with Disney closing Studio Ghibli, this maybe the last time we get to see anything as wonderful looking as this.

And in a way, that's what makes this film all the more disappointing.

Now, don't get me wrong, this film looks amazing. The animation during the earthquake scene is fantastic and some of the flight sequences look perfect. Everything has that Miyazaki style that you have come to expect and in a way I can't fault anything about how the film was made. The music by Joe Hisaishi is amazing and has an almost French New Wave feel to it. The actual production and everything about what it looks and sounds like is as good as anything Studio Ghibli have done.

As always with these films, there are two ways to watch: Japanese language with English subtitles or with the English dub. Both have their merits and the English dub boasts a cast including Emily Blunt, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Stanley Tucci, Elijah Wood, John Krasinski and even Werner Herzog!? I enjoyed both and unlike most dubs it didn't take anything away from the film, but I understand if there are those who like the original.

The problem with The Wind Rises is the actual story itself. If you want it summed up in a nutshell: Boy wants to design plane, He designs plane. There done. Now, yes there are more elements to it, but really that is all there is to the film. Jiro wants to design a plane, there are a number of setbacks and it ends with him completing the design... just in time for war.

This is where my other problem comes into it. What we are essentially watching is someone design a craft which will later be used in the Second World War. Because of that, his achievement is not exactly something to applaud, much like if the film had been about those designing the atomic bomb or Auschwitz. Sure, what Jiro was able to achieve is astounding, how it was later used, not so much.

Because of this, the film seems to drag and at two hours this is simply too long to be telling a story that is this simple. It is sad as if he had ended with his previous film Ponyo it would have been a much more fitting epilogue to his talents. I feel that this film has been lauded with the praise it has much more in response to the fact this will be his last film. And let's be honest, against Frozen, he didn't have a chance of winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film this year.

The film comes with a number of TV Spots and Trailers which are fine, nothing special and rather than being all separate, they are just one long repeat of the same 'Coming soon' message. There are no documentaries, interviews or anything which is a shame. I expected, with this being Miyazaki's last film, that there would have been maybe a retrospective, have some people talking about his work, or the film in general. But we don't get any of that.

Instead, we get a 'Storyboard to Film' feature which is nice and if you are an aspiring artist or would just like to see how the film was storyboarded then this is great. To be honest, as nice as it is, I could only watch this for a few minutes before getting bored, but if you would like to see the rough sketches and concepts and how they match up to the finished picture it is fine. It really could have been better with a splitscreen option to see them side by side for the comparison.

The Wind Rises is one of the most beautiful animated films I have ever seen... and also one of the most boring. Technically, I can't fault what Miyazaki was able to visually put on the screen. I can however find fault in the actual film itself, its plot and story. Nothing happens and the things that do happen do not warrant a film made about it. If this is his last film it is a shame as I know based on his previous work that he can do much better than this. If you are a fan of the Studio Ghibli style and anime then you may enjoy it and if you love traditional animation it is simply gorgeous... the story, not so much.