JinRoz
For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
Usamah Harvey
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
The Movie Diorama
He's created so many influential masterpieces consistently, so the question is did he go out in style? No, but very very close. This is a fictionalised biopic on Jiro who was famed for designing one of the most accomplished airplanes ever that were used in the Second World War. This area of the biopic was fascinating, only a pioneer like Miyazaki could make a film about engineering innovative and compelling. The other area of the film was his romance with a young lady named Nahoko. Which, again, was tender and beautiful to watch as their relationship blossomed. The problem is, the two do not match at all and so the overall plot and story is somewhat unfocused. Consistently jumping back and forth between his career and love life, the two just didn't marinate together as a narrative. More importantly, like with any Studio Ghibli production, the animation is absolutely beautiful. Colourful, vibrant and with fluid motion, I was transported into Miyazaki's vision. I loved Jiro's dream sequences which gave Miyazaki a chance to show some fantasy elements that he is all too famous for. The character of Jiro himself was well developed. Summed up easily as a Good Samaritan, a helpful chap who was career minded and aspired to be great. I found him to be relatable and likeable. The film includes many of Japan's historic events such as The Great Kanto earthquake, Second World War and the epidemic of tuberculosis. These are dealt with gently and intelligently. It might look like the film is aimed for the younger audience, but if you look deeper it is a far more humanistic drama about aspiration and inspiration. Can definitely appeal to the more mature audience. Also liked the English dub, thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was well cast as the voice of Jiro. Oh, and the musical score was tremendous, particularly the more heartfelt softer pieces of music. So whilst this might not be Miyazaki's best work, it still is a beautiful, compelling and engrossing animated feature.
SquigglyCrunch
The Wind Rises follows Jiro Horikoshi, a man who designed fighter planes during World War II.As per usual, Studio Ghibli creates a beautiful looking movie here. The animation is breathtaking, with the scenery being gorgeous to gawk at and the animation itself fluent. More importantly, the first half of the story and almost everything revolving around planes is really well written. The main character, Jiro, is interesting and well-written. The way he acts is realistic, and it's easy to believe that this guy actually existed. I went into this movie not knowing it was about planes. By the look of the poster art, I thought it was a romance. For the whole first hour and a bit I was just waiting for that to start. The first bit wasn't bad by any means, but I felt like there was more waiting, like we were wasting time or developing characters to make a more effective last act. Then the romantic aspect started and I remember audibly telling the movie "no stop, go back!" It was awful. The characters don't spend nearly enough time together on screen to form any chemistry or relationship, and then suddenly they're getting married. It's out of nowhere and I really didn't care at all for their relationship. After that it keeps switching between romance and planes. Again, the planes stuff is cool, but the romance is awful. And this is where the movie gets particularly stupid. Characters make decisions that make no sense whatsoever. I get it, this is based on true events and maybe these decisions were actually made for these reasons, but I don't care about the source material. Make it less accurate for the sake of making a good movie, I don't care. Don't paint this character as a genius then turn him idiot for the last act, it just doesn't make sense. Also the voicing acting is pretty bad. Now I watched the dub, shoot me if you want, I don't care. It's the official dub, so it should hold to the same standard of quality as the original. And it doesn't. Go ahead and tell me to watch the sub because it's 'so much better', but I prefer to watch my movies instead of read them, especially when that option is available professionally. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is awful as Jiro. He's so dull, it's like he's literally reading the script for the first time, not processing a single line and just saying it all. Moreover, John Krasinski as one of his friends is overly excited all the time. And I mean, ALL THE TIME. Yet his character's face looks constantly unimpressed or bored. It's like the voice actors should've been switched. Overall The Wind Rises is not the movie I hoped it'd be. Despite expecting one thing, I enjoyed the other part much more. Only about half this movie is good, and the rest is still littered with no-so- great aspects. In the end I wouldn't recommend this movie.
ko-ricker
Miyazaki is my absolute favorite director, so it especially hurt to be so disappointed by this, his supposedly last film. It's about a real person, a Japanese engineer who designed WWII fighter planes. Miyazaki loves his flying machines, and this guy, who was apparently opposed to the war, was a huge inspiration to him. But the movie is unbearably boring, and I think a big part of the problem was that it was based on a real person. I mean, a lot of Miyazaki's movies are relatively slow. Movies like Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service feel very pensive. But he's very inventive and imaginative, and you always get that he has something important to say, about the environment, or the importance of self-reliance, for example. But with this film, he was somewhat restricted to real events, and it just didn't feel as flexible or meaningful. He introduced this absolutely bizarre dream character in a series of dream sequences, and I HATE dream sequences. They made the film feel gimmicky rather than innovative.
Counthaku
*Warning- Spoilers* Where to start. The seemingly effortless animation, the trademark Studio Ghibli expressions and style, the side characters (i.e. Jiro's boss, Mr. Kurokawa) so full of life, the background characters who genuinely seem to have personalities of their own, the juxtaposition of classical music with the destruction of Japan, the character study of an altruistic, idealistic man who sees his efforts ultimately go up in flames- The Wind Rises doesn't fit neatly in the typical three act structure of most films, yet despite this lack of the usual narrative arc, it's completely engrossing from start to finish. Though I would still rank Spirited Away as Miyazaki's crowning achievement, this film is, in a way, in a different category from Spirited Away, and many of the other Ghibli movies, for that matter. It lacks any blatantly fantastical character and because of this deals with mature themes such as regret and moral ambiguity in a way that feels much more piercing.That final scene is an unbelievable mix of tragedy and optimism. It's implied that Japan is in ruins thanks to Jiro's work, his wife has succumbed to tuberculosis, and the 10 best years of Jiro's life are behind him. Yet "live," Jiro's deceased wife urges him. And so he does, joining his Italian hero for drinks.
