I was up for something different for this trip to the movies, and you can’t get much different than The Wind Rises. This is a Japanese animated film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who has been called the Walt Disney of Japan for his long and celebrated career in anime and manga there. Several of his films have made it to the states over the years, though this is the first time I’ve seen one on the big screen.
The Wind Rises is a biography (though I’m not sure how accurate) of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of Japanese fighter planes used in World War II. It starts with his youth and continues through until his final design is hashed out and finally successful, after numerous failed attempts. In the movie he is portrayed as an optimistic engineer. He knows his design will be used for war, but several times makes jokes that it would be a better plane without the guns. He is simply trying to build the best plane he can, at a time when Japanese technology is decades behind their competition in other countries.
I enjoyed the film thoroughly. The artistry is superb, rich colors and beautiful scenes permeate throughout. You never forget it is a Japanese animated film, as there are a couple characters that are a little over-the-top in that style, but it is beautifully written. The American voice cast includes plenty of big names too, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and John Krasinski in the leads, supported by Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Mandy Patinkin to name a few. If you’d like to sit back and see a kind of movie us westerners won’t normally get to see, this is well worth an evening.
Jons Movie Takes 