Review of The Wind Rises

I've always been a huge fan of Miyazaki ever since I first saw KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, but for his supposed swan song, I honestly don't know what to think. Perhaps because of this, I cannot rate it as highly as his other films. Don't get me wrong, THE WIND RISES is not a bad film at all. It's as colorful and beautifully animated as any Ghibli movie, and of course Joe Hisaishi's music is sublime. There are also moments that truly do recall Miyazaki at his most imaginative. But if you're expecting another movie filled with action, wonders, and magic as his other movies, youwill probably be disappointed, because THE WIND RISES is as far removed from the rest of Miyazaki's output than even his less fantasy-oriented pictures. Rather than aiming for the exuberant joy and wonders of LAPUTA, TOTORO, the dark, epic spectacles of MONONOKE, NAUSICAA, and even the surrealistic SPIRITED AWAY and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, this movie is mostly down to earth, with only the occasional moments of pure spectacle. It's also his most "adult" film to date; perhaps because of this, THE WIND RISES is also cursed with the misfortune of being Miyazaki's least accessible film.

Although financially successful in Japan, THE WIND RISES has not been without its share of detractors, particularly Miyazaki's target audience. Controversially, the protagonist of this story is Jiro Horikoshi, the man who was responsible for creating some of deadliest airplane bombers during World War II. In fact, this film is very loosely based on his account. Naturally, one would expect that Horikoshi would be portrayed as a tyrant considering the outcome of his crafts. But in a rather daring and almost dangerous move, Miyazaki presents the man as a gentle, ambitious soul who simply wants to achieve his dream of flying rather than as a psychopath bent on destruction.

Speaking of dreams, the most memorable sequences in the movie are those which involve Jiro's fantasies of being airborne. In one such scene, an extensive, dialogue-free prologue which opens the film, we see young Jiro wake up from his countryside home, climb to the roof and board an elaborately customized craft, soaring across the Japanese countryside to the strains of Joe Hisaishi's typically melodic score. This sequence comes to a crashing end when a massive zeppelin and shadowy blob monsters straight out of HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and SPIRITED AWAY descend upon the boy and render him unconscious. Otherwise, the rest of the "dream" scenes (which are interspersed throughout the languidly paced story) feature Jiro interacting with the charismatic Italian aircraft designer Caproni. "Airplanes are beautiful dreams," intones the air designer to the short-sighted Jiro who he refers to as "Japanese boy", "Engineers turn dreams into reality."

Otherwise, the remainder of THE WIND RISES follows Jiro as he grows from a not-so passive school boy who spends time reading books by his hero into an adult who becomes an aircraft designer instead of a pilot due to short-sightedness. This is a forty-year cycle of a journey that unfolds in over two hours. Regrettably, this is also one of the film's biggest shortcomings: not only are the scenes involving Jiro's growth less intriguing than his flights of fancy, they slow the movie's momentum to a snail's pace. Miyazaki is no stranger to producing movies that push over the two hour mark, but THE WIND RISES feels even longer than that, with most of the scenes being slow, drawn-out conversations between Jiro and his colleagues.

Aside from the aforementioned "imagination" bits, the only other major highlight of THE WIND RISES happens about a third of the way through in which an earthquake literally tears through Japan and causes a passing train to derail and crash spectacularly. This is arguably my favorite moment of the movie because it showcases Miyazaki at his most visceral. The execution of the tragedy is powerfully conveyed through the dramatic staging and animation. Aurally, this scene is impressive as well; rather than the natural sounds of earth rumbling and winds, Miyazaki instead chooses to employ a wordless, monotonous "chorus" of voices to substitute for both. The effect adds an emotional, organic layer to the scene, especially when we witness the tragic aftermath of the tremor.

Also intriguing is the sequence where Jiro and his friend Honjo travel to Germany. Not only does Miyazaki treat us to splendid tours of the aerial wonders of these massive "war machines", we get to see the characters speak German. Much later on at a hotel, Jiro meets Castorp, a German-accented defect who eerily denounces Hitler and, perhaps rather ominously, predicts the downfall of Japan.

Alas, such moments are tragically undercut by the film's much more languid second half, which shoehorns a tragic love story involving a gentle painter woman whose internal clock is ticking. I don't know if it is just me, but neither Jiro nor his lover Naoko come across as particularly compelling characters, and perhaps because of this, we are given little reason to care about them. A "courting" scene in which Jiro attempts to fly a paper airplane to Naoko's balcony is inspiring, but sadly that's about as interesting as this love story gets.

More detrimental, unfortunately, is the dub by Disney, which is surprisingly disappointing considering I've always loved the studio's English work for Ghibli's films, the performance I found to be the weakest being that of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Now in all fairness, Joseph is not eccentrically cast, but I just didn't find him compelling as Jiro; to me he sounded like he was giving a stiff, monotonous performance, which is disappointing considering that many of the leads in Disney's other dubs (eccentrically cast or not) have done well. Apparently in the Japanese version (which I haven't seen), Jiro's voice actor (ironically, former Miyazaki animator Hideaki Anno -- now well known for NADIA and EVANGELION -- turned in a similarly ineffective performance. I don't know it's just me or if it's the style of the character, but either way, this is, I'm sorry to say, the dullest performance in any Disney dub I've ever listened to. Some will argue that he's trying to emulate Anno's take, which, IMO, has the potential danger of coming across as a carbon copy instead of a genuine performance, especially if the original was apparently not as good as it could be. Emily Blunt fares a little better as Naoko, but the love scenes between her and Levitt are shockingly ineffective: however much emotion Blunt gives, Levitt's distressingly wooden performance sadly nullifies any bit of chemistry between the two. Too bad, because with better voice direction the love story could have been less draggy than it comes across as.

One actor I was particularly looking forward to hearing was Mandy Patinkin, having enjoyed his rollicking turn as a pirate in the controversial but still grossly underrated CASTLE IN THE SKY dub. Sadly, his turn here is nowhere nearly as entertaining; his role is just to be a down-to-earth boss with zero comic timing. He more or less plays it well, but I was still disappointed, considering his previous work. The rest of the actors also consist of names such as Darren Criss, Elijah Wood, and DIRTY DANCING's Jennifer Grey, but to be honest, they didn't really stand out to me all that much, and their parts are so scanty that one wonders why they were cast at all. One would think that more experienced voice actors would take the job instead (the first Ghibli dubs had a much better balance of that).

Even though I consider this to be the worst of the Disney-Ghibli dubs (NOTE: by that I do not mean it is an outright BAD dub; it's not, it's just average, at least to my ears compared to their others), there were three performances I truly did enjoy. Martin Short plays Jiro's curmudgeonly cantankerous, "short" sized boss, Kurokawa with gusto and humor, breathing a lot of much needed zest into the dub. This is the sort of charismatic, interesting type of character audiences should expect from an animated production, Ghibli or otherwise, and Short effortlessly steals every scene he's in. Just as good is Mae Whitman as Jiro's sister, Kayo. Again, being blessed with a great role to begin with, she provides a lot of spunk and energy to the role and makes her arguably more sympathetic than her dull brother. The great Werner Herzog also gets to have a lot of fun as the German-accented Castorp, especially when he sinks a drunken brawl in a lively tavern scene. Finally, Stanley Tucci is TERRIFIC as Caproni, providing the character with charisma and a charm which is impossible to dislike. The Italian accent he provides is very appropriate as well. On that note, the use of accents for the different characters is also a plus, as is the use of children from the opening scenes. If anything, these assets prove that even an inferior Disney Ghibli effort can still have its share of saving graces.

Perhaps another major problem I have is the ending; while the fate of the love story isn't hard to guess, but Miyazaki instead chooses to close the film with yet another dream sequence. Instead of coming across as a genuine conclusion, this last scene feels strangely unresolved. What happens to Jiro after the scene? What became of his career? Sadly, the movie doesn't answer any of these questions, and as such, the denouement doesn't feel like a genuine conclusion. It's almost as if Miyazaki ran out of creative juice and decided to stop his movie on an uneasy note. PONYO was especially guilty with this practice, and it's unfortunate that the same is true here as well. Even MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, PRINCESS MONONOKE, and PORCO ROSSO, abruptly as they ended, had a sort of genuine resolution that this lacks.

Still, take my complaints with a grain of salt and go see THE WIND RISES. Even if it is by no means Miyazaki's best film, the moments that truly excel really show that a genius such as Miyazaki never ceases to amaze, whether at his most vigorous or his most down to earth. On a final note, it's a shame that this will be Miyazaki's last film; the man has left behind a legacy of richly animated treasures that many have not taken notice of at first but are gradually finding audiences. He will be missed.