Movie Review - The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises **½ (PG-13) The last film from legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is something of a letdown, compared to his string of uniquely stellar features over the past decade. This one still offers his signature visual mastery, with lovely, lyrical settings, graceful movements and charming characters. But veering from the realm of the gentle fantasies that made him an icon on both sides of the Pacific (Ponyo, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, to name a few first-rate, high-profile exports), this one’s a biopic honoring Jiro Horikoshi, who was one of the main designers of the fighter jets that became the strength of his nation’s air force in WW II.

His subject’s personal story is that of an underdog dreamer overcoming an array of obstacles, handicaps and hardships. That sort of arc usually arouses viewer empathy. But it’s hard, particularly for Western audiences, to root for a protagonist whose life’s work wound up enabling so much death and devastation. Even if Horikoshi’s heart was pure, motivated by nothing more than making flight a wondrous experience for all to share, we still know what his genius hath wrought, dimming the joy we’d otherwise feel when the Rocky Balboas, Rudys or Bad News Bears beat the odds against them and prevail.

If you can set aside what you experienced or know of our history by thinking of Jiro as a person in some parallel universe, allowing you to focus on the look and tone of the tale, the artistic aspects of the film will measure up with Miyazaki’s body of whimsical fantasies. I wish I could have.

SPECIAL NOTE: St. Louis viewers can benefit from an unusual pair of options for this film from our Landmark Theaters. The subtitled version will run at the Tivoli. Those who prefer English-speaking voices (dubbed by a cast featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, among others) can see that treatment at Plaza Frontenac. The rare presentation of such simultaneous choices is a fine tribute to Miyazaki’s distinguished career, and gesture to his legion of admirers. (2/28/14)