TheBlueHairedLawyer Miyzaki's films are famous the world over for their use of quirky fantasy elements, breathtaking animation tactics and environmental themes. It's all well and good to spread a strong message against consumerism and pollution and all that with cutesy little animals and children, but I personally find that his most effective pictures are the ones grounded in reality.Of course, for the main character of The Wind Rises, he prefers not to be grounded in reality, and he has some pretty trippy dreams sometimes about building a spectacular aircraft, but in the meantime he's studying to be an aeronautical engineer. Jiro has imagined all his life that he'll work with planes, and his friend Caproni, an Italian engineer who visits him in his dreams, guides him to designing planes instead of flying them because of his poor vision. Jiro gets employed by Mitsubishi, and throughout the film he meets many incredible friends, from his dwarfish boss with a bad temper, to a Soviet spy who fled Germany because he disapproves of Hitler's cruel tactics and the actions of the Nazis. He also meets Nahoko, a young girl with tuberculosis who later becomes his devoted wife. Unfortunately the war soon collides with Jiro's dreams, resulting in his designs being used for horror rather than peace.I've heard many complaints about this film, specifically that it doesn't address Jiro in a more negative light for designing the planes in the first place. Because Studio Ghibli creates films targeted mostly towards children at this point though, I'd hardly think it appropriate for the production company to be showing fully the diabolical madness of WWII or Japan's treatment of China at the time. Did Jiro ever want his plane designs used for evil? I highly doubt that was the man's intention, although he was very naive. Weren't most people? WWII was hell on earth back then, and nobody wanted to think the worst of each other. Miyzaki tackles a touchy subject very effectively, sharing with viewers that yes, this did happen, but instead of creating a graphic and gory war film and focusing purely on Kamikaze suicide missions, he shares the life of an engineer with a dream, using nostalgic piano melodies and Italian-esque accordion tunes to set the scene, as well as colourful animation techniques that don't rely too heavily on fancy effects to be good. Like his earlier "Grave of the Fireflies", this film is real and incredible, without trying to inject any preachy messages about humanity destroying the earth. It's about real people, and after a while the characters all start to feel almost like old friends.

masoudhoore Comparing to his other fantastic movies, this movie doesn't have any complex abstract concept. The theme is love to work and family, and is like reading a novel about love and war. The theme by itself looks fine but in practice it couldn't catch the audience eye to follow it to the end. It has similarities to Whisper of the heart, with fewer ideas.Not suggested for first Miyazaki movie watcher. It would be better to start from the best ones Spirited away and Princess Mononoke.Great people do mistakes!

fluffset Who don't love Ghibli movies? Every anime movie lover all around the world love them. For me, the best Ghibli movie that I ever watched is "Grave of the Fireflies" (1988). Its really good and heartbreaking. I cried a lot with that movie. Although there is some bump in their way with their recently "bad" movie in my opinion like "When Marnie Was There" (2014), "From Up on Poppy Hill" (2011) and "Tales from Earthsea" (2006). From my honest opinion, from all 21 Ghibli film, just 4 don't really works on me. Its still good, a lot of people praise them except for the "Tales from Earthsea" (2006). I think in this new age, Ghibli wants to try some heavy drama stuff. That's what they keep making this serious stuff like Marnie and this Jiro Horikoshi biopic. But, I think the genre that Ghibli is really good at is children movie, family,fantasy, fun and all. I never said that "The Wind Rises" is bad but its quite boring sometime and I think the thing that save this movie is his love story, background music, gorgeous animation and its ending. It does make me cry a bit too. Other than that, when they talk about the plane, engineer and everything, its looks like out of place and uninteresting. It will be really suit for live action movie, but not for anime, its really heavy for anyone who just want to enjoy some Ghibli fun time. Similar stuff happen with Marnie too. Nevertheless, Ghibli is still the best and I hope they can come up with best work of their "genre", again. Maybe the sequel of Ponyo will be nice I guess.

siderite The film is an interesting melange of Japanese literature, culture and history. It will also disappoint many of Miyazaki's fantasy fans, as this is a biographical movie. In truth, it is based on two different works, one is the diary of the aeronautical engineer who designed the famous Japanese Zero fighter, and the other is a story of two girls in a tuberculosis sanatorium (in truth, Jiro's wife did not have TBC).Yet the details capture also some of the things closer to Miyazaki's heart: a commentary on the current state of Japan, a hopeful dream for a person who is losing his sight and his passion for flying and for kind independent young women. All in all it might feel a little dry sometimes, but only until you understand that the source material was a diary that has 80% of it containing aeronautical design ideas and calculations.Perhaps a two hour film about a quiet dreamer of plane designs is not what I would have chosen for Miyazaki's last animation movie, but it wasn't my choice after all. While his artistic expression cannot be stopped - he is still drawing manga and doing other stuff - he publicly announced that this would be his last film, the reason being his worsening eyesight. Considering the first scene of the movie is of a myopic boy who dreams of flying a plane and then crashing because he can't see well, I would say that's a pretty direct statement from the genius animator.It doesn't matter if I recommend this movie or not. If you are a fan of Ghibli and Miyazaki you will watch it anyway, while if you are not, you can try some other stuff of his, become a die hard fan, and find yourself in a situation already solved previously (that's engineering humor, BTW)