Director Hayao Miyazaki has taken audiences to magical, alluring worlds throughout his filmography. He's shown us witches, sorcerers, buses that are also cats, and so much more. His latest (and, if he's truly retiring, final) film, The Wind Rises, leaves the fantastical behind to focus on the true story of the man who designed Japan's Zero Fighter for World War II. The movie is almost completely unlike anything Miyazaki has ever done, and while his attempt to try something new is admirable, it's also by far his weakest picture. Trapped inside a realistic world, Miyazaki's story feels restrained and lifeless with only the dream sequences providing any spark to a story about a nice-guy workaholic who was also in love with a nice girl. Jiro Horikoshi (voiced by Hideaki Anno) has spent his entire life dreaming about building airplanes. He even experiences a dream with famous Italian aeronautic engineer Mr. Caproni (Mansai Nomura). Jiro is also exceptionally kind. On a train ride to his university, an earthquake strikes, and he ends up rescuing a couple of his fellow passengers. Once Jiro begins his schooling and professionally working as an engineer, the story plods along as he admires airplane designs, and comes up with revolutionary designs of his own. The story then takes a break so Jiro can meet up with one the girls he rescued years before and fall in love with her. The movie is as cold and mechanical as the planes Jiro designs. Miyazaki works from a simple formulation that ...
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