“The Wind Rises,” Miyazaki’s Final Opus Soars

“The Wind Rises” your spirits.

Hayao Miyazaki has made a name for himself with his masterful and imaginative animated movies beginning with 1986’s Castle in the Sky, even up to winning Best Animated Feature in 2002 with Spirited Away. Although I’ve only seen those mentioned (I plan to see most if not all) I know what makes a Miyazaki film: grace, gorgeous animation, remarkable storytelling and endearing characters.

Miyazaki’s possible final film is no exception.

The Wind Rises is about dreams. We are introduced to a “Japanese boy” named Jiro (Joseph Gord0n-Levitt) whose literal and figurative dream is to design the most gorgeous and best functional airplanes anyone has ever seen. He’s visited by an eccentric Italian mentor, Caproni (Stanley Tucci), periodically in his dreams to drive Jiro’s ambitions and give him inspiration to continue. While traveling back to school an earthquake hits which allows teenage Jiro and a small child, Nahoko (Emily Blunt), to connect through Jiro’s kindness for her guardian. That outgoing gesture paves the way for their relationship down the road.

The plot bounces back and forth with Jiro’s pursuits of inspiration, ingenuity and work with his boss Kurokawa (Martin Short) to his relationships with his friend and peer, Honjo (John Kraskinski). This formula works well with the movie as to not full mix up the focus of each scene, even though characters may become intertwined every once and awhile.

Not only is the story basic enough to follow, it’s also relate-able on all fronts. It speaks to a generation of dreamers with passions of changing the status-quo, raising the bar of excellence and to pursue the inner passion despite the failures that come before you. It also speaks of true love. Not the flittering feelings that comes from a puppy-dog. But a love of support. You’ll feel connected to these characters. Invested in them.

Jiro is a champion of passion.

Yet it’s not just the incredible storytelling that The Wind Rises has going for it. Its beautiful animation draws you into the scene. Honestly, there was no bad shot in the entire movie. Each one is carefully framed and expertly colored.

To complement the scenery, the sound design was unorthodox as it was a character of its own. Some sounds felt like they were coming from a folly artist’s mouth, which I have no doubt they did. But the background noises and the subjective noises were perfect in that it envelops your senses.  Along with the sound, the score was magical in its own right. There were several styles which changed in different scenarios. When Jiro was in Tokyo, there was a relaxing blend of Japanese and Italian inspired background scores. And when an airplane lifted off, a classic symphony accompanied to help give flight that wonder back to us.

Thank you,Mr. Miyazaki.

Miyazaki has had an amazing career. One that is comparable to Walt Disney. He has created these livable worlds and populated them with kinetic energy and character who we can’t help but love. I plan on watching all of Studio Ghibli’s films with anticipation. Thank you Miyazaki and enjoy your much earned retirement.

Rating: Extraordinary! 

Seriously, if you have the chance, please experience this movie in theaters. If I had seen it before my Top 10 of 2013 List, it definitely would have made it. Life.

What are your favorite Miyazaki pictures? I’m planning on seeing My Neighbor Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle next. What others should I see?

Thanks for reading.

Next up: (Possibly) The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

Monsters University Review

Last summer before I watched the disappointment that was Brave, I ranked all Pixar movies from my favorite to least. This year, the groundbreaking computer animation department of Disney pulled out another win to end the streak of mediocrity that was Brave and Cars 2. Although I am not one for money-grabbing sequels or prequels, I can’t deny the power of continuing with compelling characters or going back to their origins and finding out what made them the way they are. Monsters University does the latter pretty efficiently. 

I went in blind to this movie, so if you want the same luxury the plot skip this next paragraph.

We start out on an elementary school field trip to Monsters Inc. where a little (and dang cute) version of the single-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) finds his ambitions to become the world’s best scarer. His dream to attend Monsters University ignites and time jumps to Mike’s first day at the school of scaring. Mike has the drive to become the best in his class but not necessarily the build or demeanor to achieve his dream. The first day of class he meets a younger James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) who is a lot more cocky, confident and lazy as he is in the original adventure. He comes from a pedigree of the best scarers so he assumes he can skim by on that alone. The two are put at odds with each other with their idea of how to achieve in the scaring program so when they are forced to work together is when the story really builds. Mike and Sully join a fraternity of misfits who have zero talent in the art of scaring as they compete in a campus wide Scaring Games.

What comes out of this premise is an underdog story with great tension between two likable characters. About a third of the way through I thought I had it figured out on which way Pixar was going to go with the story. If they would have it would have been pretty conventional. Because they didn’t take the easy road of focusing on just the two main characters.  Pixar stuck to their strengths and pulled in an ensemble of other enjoyable monsters who have fun chemistry.

The energy that the movie brought into the theater was lively and kinetic; I never felt bored or time wasted. The mix of emotions throughout from tension to dramatic to hilarious keeps interested. There weren’t many laugh out loud moments, mostly small chuckles which only tells me that they didn’t try to overdo the cute factor that plagues many “children’s” movies.

What comes out of the wash is an origin of a buddy relationship that doesn’t tell anything too deep but helps us understand that friends aren’t supposed to be the same but complimentary of each other to have a good relationship. As far as Pixar movies, it runs in the middle to high level of the packs. It doesn’t draw any tears like Toy Story 2 but doesn’t leave you feel unsatisfied like Brave. 

Rating: take your family to an affordable matinee.

Summer’s Best of List (So far)

1) Star Trek

2) Iron Man 3

3) Man of Steel

4) Monsters University

5) Now You See Me (Review coming next week)

6) The Great Gatsby

7) World War Z

Netflix Fix: The Iron Giant

Then, a flop. Now, a superb cult classic, The Iron Giant pulls at our hidden heart-strings.

Another reblog from my past Fixing Netflix blog.

Before Iron Man or The Iron Lady hit the silver screen The Iron Giant made its small 23 million worldwide gross income (according to boxofficemojo.com). Yes, it wasn’t the most successful movie, or having the longest lasting effect. But it has a pretty strong cult following that still appreciates its charm.

The Iron Giant is a simplistic tale about a interstellar 50 foot robot crashing in 1950′s Maine countryside. A young boy, Hogarth Hughes, finds him and befriends him.The Giant is an almost mute baby-like robot, pushing full responsibility onto Hogarth to protect him from others. The backdrop of the setting is the 1950′s Red Scare and the fascination of everything nuclear. This leads to the government’s fears that the giant is similar to Sputnik and Communist Russia. A Washington intelligence officer, Kent, paranoid about the international threat stops at literally nothing to track down and destroy the giant. They run into a hip beatnik, Dean McCoppin, who runs a scrap yard who assists in his protection from Kent.

Brad Bird directs this wonderful picture. He’s currently known for his success in The Incredibles and the recent Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The art is smooth, flawless and creates that wondrous small universe for the story to unfold.

The problem with most animated pictures nowadays is that it follows the same old progression of plot. The rise and fall and coming together of friendships. It’s full of happy-go-lucky songs and dance numbers that push the story along. The Iron Giant doesn’t rely on this structure; it’s pushed by its characters motivations and their connection to each other. It’s a breath of fresh air for any and all viewers.

The Iron Giant is a great coming of age story, one that gives the main character real responsibility and a connectivity to the giant that is believable and heart felt.