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As a fan of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, The Wind Rises is not one of their best(Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Whisper of the Heart), let down by some overly-languid pacing and some wooden voice-work from Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It is however a great and beautiful film and quite easily along with Disney's Frozen one of the best animated films of 2013.
The best thing about The Wind Rises is the animation, if there was one word to sum it up it would be exquisite. It is filled with Ghibli's characteristic meticulous and loving attention to detail, and it's not just luscious in colour and elegantly smooth in background art but it is also incredibly expressive. Joe Hisaishi's music score is also stunning, ethereally orchestrated and nimble in mood, it's also thankfully the antithesis of over-bearing, the gentle approach it has gives the film intimacy. The script is thoughtful and never preachy, and it doesn't get complicated either and the story while languidly paced and not the most imaginative that Miyazaki and Ghibli have come up with is very personal, charming and very affectionate. I did find myself very moved by the ending, then again this is hardly the first time where this viewer has gotten emotional watching a film. The reason for this being that the film deals with some very personal issues and explores them so movingly and mind-hauntingly. Miyazaki's direction is nuanced and intricate, the characters are engaging if more in the supporting roles than the leads(Caproni being the most memorable). The voice acting is quite good, though one of Ghibli's weakest dubbed films, reservations are had about Levitt but Emily Blunt is very compassionate and Martin Short, Mae Whitman and especially Stanley Tucci stand out in roles that all three give a lot of personality to.
All in all, Ghibli and Miyazaki have done better, but The Wind Rises is still a great film, one of the best animated films of 2013, and a beautiful "swan song" from Miyzaki. 9/10 Bethany Cox
9/10
