I watched the movie today with my daughter. To my relief, she stayed quiet and enjoyed the movie, for the most part. My friend's daughter fell asleep on his lap towards the end. I'll share with you all about this movie, without revealing any spoilers.
Okay, so this is a more serious Miyazaki movie, to be sure, along the lines of Nausicaa and Mononoke Hime, but without the action. The movie is still full of beautiful fantasy imagery. When I first saw Sen to Chihiro in the theater in Japan, I described it online to those outside of Japan as a cross between Totoro, Mononoke Hime, and Alice and Wonderland. If I must compare Kaze Tachinu to other Miyazaki movies, I would liken it a bit to Mimi wo Sumaseba, with some flavors of Kurenai no Buta.
I compare Kaze Tachinu to Mimi wo Sumaseba because just like Shizuku, the protagonist Jiro often escapes into a fantasy world of soaring into the skies. As a young boy studying about planes, in his dreams he is approached by the airplane designer he idolizes,
Caproni. Caproni is his inspiration, and the spirit of Caproni interacts with Jiro throughout his life, calling him "Japanese lad." Jiro wears glasses, so he knows that he could not become a successful pilot. He asks Caproni if he can fly a plane, and he says no, he actually can't fly a plane. He can only design the planes. Jiro decides to become an airplane designer. These floating dreams in which he has conversations with Caproni are very imaginitive and full of fantasy. This is where I liken the movie to Kurenai no Buta, because of the Italian setting and the grandiose flying machines.
After graduating, Jiro realizes his dream of becoming an airplane designer. While traveling one day by train, he meets a beautiful young girl named Naoko, who rescues his hat when it blows off his head. Later, the train halts as an immense earthquake occurs, which I believe is the Great Kantou Earthquake of 1923, considering the horrific damage that is dealt to Tokyo. Naoko's mother (at least I believe it's her mother) breaks her leg, and Jiro carries her on his back to their home. He then leaves without even telling his name.
Jiro goes on to be an airplane engineer at Mitsubishi and gains respect of his supervisors. Several of them visit Germany to study and observe at the
Junkers aircraft factory. Throughout all this, he is still visited by Caproni in his dreams, inspiring him. Jiro shares with him the concept in his head he has had all along, which is actually what will eventually become the Zero.
By chance, Jiro again meets Naoko and her father while vacationing at a summer resort. The play together with a paper airplane and fall in love.
I guess I won't say much more, because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone. So I'll instead just speak of the spectacular beauty of this movie. The hand-painted backgrounds are breathtakingly spectacular, and it speaks volumes of how soulless the modern, computer-animated anime has become. It always looks too clear and too sharp, and that's not how life is. It's like comparing the original Star Wars movies' matte paintings to the Star Wars Prequels' computer generated crap. The original movies make it look like the actors are standing in front of realistic surroundings, while the prequels make it look like the actors are standing in front of computer desktop backgrounds.
The level of detail in Kaze Tachinu, I wager to say, tops any other Ghibli project before. I always thought Mimi wo Sumaseba was the top, but this new movie is even more beautiful. From the ornate hotel room to the weathered advertising poster for Morinaga caramel candy in the kiosk at night, this movie is full of such beautiful detail! Even when the characters are in the back seat of a car having a conversation, I could see outside the car window telephone poles silhouetted against the twilight sky. Jiro's visions of airplanes are wonderful. As a child, he dreams of flying in his own plane, and giant flying warships descend from the cloud, with shadowy figures astride each. It was certainly classic Miyazaki through and through.
Jiro is voiced, as you may know, by Hideaki Anno, the creator of the excellent Nadia and some obscure garbage called Evangelion or something. (Just kidding. I'm being facetious.) His voice seemed somewhat out-of-place for Jiro as a younger man, but I soon forgot about this because his voice is really one that makes you want to pay attention to. His voice really commands attention.
Lastly, the ending theme is a song by Matsutoya Yumi, aka Yuming. None of my students know her name at all, even though they certainly have at least heard her two songs that were used in Majou no Takkyuubin. I was very happy to hear Yuming's song in this movie. I love her unique voice.
