Disney has just released the first official, domestic trailer for what is expected to be Hayao Miyazaki‘s final feature film, The Wind Rises. Based on Miyazaki’s own manga and the 1937 short novel of the same name by Tatsuo Hori, this is the story of JirÅ Horikoshi, the aircraft engineer most remembered for his design work on the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen “Zero”, Japan’s famous World War II fighter aircraft. During the WWII years, the Miyazaki family business manufactured aircraft parts, including the windshields and rudders used on the Zero.
I caught The Wind Rises as my final film at the Toronto Film Festival and as much as I was able to appreciate the wonderful animation Miyazaki has always delivered, the film itself just didn’t do it for me. Here’s a snippet from my review:
Careless storytelling […] and the meandering nature of most every scene in-between, no matter how excellent the animation, turns The Wind Rises into a bit of a slog. As much as I appreciate and respect Miyazaki and everything he’s given us over the years it pains me to write that, but I honestly just couldn’t wait for it to end. Had it been a live-action feature I’m sure real actors could have brought life to the otherwise lifeless characters, but as it is I couldn’t help but be thoroughly underwhelmed.
You can read the full review right here and watch the trailer directly below.
The Wind Rises will received an Oscar qualifying run in December, but won’t hit theaters until February 21, 2014.
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