Despite being released theatrically in the US way back in February, my family just got the chance to see The Wind Rises this past Saturday evening. I have to admit that I had written off being able to see it in a theater and was very surprised to see that a local art center was screening the movie. It was an extremely lucky turn of events since this coming Thursday (April 24) is the final showing before they switch to a different movie.

The Wind Rises is a fictionalized biography of airplane engineer Jiro Horikoshi. It begins with Jiro as a young boy, dreaming of soaring in the sky on a custom airplane. He is abruptly awoken when he is bombed mid-air by a huge airship above him. Undeterred, he borrows an English-language aviation magazine from a schoolteacher and, with his trusty dictionary, finds out about an Italian designer named Caproni. While reading, Jiro falls asleep and meets Caproni in a shared dream between the two enthusiasts.

The movie then skips ahead to a time when Jiro is in university. During a train ride back into Tokyo, Jiro meets a young woman, Naoko, and her maid just minutes before a huge earthquake hits. (This is the Great Kanto Earthquake that took place in 1923.) As the passengers disembark in a frenzy, the maid breaks her leg. Since Jiro is such a good guy, he carries the maid on his back through the mass of people, past the massive fires in Tokyo, and into the relative safety of Naoko's family. He leaves without even giving anyone his name so he can fight to save the books at his university from being burned to ashes.

Fast forward again to Jiro and his friend, Honjo, working at an airplane manufacturer. The two are working on a fighter design, which ends in failure. The company loses the contract and sends the two engineers to Germany to do technical research. During this time, he once again meets Caproni in a dream, where they have a philosophical conversation about the beauty of aircraft. Shortly thereafter, Jiro is promoted to chief designer for a fighter plane contract from the Navy. This also ends in failure. Jiro heads off to a summer resort in order to get his mind back on track.

While at the hotel, Jiro once again meets Naoko. As the two spend time together playing with paper airplane designs and taking walks, they fall in love. However, Naoko has tuberculosis and refuses to marry until she is well again. Jiro returns to Tokyo to once again design a fighter plane for the Navy. This time, the secret police are searching for him so he is forced out of his apartment and into the home of his supervisor, Kurokawa. Naoko, meanwhile, has holed herself up in a sanatorium in order to recover from her condition until she can no longer bear to be away from Jiro and travels to Tokyo to join him. Kurokawa refuses to let the lovers stay under his roof unmarried so they have an impromptu wedding ceremony.

The newlyweds live with Kurokawa even though Naoko's condition is deteriorating. Jiro must finish the designs on his latest creation. Despite his long workdays, they enjoy their time together.

I don't want to spoil the ending of the movie so I will end the synopsis there. Everyone in my family enjoyed the movie. I didn't expect my daughter to like it very much since she prefers movies like Kiki's Delivery Service or Ponyo or Spirited Away. This one is a little more...boring compared to the previous Miyazaki works. There is no real antagonist. No one to root for or against. It is just the story of a boy trying to make his dream come true. There are some very emotional scenes but they are handled very well. Not your typical Miyazaki fare but a good movie nonetheless.

The Secret World of Arrietty is a Studio Ghibli animated movie based on the book, The Borrowers. Fourteen-year old Arrietty lives with her mother, Homily, and her father, Pod, under the floorboards in a closet. See, Arrietty and her family are "Borrowers," tiny people who live in the homes of human beings and 'borrow' items (or pieces of items) that they need to survive. However, since they are so small, there are many dangers. Besides cats and crows, the humans themselves are seen as a threat. If a Borrower is seen by a human, they must pack everything up and find a new place to live.

I adore Studio Ghibli movies. Our DVD shelves are stocked with a variety of their titles - My Neighbor Totoro, The Cat Returns, and Ponyo, just to name a few. So when we heard that Arrietty was being released in theaters, my family was pretty excited to see it. (The constant commercials on the Disney Channel were no help either!) I didn't think we would find the time to see it opening weekend, but we managed to fit it in.

With only a 94-minute running time, Arrietty is a fairly short movie. Unfortunately, the lack of any real characterization or conflict due to the time constraints is noticeable. Most of the movie is spent showing how Arrietty and her family borrow things from the 'human beans.' We don't really get to know any of the humans. As a result, the climax of the movie doesn't bring out the emotions that it should. Instead of caring about whether a character lives or dies, the audience is forced to just float along with the story. But don't think that this makes it a terrible movie. On the contrary, it's a nice journey we are taken on. The lovely artwork and gorgeous soundtrack make the blandness of the plot worthwhile. It would just be nicer if there was a bit more meat on this story's bones.