(PCM) The latest animated film from legendary animation pioneer and icon Hayao Miyazaki will hit U.S. theaters this February 21st.
The Wind Rises is Miyazaki’s eleventh full length feature film and tells the fictionalized biography of real life Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.
In The Wind Rises, Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world’s most innovative and accomplished airplane designers.
The film chronicles much of his life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo.
Hayao Miyazaki is hailed as one of Japan’s greatest animation directors and is know for cherished films such as 2001′s Spirited Away, 1997′s Princess Mononoke, and 2004′s Howl’s Moving Castle.
Starring in the U.S. version of the film are Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Emily Blunt (Looper), Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing), Mae Whitman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Stanley Tucci (Hunger Games), John Krasinski (The Office), William H. Macy (Fargo), and many more.
The Wind Rises is nominated in the 2014 Academy Awards for Best Animated Film and released to wide critical acclaim in Japan in 2013.
The film has a run time of 126 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some disturbing images and smoking.
The post The Wind Rises U.S. Release on February 21! also appeared on PCM Reviews.