Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short and Stanley Tucci
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Number of discs: 2
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Run Time: 135 minutes
Film: 5 out of 5 stars
Blu-ray: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 2 out of 5 stars
“The Wind Rises” is a hard film for fans of Studio Ghibli because it makes director Hayao Miyazaki’s final film. It is truly a masterpiece. They rounded up a all-star English dub voice cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short and Stanley Tucci. I watched this film in Japanese last year and I was so blown away, I immediately needed to watch it again. The music is so enthralling and the score is easily my favorite of the year. The story is so smart and well-told. You watch the film and you know that this is Miyazaki’s last film and it is ok because it is so amazing. Highly recommend this as it is sure to become a classic.
Official Synopsis: From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Best Animated Feature, Spirited Away, 2002) comes a spellbinding movie beyond compare. Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted and unable to be a pilot, he becomes one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers, experiencing key historical events in an epic tale of love, perseverance and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world
Disney is releasing this film as a Blu-ray +DVD Combo Pack. There are multiple audio tracks including DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 English and Japanese as well as a Dolby Digital 1.0 DVS English Audio. I have to go with the original Japanese track but like I mentioned the English dub cast is outstanding. The 1080p transfer is outstanding. The colors, the animation…it is all just absolutely perfect. The special features are a quite light though. There is a feature “The Wind Rises: Behind the Microphone”, which looks at the English dub. There are is Storyboards, Original Japanese Trailers/TV Spots & the Announcement of the Completion of the Film.