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(Japanese cartoon feature)

Warwick Showcase has brought in Academy Award nominee “The Wind Rises” by the famous Japanese illustrator/animator, Hayao Miyazaki. The fantastic drawings are worth sitting through the over two-hour movie, which wanders a bit too much and often slows to a snail’s pace.

It is the story of Jiro Horikosher, (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young Japanese man who dreams of designing planes. Unfortunately, it is a time of war in Japan, and all planes are designed for the military.

 Early in the film (1923) he survives a great earthquake and saves a young girl and her mother. Jiro and his friend travel to Germany, trying to gain knowledge of how they are developing fighter planes. Jiro dreams that someday planes will not carry guns and bombs but will be used for enjoyment and travel. He meets Italian designer Giovanni Caproni (voice of Stanley Tucci) in the dreams.

We follow Jiro through his growth and advancement with the Japanese plane manufacturer that hires him and his long history of trial and error. While it is an interesting story, it goes on much too long and is buoyed down with details.

The subplot has him meeting up again with the girl from the train, falling in love and eventually marrying her. The sad tale (the movie is in no way an upper) has her dying of tuberculosis.

The Japanese style of animation is quite lavish, while the humans are always drawn with huge eyes. It is also interesting that the voices are American, English and German actors. This one is for film lovers and may totally bore others.

Rated PG-13, with some violence. And everybody smokes constantly.