I don't doubt the sincerity of Miyazaki's pacifism but I'm appalled by his abstract vision. Like, how many tens or hundreds of thousands of real people in Asia and the Pacific were de-animated thanks to [Jiro] Horikoshi's dreams?

A beautiful--and now Oscar-nominated--swan song from Miyazaki, The Wind Rises is a breathtaking ode to what is and what could be.

It's Miyazaki's most atypical cartoon, yet it might be his most personal self-representation, a portrait of the artist as a myopic dreamer.

Like a man looking back at the perfect futility of human life, 'The Wind Rises' is a bittersweet symphony of what it means to love and lose.