When the Wind Blows

When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British animated disaster film directed by Jimmy Murakami and based on Raymond Briggs' comic book of the same name. As an anti-nuclear war film, the stories centers around a retired British couple who attempt to carry on normal life after a Soviet nuclear missile strike. The film was released on 24 October 1986 in the United Kingdom, 25 July 1987 in Japan, and 11 March 1988 in the United States.

Plot
In this hand-drawn animated tale, elderly married couple Hilda (Peggy Ashcroft) and Jim Bloggs (John Mills) have their quiet, simple lives in the English countryside interrupted when they learn of an impending nuclear attack. Not completely understanding the gravity of their situation, Hilda and Jim react archaically and insufficiently after the attack -- and the film takes a dark turn as the radiation begins taking its toll on the unsuspecting couple.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Raymond Briggs uses his talent at it's finest to write a story to convey lots of entertaining scenes that feature lots of emotion and some decent humor.
 * 2) Jim and Hilda are likable characters, which brings an emotional payoff in the ending.
 * 3) On the topic of the ending, this film avoids the trope of the characters living happily ever after and instead goes for a more realistic aftermath of a nuclear strike. Anyone watching this film will have to shed tears around the last few scenes. This is also done in Grave of the Fireflies and The Plague Dogs, though it's for the viewer to decide when it comes to the latter film.
 * 4) Artistic animation that mixes traditional hand-drawn characters with a house interior made of live action models that are stop-motion animated when they're meant to move or interact with the characters. The visuals are even more amazing when the missile strikes the country.
 * 5) * Some people can interpret this as the predecessor of future combinations of live-action backgrounds and animated characters, such as The Amazing World of Gumball.
 * 6) Beautiful soundtrack by Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, complete with a memorable title song by the late David Bowie.
 * 7) Some great humor, mostly throughout the scenes where Jim is preparing the house for the missile and Hilda being too concerned about the house being tidy.
 * 8) Realistic voice-acting from the late John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft.
 * 9) Is extremely faithful to Raymond Brigg's graphic novel.
 * 10) As mentioned in 4, the nuclear explosion scene is visually stunning, complete with an eerie soundtrack by Roger Waters.
 * 11) The scenes of Jim and Hilda reminiscing on their memories of World War II are lovely to watch.
 * 12) The film openly criticizes the government's Protect and Survive instructions, which in real life won't save anyone and are utterly useless.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) A very odd and out of place live-action opening, which uses footage of military vehicles before David Bowie's title song plays.
 * 2) * However, this could be a way of letting the audience at the time know that the events in the movie had a very likely chance of happening.
 * 3) When the radio gives the four-minute warning, Jim, when Hilda refuses to get in the shelter, says "Come back you stupid b**tch and get in the shelter". It might be natural for anyone in a panic situation to say something like that, but it was still very out of character. In the graphic novel, the word "fool" was in the place of the b-word.
 * 4) * Interestingly, this error was also repeated in the BBC Radio Drama adaptation starring the late Peter Sallis and Brenda Bruce.
 * 5) Not for the easily frightened or afraid.

Reception
The film received positive reviews upon release, currently holding 86% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 7 critical reviews. Critic Barry Lappin called it "Absolutely brilliant.... It was very subtly done but the message more than gets through well". He explained that the scenes are "more than touching" and encouraged people to watch it to the very end.

The film earned $5,274 at the domestic box office.

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