Porco Rosso

1992 cartoon


Rating: 15/20 (Dylan: 11/20; Emma: 11/20; Abbey: slept)

Plot: It's early 1930s Fascist Italy, and the title anti-hero has abandoned the Italian airforce. Flying the skies as a humanoid pig (the result of a curse), he's employed as a bounty hunter to protect the seas from sky pirates. Those sky pirates are a filthy lot. An egomaniacal American pops onto the scene, falls for Porco's love interest (and seemingly any other female), and decides to challenge Porco in a dogfight to make his name internationally known. I forget his name. Porco flies off to have a mechanic in Italy, right under the government's nose, make repairs to his red plane. He meets the mechanic's outspoken and talented niece (another Miyazaki strong female character) who winds up coming back to his hide-out. Conflicts collide, and Porco's puzzling past is gradually revealed.


This is Miyazaki, so of course it looks great--beautiful hand-painted skies especially. The air flight and fight scenes are a lot of fun, and the title character is complex and dynamic and unfortunately voiced by Michael Keaton. (The only other voice I recognized, by the way, is Brad Garrett from Everybody Wants to Screw Raymond.) I could have used a little more diversity with the storytelling (this is definitely a more simple story than a lot of the other Ghibli stuff), and the plot crosses the line into melodrama at times. Really, it's a plot that could have been lifted from 1940s Hollywood although most of the melodramatic stuff is left unresolved by the sketchy, partially indeterminate end. There are some funny moments, both for me (sort of an adult) and my children, but it's really that Miyazaki attention to details, sometimes very small details, that give Porco Rosso flight.


Note: I only picked this up so that I could use that pun.


Here I am: