Porco Rosso

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Starring Shûichirô Moriyama/Michael Keaton (Kurenai no Buta), Tokiko Katô/Susan Egan (Jina-Sama), Bunshi Katsura Vi/David Ogden Stiers (Pikkoro-oyaji).

Bottom line: Porco Rosso was so cute and so much fun; I highly recommend it especially for kids.

3.5/4

In Porco Rosso, we follow an Italian WWI pilot who was cursed to look like a pig. The story consists of Porco fending off sky pirates and the attacks of an American ace in the inter-war period.

This is a Miyazaki movie so, if you’re familiar with his movies, it won’t surprise you to hear that the animation is wonderful. It’s colorful and happy. Porco’s introduction and the introduction to his relationship with the pirates give you a good indication of the tone of the movie.

We see Proco lounging on a secluded beach. He is called on the radio to go fend off some pirates who are robbing a cruise and, to make matters worse, they’ve captured a class of schoolgirls!

Now, I cringed when I heard “schoolgirls” because, you know, I thought hyper-sexualized high school girls (aka early Brittany) but it was just elementary school children. I suspect it was a translation thing or maybe a cultural terminology issue. Anyway, we cut to the pirates and the one groans, “Do we have to take all 15?”

“Oh course! We can’t split them up from their friends!”

And then they go on to let the kids climb all over the plane while being “kidnapped.”

Even when Porco comes to the rescue the scene is light-hearted. Porco shoots out the pirate-plane’s engine and even lets them keep a little of their loot to pay for repairs. “I don’t want to be putting them out of a job,” Porco explains.

I saw the English dubbed version. I’m generally a proponent of original audio with subtitles but, in this case, the dub was perfectly good for the movie. Michael Keaton does a great job of voice acting Porco. The voice of Meg from Disney’s Hercules is the voice of Porco’s love interest. Do you remember Everybody Loves Raymond? Well, Raymond’s brother (the one with the deep voice) is a pirate alongside the voice of Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants. The daughter in Father of the Bride voices the spunky engineer. It’s a solid B-grade cast.

When I was describing the cast to a coworker, he said that a mark of a good B-grade cast is when you say, “Do you remember that show? Well, the side character from that show was in this.” That is, you know the actor not through their name but through a point of reference.

I would highly recommend Porco Rosso especially for kids. It’s fun and happy and I’ll probably see it again at some point. Thanks for reading! I’m on a Miyazaki kick at the moment so I will probably write a review about another soon. What about you? Are you looking forward to seeing anything in the near future?

Ponyo

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Starring Tomoko Yamaguchi (Risa), Kazushige Nagashima (Kôichi), Yûki Amami (Granmamare).

Bottom line: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is an adorable Miyazaki movie but because of the odd story, I wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first Miyazaki movie.

3/4

If you aren’t familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, he’s like the Japanese Walt Disney. He and his studio, Studio Ghibli, are responsible for Spirited Away, Grave of Fireflies, Princess Mononoke and others. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (henceforth referred to as Ponyo) is one of their most recent films. I love Miyazaki movies, particularly how they animate water; Ponyo’s defining characteristic is that it’s about the sea so, naturally, it was on my to-watch list.

Plot wise, Ponyo feels pretty thin. There is a fish that wants to become a little girl. Only through true love can this happen…and also only through true love can she save the world from being flooded.

There isn’t too much else to say about this one, quite honestly. The animation is beautiful, Ponyo (Nara) and Sôsuke (the little boy, voice by Hiroki Doi, who finds Ponyo) are adorable, and the music is great, and it has a happy ending.

If you were unfamiliar with Miyazaki, I wouldn’t recommend this as your introduction to his movies because of the odd plot. I’d start off with something like Spirited Away or Kiki’s Delivery Service, and then after a little while, add Ponyo to your queue.

My wife and I have been watching a couple of Miyazaki movies so I’ll be writing some reviews about them in the next couple days. Next up: Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso.

I checked on the cast of voice actors for both the original Japanese cast and the American dub. Looking at the cast, you can tell this was definitely a big budget movie; Matt Damon (Kôichi), Betty White (Sôsuke grandmother), Tina Fey (Sôsuke’s mom), and last but not least, the voice of the villain is Liam Neeson! We watched the original Japanese audio and it was great but, if you prefer dubs, I think Ponyo would be a good experience. Although, now that I’m thinking about it, Liam Neeson’s voice is so distinct I wonder if it would break my suspension of disbelief.

In writing this, I was going to include some links to my other reviews of Miyazaki movies but, in looking at my previous reviews to my shock, I don’t have any! So, I’ll have to build upon Ponyo to do a little series of Miyazaki movies. So, until then, thanks for reading! Please let me know, in the comments, your thoughts on Miyazaki!