Porco Rosso (9 out of 10) – Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki; English Language version starring Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Brad Garrett, Susan Egen; Rated PG for violence and some mild language; 94 minutes.
If there are three things I love, it’s cartoons, World War I history, and Hayao Miyazaki, so the fact that before last week I’d never seen “Porco Rosso” is nothing short of shocking.
“Porco Rosso” is a film from 1992 that just came to Blu-ray for the first time last week, and revolves around an ex-World War I pilot who has turned bounty hunter. And Pig. Yes, he’s cursed to be an anthropomorphic pig. In the film, he’s exiled from his home country of Italy and cruises the Adriatic Sea, fighting sky pirates for money.
In the Blu-ray version, the default audio is the English language track, which casts Michael Keaton fantastically in the lead role and his rival is an American played by Cary Elwes. The two of them are fantastic in a dub that makes you feel like the film was originally designed to be played in English. Other standout performances come from David Ogden Stiers, Bill Fagerbakke, and Brad Garrett. In fact, Michael Keaton’s voice carries so much more emotion than you’d expect in a performance that seems, on first blush, slightly monotone.
The film carefully balances humor and action with a heart and a love story that is almost unexpected. Porco and the supporting characters are fleshed out with much more depth than you’d tend to expect from a cartoon and it’s amazing how refined Miyazaki’s visual and story flairs were in films much earlier in his career. 1992 feels recent when you say it, but that’s almost 25 years ago.
The film explores themes of selfishness and duty, but also digs deeper into the worthiness of love and self image. I watched it with my children and I’m almost positive I got much more out of it than they did, just because it works on two levels. There’s the humor and the fun that stands out in their minds upon viewing, but older viewers will find a bittersweet tenderness to the film.
I was doubly pleased about the treatment of the young female character in the film, who is actually an engineer chosen to revamp and repair Porco’s plane after his rival blows him out of the water. She’s doubted for her gender, is given the job anyway, and then designs a plane that’s better than it’s ever been.
On Blu-ray, the animation makes me long for days of hand-drawn films. I love what all the studios are doing in 3D, much more than I have in years past, but there’s just something aesthetically wonderful about the animation here. From the glimmering seas to the soft-patterned clouds featured in the dogfights, Miyazaki imbues the film with a tactile realism that works beautifully in the semi-realistic fantasy world that he’s created.
This film really blew my hair back and is something I’ll definitely be revisiting as time goes on. It’s a 9 out of 10, easy.