I’ve seen two movies that center on pilots, danger, and romance in the era between world wars. One is Only Angels Have Wings, a critically acclaimed film from Hollywood’s Golden Age; the other is Porco Rosso, a 1992 animated feature from Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Only Angels Have Wings has some powerful performances and certainly deserves its accolades, but if you asked me which I’d rather watch at any given moment, Porco Rosso would win out every time. This is one of the funnest, most enjoyable films I’ve ever seen, to the extent that I had to watch it twice for this review—the first time, I was just having too much fun.
Like Indiana Jones, But He’s a Pig and a Pilot and a Bounty Hunter and There’s No Treasure and There’s More Pirates This is one of the purest adventure movies I’ve ever seen, of a type with the Indiana Jones movies, and part of what makes this movie so fun is that every character is likeable. This is no exaggeration—the closest thing movie has to an on-screen villain is Donald Curtis, the American pilot hired to take out our hero Porco. He’s a fantastic caricature of the Roarin’ 20s Hollywood Star and he's as entertaining as he is arrogant. The only real “bad guys” are the Italian secret police, who are wisely kept almost entirely off-screen. Having the only truly villainous presence remain just that — an uncharacterized presence — frees the movie to make everyone from the arms dealers to the mechanic’s grandma memorable, likeable characters. |
Here’s a quick list, off the top of my head, of characters in this movie that I loved (in no particular order):
The movie also has a fantastic opening scene. The audience quickly learns a lot of important info: Porco doesn’t care about being a hero, he’s a great pilot, he doesn’t want to kill anyone, even the pirates in this movie are basically good dudes, and mechanical problems will be a recurring theme. We also get some classic Ghibli elements, like beautifully animated flying machines and precocious children. It sets up the pirates’ need to eliminate Porco while establishing Porco’s status quo. |
The opening scene also introduces us to one of my other favorite aspects of the film: Michael Keaton as the voice of Porco Rosso. It’s hard to pin down, but he just doesn’t sound like I expected him to, in a good way. Through some combination of confidence, apathy, pragmatism, and dryness, Porco’s voice lends him pathos and elevates him from your average quippy hero to something truly memorable.
Of course, his great dialogue doesn’t hurt either—anyone who’s seen the film will recall a certain (timely, am I right) line concerning pigs and fascists. It’s just one of many great lines, and while Porco hogs a significant number of them for himself, the side characters all get plenty of moments to shine as well. Is there anything I don't like about this movie? This is a nitpick, but after watching Porco Rosso and Castle in the Sky, I feel like there must have been a conversation among the animation team that went something like: “Hey, fistfights are when two people taking turns punching each other in the face, right?” Yeah, that sounds about right.” Of course, we’re not here for the fistfights, but the dogfights, so it’s not a huge issue. (The dogfights are awesome) |
There’s also Fio, the young mechanical prodigy. She fits right alongside Nausicaä as a fiercely competent, fiery female lead, and I have no complaints there. It did strike me a little odd, though, how hard they hit the “uh oh! Sexism!” note.
Technically, the message is positive (i.e., that Fio is as competent as anyone and Porco is being dumb), but in a movie about a flying pig, couldn’t we have just … not done the whole “she’s building a plane? but she’s a woommmaaannnn” thing? Like, hooray that she proves him wrong, but if they wanted conflict between them, it could just have easily been “dude she’s 17 can I please get an adult engineer.” That said, Porco does get over it, and it’s not a huge issue. The Long and Short of It Do you want to watch a fun, clever, beautiful movie? Porco Rosso is what you’re looking for. I haven’t mentioned the beauty yet—because I hope by now it’s assumed—but it is worth noting that this is the first Ghibli film in a tropical setting (I know Italy isn’t technically in the tropics, don’t @ me). The ocean has never looked so good, before or since. Anyway, watch this movie. Next Up: Pom Poko. It’s a weird one, guys. A good one, but a weird one. Alternate Title:
Stray Notes:
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