In contradiction to most other anime-fans (at least, that’s what I suspect), I’m not necessarily a Japanophile, and I don’t really regard the Japanese culture as the “best culture ever”; it’s just that these guys are so damn good at storytelling. That’s why I love it when an anime takes place in a country other than Japan. Because of this, I love the fact that for this movie, Hayao took up his roots of when he was still working for Nippon Animation, and combined this with his love for airplanes and his huge imagination.
The result is a beautiful depiction of southern Italy around the ages of World War One, and possibly the most unique out of all Ghibli-movies and it’s got a combination of drama and comedy that puts My Neighbour the Yamadas and Pom Poko to shame. While the amount of details that went into this movie isn’t as impressive as, say, My Neibour Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery-service, it makes up for this with some addictive storytelling and some awesome side-characters. You just can’t help but love the pirates and their antics.
Also, for once I’m glad that the main character doesn’t ruin the movie. Porco himself may not be the best character of the bunch, but yet he’s fresh and original, and a major leap away from the usual protagonists you see in anime, being a war veteran that turned into a pig and all. The real problem with Porco Rosso is that it’s got a few clichés here and there, though, that serve to keep the movie on track. A notable exception, however, is the ending.
With my reviews of the Ghibli-movies, I’ve often paid little to no attention to the production-values. Heck they’re awesome, what else did you expect? Still, I do want to mention that Porco Rosso has probably the best soundtrack of all Ghibli-movies. Like no other in Hisaishi Joe’s repertoire, it sets the mood for the Italian setting perfectly.
As I’ve now seen all of the major Ghibli-movies, I just don’t think I can really label one as the best of the bunch. My Neighbour Totoro was really nostalgic, Kiki’s Delivery-Service and Spirited Away were wonderful tales of growing up, and The Cat Returns and Porco Rosso combined great, intriguing and very different stories with a quirky nature and excellent characterizations. All I can say is that these five stood out for me as the most memorable, and they should be a definite recommendation to any anime-fan.]]>
Porco Rosso Review – 88/100
did you do a review of grave of the fireflies yet? it’s a major ghibli film and it’s an incredible one. you might want to check it out if you already haven’t.
Nikobless beat me to it, but it doesn’t seem like you’ve reviewed Grave of the Fireflies, which is arguably their best work, and certainly the most important film produced by Studio Ghibli.
I think Porco Rosso is a great film and I don’t mind ambiguous endings but I felt that the ending was a bit too inconclusive. I think again it has a lot of ideas that due to time constraints can only be touched upon and not explored. Then again maybe it’s a sign that the worlds miyazaki creates are so intriguing you don’t want to leave them.
Porco Rosso is my favourite Ghible movie because of its light hearted feel. I think it had a great ending, that forced viewers to read between the lines and was conclusive enough to satisfy me, while most other Miyazaki movies tend to have really rushed endings.
Hah, a guy turns into a pig, definitely goin to watch.
You call THIS a review ?
Grave of the Fireflies was actually the first Ghibli-movie I ever saw. The reason there isn’t a review is because I watched it before starting this blog.
I’m afraid that I watched it a bit too early, because I didn’t like it. Perhaps it was Takahata’s style of dragging things on for too long, but the movie really felt boring and uninteresting to me.
Karry: I’m getting quite a bit tired of your trolling. If you don’t like the review, then why do you read it in the first place?
Psgels: I find fault in your reasoning. It’s a little ridiculous to ask someone why they read something in the first place if they didn’t like it. How could someone decide to not read something because they didn’t like it without first engaging in the opinion-deciding (like/dislike) reading?
More simply:
1. You can’t like or dislike a review without first reading it.
2. By that time, you can’t decide to unread it ‘in the first place’.
3. Maybe you should read Catch-22.
As to why Karry posted something if s/he didn’t like the review, well, I’d say that s/he’s allowed to, isn’t s/he? It wasn’t exactly a critique, but still a valid opinion, no?
And I think Karry does have a point: any review that, inter alia, describes something as ‘the most unique’ is probably suffering from some kind of defect.
Ipso: thanks for the critizism on “the most unique”. “The most original” fits better, I think.
Also, the reason for my comment at Karry was that he/she comments more often on this blog, with comments that border outright and unargumented flaming. After a dozen of these things, my patience just ran out.