Porco Rosso (1992)

 Porco Rosso (1992)

Studio Ghibli is one of the most consistently great animation studios in the world of animation, almost all of their films are absolutely amazing.  Porco Rosso from 1992, is a bit of a lesser known classic from Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and based on his 1989 watercolour manga, Hikotei Jidai ("The Age Of The Flying Boat").  The film tells the story of a WW1 ace fighter pilot from the Italian Air Force, who went rogue after the word and became an exile from his home country and turned to a life of freelance bounty hunting.   The pilot had been cursed to become an anthropomorphic pig.   Though he fights sky pirates, he isn't really a good guy, nor is he really a bad guy, he's just a pig, which he uses to explain his bad behavior at times.   However Madam Gina has never given up on the man that became the pig, and in her heart she bears only love for him, and then there is the young and talented aeroplane mechanic Fio Piccolo, who also believes in him, and sees more honour in him than he sees within himself.  However the sky pirates are tired of him spoiling their raids and costing them money, and then there is the cocky young American stunt pilot Curtis, who is out to take out the pig and hsi bright red waterplane.   Can this pig in his bright red plane, and his talented young mechanic overcome the forces of the of the sky pirates, as well as keep from being captured by the fascist forces of the Italians?

Porco Rosso was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and based on his 1989 watercolour manga.   The film was produced by Studio Ghibli, and originally distributed by Toho.  Originally the film was made as a short inflight film for Japanese Airlines.  However the outbreak of the war in Yugoslavia prompted the film to take on a more serious tone, and to tone down some of the more comedic elements of the film (it is still a fun film, but it definitely took on a more serious tone though).   The film was released in Japan in 1992, and the first English dub was released for Japanese Airlines flights.  As a part of a deal with Studio Ghibli, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released their own English dub of the film in 2005.  Later in 2017 Studio Ghibli made a distribution deal with G-Kids who re-released the 2005 English Language dub in a nice DVD and Blu-ray release.  The G-Kids version is the best release for western audiences.   Porco Rosso was also a major success for Studio Ghibli, being made on a budget of $9.2 million, it grossed $44 million, which is impressive considering that this is a film that isn't talked about as much as some of the other films in the Studio Ghibli collection. 

For the purposes of this review, I am taking a look at that 2005 English language dub that Disney released, rather than the original Japanese, or earlier English language dub.   Porco Rosso stars  Michael Keaton as Porco Rosso/Marco Rossolini (Marco Pagot in the original Japanese version), Susan Egan as Madame Gina, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Fio Piccolo, Cary Elwes as Donald Curtis, David Ogden Stiers as Mr. Piccolo, and Tom Kenny as Ferrari (Ferrarin in the original Japanese version).  The film has a great voice cast, and honestly I was surprised when I realized that it was Michael Keaton doing the voice of Porco Rosso (which translates to Red Pig in Italian), he did a great job at capturing the gruffness of the character, but also picking up on the undertones of kindness in the character.   Porco Rosso is a character who isn't a bad guy, he comes off as pig, because to be honest many of his mannerisms are piggish, but underneath there is a good man, that he seems to have forgotten exists, but both Madam Gina and Fio Piccolo see that good in him, and they both see the man within the pig.   

Fans of Hayao Miyazaki know of his love of aeroplanes, and aeronautic history, so it is always special to see a film like Porco Rosso where he gets to incorporate that love of flight into a feature film.  So to me this is a special film, because the viewer gets a glimpse at the passion of the artist.   Then on top of that the animation is beautiful, as one would expect from a Studio Ghibli film, and the film has a great heart warming story, of a person who finds his own self worth through the eyes of two women who become important parts of his life, and sometimes, even a pig can become a hero.  

If you have not yet seen Porco Rosso I highly recommend checking it out, I know that it gets overshadowed by the more talked about Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle...(and all of our other favourite films from them), but this is definitely a tragically underrated film.  I would say that Porco Rosso is a must see animated film, and one that belongs in every film collectors library.   If you come across a copy of this wonderful animated film, don't pass it up, it is definitely worth adding to your collection.