Porco Rosso (Animated) (DVD)

...been) with her childhood sweetheart, Porco Rosso.

Not a lot is known about Porco Rosso, apart that he is nicknamed 'The Crimson Pig' due to his appearance and his red monoplane. One thing for certain, Rosso did used to be a human in the Italian Air Force, named 'Marco'. Due to his excellent piloting skills, this pig is renowned everywhere and is the center of the all jealousy to come.

With the fascist government rising ...
.../> CHARACTERS
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Porco Rosso (Michael Keaton)
A cursed human turned to pig. A famous pilot and a bounty hunter. Although he has a cool attitude, he means well and always willing to offer help to those who are in need. He is the hero of the film and a pilot with many unwanted enemy due to his fame.

Gina (Susan Egan)
She is Porco Rosso's childhood sweetheart and manages a wonderful café bar on the ... more

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SYNOPSIS
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'Porco Rosso' is an animation set in the late twenties, in Italy. It revolves around the life of a great ex-World War I Italian Pilot Fighter, called (surprisingly) 'Porco Rosso.' Although with great success and respect from his fellow people, Rosso is cursed and has to live his life with the face of a pig.

Rosso is certainly not retired from his days of work. Although he loves to lounge around in his secluded white-sanded beach, you will soon find out that he does not often get much time to spend his life there. As he still has his red monoplane - his pride and joy, Rosso makes his living as a bounty hunter; by helping the villagers and often tackling and confronting the unwanted sea pirates. Rosso is rewarded for collecting and recovering the values from the pirates.

After a tiresome day of work, all pilots relax by making their way to a popular bar and café, owned by the gorgeous Gina. No surprises as to why they all go there; Gina is a beautiful, confident and intelligent woman, with a fantastic singing voice which will seduce all those who hears it. The only catch is, Gina is in love (and always has been) with her childhood sweetheart, Porco Rosso.

Not a lot is known about Porco Rosso, apart that he is nicknamed 'The Crimson Pig' due to his appearance and his red monoplane. One thing for certain, Rosso did used to be a human in the Italian Air Force, named 'Marco'. Due to his excellent piloting skills, this pig is renowned everywhere and is the center of the all jealousy to come.

With the fascist government rising and with everyone out there wanting a vengeance after the war, Rosso seems like the easy target. Fed up of Rosso's disruptions to their success, the pirates have teamed up with a new man in town. Rosso's new rival is a young, arrogant, yet skillful American pilot called 'Donald Curtis.' Not only does Curtis want his fame, he also wants to claim his girl, Gina.

On an early shoot out between Rosso and Curtis, Curtis thought he has taken the glory when he eventually vanquished the Crimson Pig. However, Rosso managed to make his way to Milan, where he went to see his craftsman friend, 'Piccolo,' to resurrect his aircraft. Piccolo luckily has a gifted young granddaughter named 'Fio,' who were able to design and build a great plane for Rosso. Although a challenge, Fio is determined to complete this task as their workshop is going to bankrupt otherwise. They need the job and the money fast.

With Rosso's aircraft completed, he now has to avenge Curtis and return to his village by the seaside resort. In the meantime, Fio managed to get away from Milan and tagged along side with Rosso; as the new aircraft can sit two pilots. Through the adventure of Fio and Rosso getting back to his hometown, Fio saw a sensitive side to the pig's cool personality and falls in love with him.

So, which lovely ladies would Rosso choose? Will Rosso ever beat the American Curtis back to his hometown? Will Rosso get to spend more time in his beach and will he ever lift his cursed and to be human again, stay tune to find out.

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CHARACTERS
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Porco Rosso (Michael Keaton)
A cursed human turned to pig. A famous pilot and a bounty hunter. Although he has a cool attitude, he means well and always willing to offer help to those who are in need. He is the hero of the film and a pilot with many unwanted enemy due to his fame.

Gina (Susan Egan)
She is Porco Rosso's childhood sweetheart and manages a wonderful café bar on the island resort. Her love for Rosso seems to be in vain as he hardly notices it. She is the gem of all piloting visitors, as they all want her to be their wife.

Donald Curtis (Cary Elwes)
He is a young and skillful American mercenary. His passion is fame, anything pretty and himself. In order to ensure he can claim world fame, Curtis is eager to wipe Porco Rosso out as he believe this will give him the glory. Curtis is also head over heel for Gina.

Fio Piccolo (Kimberley Williams)
A young 17 year old girl who works with her grandfather's craft workshop in Milan. Fio is an aeronautical engineer and is extremely gifted, especially being so young. She eventually falls in love with Rosso, but he only sees her more as a little sister.

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REVIEW
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Ever since the international success of 'Princess Mononoke 1997', 'Hayao Miyazaki' animation work is beginning to be recognized by a wider audience. This is the sixth animation by the genius Miyazaki and I considered this film to be very different from his other series. Unlike others, which contain high level of fantasy, Porco Rosso has a real sense of historical and geological accuracy and is more down to earth. The fact that it is post World War I and based by the seaside resort of Italy, it has given it a plausible and realistic setting. Miyazaki has managed to create a world that feels alive, even though it is animated. As a viewer, you can sense the busy atmosphere of the village lives, jolly despite all the bad in the world and living together as one community. The scenery delivers a high quality of sensation, as you can almost feel the glowing warmth of the place, as well as smelling the sea salt from nearby. The artwork is at a high standard, which enable the viewers to 'feel' the mood and atmosphere. You must give them credit for the detail and effort that was attempted for the ripples and shimmering of the sea and the fluffiness of the clouds in the sky. It is highly impressive as to how much consideration was put into it to produce a realistic characteristic of mother natures. Even though it is animated, they organic movements of the sea and cloud have been captured successfully. Credit is must be given as it was made in 1992.

Porco Rosso does not have the usual big orchestral score that is often seen in Miyazaki's films. Joe Hisaishi, the Composer, was sensitive to the era and genre and chose a more Italian Folk style of melody to enhance the mood and setting. This consideration was successful in my eyes.

It would not be a Miyazaki film without his lovable trademarks - flying and pigs. For those fans of his animation, you may notice that he would include at least one flight scene in his film, whether it is of real natural flying, by magic or an aircraft. And an image of a pig is usually place somewhere in the film, whether they are a cute pet, a farm animal, a wild boar or Rosso.

As to why Porco Rosso was cursed into a pig, it was never explained in the film. Perhaps it was due to his suffering from after the war. He has come to a near death experience where he has to also watch the death of one of his good friend. With all the anguish, he wants to abandon humanity and the curse of the pig was the result.

I know it was up to our interpretation, but it seems somewhat frustrating especially for the younger audience. As to whether he changed back to a human in the end, my prediction is 'Yes'. You don't get to see his face, but all you hear from Curtis was 'What! Your face!' It could be interpreted in three ways. One - Curtis has just woken up from their punch up and Rosso's face was pretty beaten up. Two - Fio kisses Rosso passionately towards the end of the film, like a princess kissing a frog and changing him into a prince. My guess is with number Three -because Rosso was willing to sacrifice so much to ensure Curtis doesn't marry Fio (yeah, could you believe Curtis' change of heart!), that this was how the curse was lifted - a self sacrifice. Unfortunately we will never know this as an audience.

I cannot figure out which audience Porco Rosso aims at. I know that 'My Neighbour Totoro 1987' was aimed for the younger audience, due to the naivety and cuteness. 'Spirited Away' and 'Kiki's Delivery Service' is perhaps targeted at 12 - 13 year olds. Whereas the darker 'Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind 1984' and 'Princess Mononoke 1997' are aimed for the older teens to adult, due to the dark topics.

I feel that Porco Rosso is slightly lighthearted compared to others, as there is no heavy battle that may cause life or death to a great extent. Rosso has not actually killed anyone during the film, which makes it baby-friendly. Though, it is based in the depression era, and would not appeal to the younger audience, as it could be difficult for some of them to relate to. Even the fairy tale reference made by Fio about kissing Rosso could change him into a human again, could not save the attention from the younger audience. Perhaps, the slapstick fight between Curtis and Rosso, the pirates and the aviation battles would appeal to the younger viewers in a superficial way. I don't think they would take in much notice of the flashbacks, which contains a deeper narrative to the story and the past of Rosso.

I have to admit that I didn't take a liking to the character of Porco Rosso. The fact there was some classically cute drawn characters, such as the twenty-odd girl toddlers who have been kidnap; Porco's appearance seems to have a huge contrast, which doesn't fit. He wasn't the cutest pig I have seen in Miyazaki's animation, plus he is short, stumpy and fat, who smokes and drinks. In terms of personality, I don't think that he is one I would associate with if he was a real human being. I felt that he was slightly cold and doesn't express himself fully. I can see that he is calm, collective and intelligent, yet I am not inspired by his wisdom. Rosso seems like a lost soul who is trapped on Earth, and is filled with anguish and doesn't want to continue with life. As a character like this, it's not the hero or heroine that I am used to in Miyazaki's work.

In terms of the actor selection to dub the film in English, I was surprised that Michael Keaton took on the lead of Porco Rosso. As a film that is hardly known, I was impressed that they managed to get Keaton to do the job, and I think he has portrayed Rosso well. He is a middle-aged man who must have experience quite a bit in life. Therefore, Keaton was able to express the mature and intelligent, yet sad emotion within the voice. There is a feel of cynical towards life, which a younger actor would find it hard to achieve. But I'm not sure what to expect, as the pig is Italian…and the accent is American.

Cary Elwes who plays the annoying Curtis were able to establish a strong Southern American accent. I particularly liked what Elwes did as the voice was energetic, arrogant and also, annoying. I find this suit the character of Curtis and brought this cartoon to life.

Susan Egan who plays the sophisticated Gina has also done a good job, as she sounded strong-headed and wise. However, I felt that Kimberly Williams who played Fio may be overdone slightly, which made her energetic and enthusiastic voice irritating at times. This may not be due to her fault, as all the other characters are older or been through hell and back. Fio in true reality would not fit into a society of experienced people. She is a little girl compared to them.

Despite my appreciation of the artwork, I was generally disappointed with this film, as I feel it is a film of…nothing. There was no actual villain in the film and you can't take rivalry Curtis seriously. There was a great climax of a dogfight when the Italian Air Force chases Rosso and tried to capture the poor pig. I love the consideration that was made with the camera angles, giving the flight a true experience. But that was as exciting as the film gets. The love story that was embedded was extremely vague, as you have no idea if Rosso actually loves anyone at all. Rosso is probably unaware of Gina's love and Gina doesn't look like she is giving up on him - by where does it lead to? You follow the journey of Rosso to the end of the film, yet it does not feel like it has ended. Rosso's haunted past was not fully revealed and wasn't in depth. Even at the end of the film, his past is still a true mystery and his future remains unknown.

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INFO
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Director = Hayao Miyazaki / Tony Bancroft
Writing Credit = Cindy Davis Hewitt / Donald Hewitt
Year = 1992 (English Translation in 2003)
Duration = 94 minutes
Language = English Dubbed
Cert = PG 

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