Porco Rosso

[Matt Deckard]

Add it to your netflix if you have the service.

It's the story of a WWI aviator who is cursed to be a pig. The movie is set in an altenate reality 1930's with alot of emphasis placed on air and sea travel.

Marco (Porco) Rosso is a loner mercenary pilot that goes on missions to retrieve goods and defend against air pirates.

The story is much deeper than that. It harks back to the style of movies you see made in the 30's and 40's. A solid plot and a solid main character that you worry about and hope will end up okay in the end.

Some nice outfits in the flashback 1920's scenes too. See the movie.

I'm also really into the art... it's the style I used to draw.

 

[Craig Robertson]

guilt trip

...and WHY aren't you drawing now????

 

[Baggers]

The director of "Porco Rosso," Hyao Myazaki, is without a doubt one of the most gifted animators currently working. All of his films, such as "Princess Mononoke," "Spirited Away," and "Castle in the Sky" are works of art that everyone needs to experience. His latest effort, "Howl's Moving Castle," was up for an Academy Award this year but was beaten out by Wallace & Gromit.

Being a voice talent on one of his films would be the highlight of my career.

Cheers!

 

[Matt Deckard]

...and WHY aren't you drawing now????

Back in the old company I used to work at, I was drawing story boards. I hired someone much better than I to take my place... Wild Root. Then long after that I left the company, leaving art behind in persuit of money.

I may get back to it some day, I doodle here and there, though I'm way out of practice.

 

[Sefton]

All of the Miyazaki films that I've seen have been wonderful. His themes of nature and man's responsibility are always done in a thought provoking manner without being preachy. Porco Rosso is a fun film. My favorite so far is Spirited Away followed by Princess Mononoke. With the world so taken by computer animation it's great to see a true artist keeping hand drawn animation alive.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Agreed on all counts - Porco Rosso is great fun, especially to those of us with a fondness for the 1930s. Just be sure to check your suspension of disbelief at the door and enjoy it as an imagined romp (if you get hung up on realism, history, aeronautics, etc., or just don't like animation in general, you probably won't like it at all).

But my favorite Miyazaki film remains Spirited Away - it's utterly brilliant, however you look at it. As imaginative as The Wizard of Oz or Alice In Wonderland (both of which it superficially resembles), and overflowing with jaw-dropping design and utterly unique sequences... It's like a powerful dream: mind-bogglingly fantastic, yet with an unshakable core of believability. Gorgeous and moving...

Which is not to say that Mizyazaki's other movies - Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, etc. - aren't great too. He's truly a master, and his films are a wonderful alternative to the too-familiar, mean-spirited, overly commercial, totally predictable Disney product.

 

[LaMedicine]

Oh, I love Porco Rosso, it's one of the favorites of my younger daughter, too. As a matter of fact, I love all of Miyazaki's films.:eusa_clap

Baggers, one of my daughter's classmates beat you to it, she played the girl Rin who befriends Chihiro in "Spirited Away" at the spa, in the Japanese version. I hope you get your wish one day, too, I'll be rooting for you!

I'm not sure of the English title, I'm not even sure if an English version has been released, but hav any of you ever seen "Heisei Ponpoko Daigassen" (Heisei Badger Battle) where form changing badgers try to save the rural woods that they live in? It probably seems a strange story to non-Japanese, but Miyazaki makes a superb mix of Japanese folklore and ghosts in that film and I have always found it so funny, poking fun at humans.

His is the kind of stories that makes one nostalgic of "those good old days".

 

[Doctor Strange]

LaMedicine - You're talking about "Pom Poko". I saw it recently when TCM ran their Miyazaki festival. It's one of the few that I wasn't crazy about: while it had some interesting ideas, it seemed very strange, and much too long. I think there was a lot of material in it that properly requires a native Japanese perspective to really appreciate. Here's info on it:

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/pompoko/

 

[Gray Ghost]

I was flipping through the channels and happened across it. I did not think I would like it but then got hooked. It was a fun movie to watch.

GG

 

[Maria]

I consider Miyazake a 'hero artist' for keeping hand drawn animation in our days :eusa_clap

As I love the 1930's and WWI and aviation themed films, I couldn't help but fall in love for Porco Rosso when I first watched it last year.

Miyazake's other films - such as "My Neighbour Totoro", "Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle" - are lovely too.