Porco Rosso, the sixth of Miyazaki’s 11 films as writer/director

Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps best known for his work with Studio Ghibli, has gained popularity around the world for his creative and imaginative animated feature films. While they were originally released in Japanese, all of them have been dubbed into English with prominent voice actors and Hollywood stars. For the next several weeks, I’ll be reviewing the English-dub versions of each of Miyazaki’s 11 films as writer and director.

This week: Porco Rosso (1992).

Synopsis: Porco (voiced by Michael Keaton) is a former WWI pilot from the Italian Air Force, who was cursed with the face of a pig for his cowardice. He’s abandoned his country and his former life, and now hides out in the Mediterranean and makes a living as a bounty-hunter of seaplane pirates. His only remaining friend is Gina (voiced by Susan Egan), his love interest in the film. Porco’s piloting skills and tenacious attitude have made life difficult for the local seaplane pirates, and they combine their resources to hire Curtis (voiced by Cary Elwes) to shoot down Porco. Curtis does so, but Porco makes it out alive and goes to Milan to have his plane repaired by the Piccolo family. There, he meets Fio (voiced by Kimberly Williams-Paisley), an up-and-coming aerospace engineer who wants to prove herself by fixing Porco’s plane. In the end, Porco and Fio work together to return to the Mediterranean and face Curtis and the seaplane pirates.

Spoiler-free review: Porco Rosso is such a fun and breezy watch, and I had such a blast with it that I decided to watch it twice. Clocking in at about 90 minutes, it has a good pace and atmosphere to it, feeling neither too heavy nor too light. It touches on some heavier topics, including death, the trauma of war and even the afterlife, to a degree. However, it does this in a way that’s approachable and understandable for people of all ages. Like all Miyazaki films, both the animation and the music are amazing. Composer Joe Hisaishi and the Studio Ghibli animation team do an excellent job of putting you in the Adriatic Sea, flying the skies up in Porco’s plane, or sending you back to the “Bygone Days.” The one issue I had with the movie is that the ending is abrupt and a little disappointing after such a fun build-up. But, overall, the characters are fun and memorable, the voice cast is talented, and the story is engaging and something that kids (and adults) of all ages could enjoy.

Letter grade: B+

Full review and critique: (Warning: here be spoilers!)

I got the idea to watch this movie — and actually, to do the whole “Catching the Miyazaki Classics” series — from listening to the song “Bygone Days.” Without having seen the movie, I got serious Film Noir-type vibes, and it felt reminiscent of “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca. So, I was intrigued and had to check it out.

The song “Bygone Days” wasn’t the only thing about this movie that reminded me of Casablanca. Porco, as a character, felt a lot like Humphrey Bogart’s Rick. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that, had Humphrey Bogart been alive when this movie was made, he would’ve been the ideal voice for Porco.

Both Porco and Rick (from Casablanca) have hard and jaded exteriors, something they’ve gained from a life full of difficult experiences. Because of this, both characters tend to keep to themselves and don’t really get close to anyone — at least, at the beginning of their respective films. Porco is close to Gina, but that’s about it. However, underneath all their self-centered bravado, both are men who have a strict code of honor that they live by, which includes looking out for those traditionally considered ‘vulnerable’ – women, children, the poor, etc. For instance, as seen during the fight of honor at the end, Porco refuses to shoot a pilot, and only shoots the plane.

And just like how Rick reunites with Ilsa and seemingly rediscovers what it means to fight for others rather than simply himself, so too does Porco after he meets Fio.

Fio and Porco’s relationship, while it doesn’t have much screentime, is a bit complex and hard to define. Porco certainly makes the comment that he has a reputation as a womanizer and doesn’t want to scandalize Fio, and there is the scene where she decides to go swimming, and he looks away as she throws off her clothes. He also blushes both times that she kisses him on the cheek. However, there are several instances where people remark on the age gap between them, and Porco himself frequently calls her “kid.” So, it seems that the relationship is a sort of chivalric romance.

Porco doesn’t love Fio the way he loves Gina, but he still respects and admires Fio, both as an engineer and as a person. And she motivates him to be a better, more courageous and more honorable man. He stands up for her in the honor fight against Curtis, wanting to win mostly because he doesn’t want Fio to have to marry Curtis. In fact, Fio’s presence seems to have this effect on all the seaplane pirates, as a few chastisements from her causes them all to start behaving more honorably. She even uses this ‘call to honor’ to have the pirates give up their intent to murder Porco, and instead fight him honorably via Curtis.

And while I really enjoy this dynamic between Porco and Fio, perhaps my favorite part of the movie is when Porco recounts his last dogfight in WWI, and the sequence where we see Porco’s friends and fellow pilots move on to a sort of pilots-only afterlife. The image all of all those planes in a big, long band in the sky, seeing all the different colors and insignia and allegiances represented, and yet they’re all dead and flying together forever… If I’d lost my best friends and seen something like that, I might be a jaded coward too. What does it matter which side you fight for, if you’re all going to end up in the same afterlife? And, honestly, it’s probably a good thing that Porco is out for himself. Otherwise, he’d be a pilot for the Facist government.

As I said, Porco Rosso is a fun watch, and it was a great one to kick-off this “Catching the Miyazaki Classics” series!

Next week: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)