Across the Adriatic Sea flies a red sea plane, flown by the WWI ace Porco Rosso. Times have changed and he is now the best bounty hunter in the islands, hunted by both Sea Plane Pirates and the Italian Government. What's a flying pig to do? Released in 1992, Porco Rosso is Hayao Miyazaki's sixth film as a director and is a triumph of animation, mechanical illustration and storytelling. Known for having common themes in his movies, Porco Rosso celebrates Miyazaki's wonder with flight, while having usual concentration of pacifism and feminism.
The artwork is sensational in two ways, fluidity and detail. From aerial combat and dog fights to a sultry singer's lips, movement so flows naturally that its easy to forget that this is all hand drawn. With animation so smooth and graceful, it's usual for animators to hold back detail to keep work moving. But with Miyazaki's animation studio, Studio Ghibli, no detail is every left behind. Every bolt and crease in the planes is tediously drawn. And while most characters aren't detailed towards realism, little detials like hair and wrinkles are always prominent in the studio's films. Even if you aren't a fan of anime or flying pigs, there are just clips that you should watch in amazement.
Now for a film so nice, I had to watch it twice. Once in Japanese and once in English. Now of course a foreign movie can be a hassle to read and enjoy visual, and most English dubs of anime stay very true with types of voices, grizzled characters get grizzled voices and so on and so on. When Porco Rosso was dubbed, its choices in voice actors were spot on with one exception. Michael Keaton. He tried his hardest to match Porco gruff personality; a personality that was inspired by 1940 leading men like Humphrey Bogart. He just misses a certain roughness in his throat that the Japanese actor had clearly in his. It's really alright though, Susan Egan's performance as Gina, the sultry night club owner was more than perfect. You know her as Meg from Disney's Hercules.
This is a classic story of the ugly underdog getting the upper-hand, and the girl. Been retold again and again; you know what you're getting into when you start the movie. But it's Studio Ghibli's diligent work and Miyazaki's style of storytelling gives you a movie with style, adventure and heart.
Welcome to the Back-Blogged project! We're glad to finally have you. I don't think anyone has reviewed anything anime yet, aside form a video game or two, so your first post has already diversified the shit out of our blog. Nice!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you B-Town. Miyazaki movies are the only anime I've ever liked enough to recommend to others. They're just awesome. I've seen Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service (when I was a kid, I don't give a fuck) but have been wanting to catch the rest for a while. Perhaps this post will cause me to do just that. To Netflix!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm glad you give credit to the good voice dubbing. I've only seen Miyazaki flicks in English and I've never had a problem- even with some interesting choices for voice acting like Billy Bob Thornton or James Van Der Beek. To me, the hardcore fans who insist "watch it in japanese or don't watch it at all" might be a part of why anime isn't more widely accepted in USA. But what do I know.
I agree. There's nothing bad about the Ghibli dubs. And even though I may be in the minority, I liked James and Billy. Yes, they were odd choices, but you know what? I thought they both did a damn fine job; but I thought Keith David, Hamill and Leachman were the real stars of those respective dubs.
DeleteJust throwing this out there. I was looking through the posts and skimmed past this title and thought it said:
ReplyDeletePorque Russo? WHY RUSSO WHY?