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Porco Rosso Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 2 Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 93 minutes Studio: Buena Vista Home Vid Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com Porco Rosso (The Crimson Pig, 1992) ranks as Hayao Miyazaki's oddest film: a bittersweet period adventure about a dashing pilot who has somehow been turned into a pig. Miyazaki once said, "Initially, it was supposed to be a 45-minute film for tired businessmen to watch on long airplane flights... Why kids love it is a mystery to me." The early 1930s setting enabled Miyazaki to focus on the old airplanes he loves, and the film boasts complex and extremely effective aerial stunts and dogfights. In the new English dub from Disney, Michael Keaton as Porco delivers lines like "All middle-aged men are pigs" with appropriate cynicism, but his voice may be too familiar for some Miyazaki fans. Susan Egan makes a curiously distant Gina, the thrice-widowed hotel owner bound to Porco by years of friendship; Kimberly Williams is more effective as the irrepressible young engineer Fio. Porco Rosso may be an odd film, but Miyazaki's directorial imagination never flags. (Rated PG: violence, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon |
 "Red Pig Rules"Think Casablanca but funnier, more action, great fight scenes, and Miyazaki's beautiful clouds and sunlit skies. In spite of my love and respect for Kiki and Totoro, I am almost now convinced that is is Hiyao's finest work, surpassing even Nausicaa! If you have never seen one of his films, see this one. It is astounding in so many ways, and it may make you want to see more of his amazing creations.  "Very nice."Porco Rosso is a rare gem of a movie. It appealed to me in so many ways, and kept me interested from the very begining. It's not Sprited Away, but then again, what is? While not my favorite Myazaki movie, it's a great film and a wonderful piece of art. "A wonderful film for all ages"This is not just a delightful animated film, it is a spectacular film of any genre that fits on the same shelf with Casablanca, Shane, and other wonderful films about how lonely it is to be a wandering hero. I bought this for my kids, and they all love it as much as the other Miyazaki films we've collected on DVD and VHS. One of the first words of my now three year old son (who has been late getting language) was "Porco" -- a word, which, to him, meant "put the Porco Rosso video on now please Dad!!" There is something special about this film -- it is at once exciting and thrilling, and at the same time peaceful, a kind of oasis. From this perspective, for its nostalghic and evocative feel in the face of a background danger, I think it might be compared to Shane. Like Shane, Porco has something in his past that makes it difficult for him to feel fully human and integrated with others. That Miyazaki can capture this feeling and transplant it to an entirely unique setting, with resonances from his own life and experience, and tied to an even grander global scale shows once again why he is among the most remarkable, interesting and versatile of filmmakers we have (period). "What a work of art"Porco's romance with Gina, who runs a pilots' club and hotel in the Adriatic; his friendship with a young girl named Fio who is a talented airplane engineer; and his riverly with a hotshot American pilot named Curtis. The origin and nature of Porco's curse are never fully explained, although the question does arise in the movie. "A classic story"I purchased this DVD for my daughter,who as become devoted fan of Hayao Miyazaki. Yet, it is a joy to view this film with my daughter. Where my daughter and may focus on different aspects of the story and/or characters. We both greatly enjoy the fun, and loving story. |
