I love Miyazaki movies. From the first movie i saw of his, spirited away, to the latest before this one, castle of cagliostro, i've loved them all. They all have an air about them that leaves you breathless and puts you in a great mood if you're feeling down never disappointing the audience... until this one.
Now don't get me wrong. i didn't HATE this movie, but at the same time, it was not nearly his best. It still captures the spirit and life of a Miyazaki movie, but at the same time, has so many plot holes and frustrating things that you are taken out of the story and left complaining. and Miyazaki should NEVER do that.
I found several problems with this movie. 1. They don't ever explain why he's a pig. now, forgive me if i sound a bit prudish but um.. he's a pig. and no one questions it? Does that happen often or something in that world? I'm not confused by the fact that he IS a pig, i'd just like to know WHY he's a pig, and WHY nobody asks him about it. Halfway through the movie when Fio asks him to tell him a story i figure he was going to tell her why he's a pig, but then he goes into a weird heaven story and you never find out. that frustrated me, and there was no reason why they couldn't have spent 45 seconds telling us why. it's like in howl's moving castle if they started the movie with sophie already old and not telling us why. it was stupid and they could have rectified it easily
2. it couldn't decide what age range it was. normally, in a film if you can't tell what age range it's meant for, that's the sign of a good movie, bringing in both the kids and the older demographic. but in this film it was just frustrating. one scene it would be full of laughs and for kids, the next it would be about death and going to heaven. it didn't flow seamlessly like Miyazaki does in his other films such as Castle in the sky. you know it's adult, but at the same time, keeps yo+u happy. Porco just had odd juxtapositions that just don't make a whole lot of sense. the switches needed to flow better.
3. The love interest. OK. this is one i didn't understand AT ALL. Gina, the main love interest is about as interesting as a sack of wet leaves. She's boring, has no personality or anything likable about her, and she hardly does ANYTHING throughout the entire film. On the other hand, the girl Fio travels with Porco for the entire movie. Saving his life, placing herself up to wager for Porco's honor, and eventually freeing him from the curse. and yet, Porco ends up with miss wet leaves? that's just stupid. they spend so much time building the relationship between porco and fio and then dismissing it at the end? wow that's terrible. i'm not one to normally complain about there being a lack of love in movies but my god was the love resolution done terribly in this movie.
4. The ending. for the resolution of this film, we get stock footage of a cloud and a narration by fio. Telling us basically nothing. She becomes the owner of the garage, the American is a star, and porco (mumbles off) oh. thanks. yeah. god forbid we actually want to KNOW what happened at the end. This ending was tacked on, lazy, and the cheapest thing ever. it's like the ending to Fable (the game). you stick with it to the end and you expect a big payoff and get slapped in the face. it was rushed and felt cheap. Miyazaki never does that, and i was very surprised and disappointed he did it here.
The voice acting, animation, and music are once again superb, but it got more than a little messed up in the script department. If you need to see this to finish off your Miyazaki collection, i'd say save this one for later rather than watch it now. and if you're trying to get someone into him, don't start off with this one. i recommend Kiki's delivery service, or for the adventure fans, Castle in the Sky.
The plot premise really was a very good one. It just needed a bit of tweaking and a few rewrites, and it would have been amazing, probably one of his best. But with glaring plot holes, frustrating romances, and indecisive writing, Porco Rosso gets 5 aerial maneuvers, out of 10.
Now don't get me wrong. i didn't HATE this movie, but at the same time, it was not nearly his best. It still captures the spirit and life of a Miyazaki movie, but at the same time, has so many plot holes and frustrating things that you are taken out of the story and left complaining. and Miyazaki should NEVER do that.
I found several problems with this movie. 1. They don't ever explain why he's a pig. now, forgive me if i sound a bit prudish but um.. he's a pig. and no one questions it? Does that happen often or something in that world? I'm not confused by the fact that he IS a pig, i'd just like to know WHY he's a pig, and WHY nobody asks him about it. Halfway through the movie when Fio asks him to tell him a story i figure he was going to tell her why he's a pig, but then he goes into a weird heaven story and you never find out. that frustrated me, and there was no reason why they couldn't have spent 45 seconds telling us why. it's like in howl's moving castle if they started the movie with sophie already old and not telling us why. it was stupid and they could have rectified it easily
2. it couldn't decide what age range it was. normally, in a film if you can't tell what age range it's meant for, that's the sign of a good movie, bringing in both the kids and the older demographic. but in this film it was just frustrating. one scene it would be full of laughs and for kids, the next it would be about death and going to heaven. it didn't flow seamlessly like Miyazaki does in his other films such as Castle in the sky. you know it's adult, but at the same time, keeps yo+u happy. Porco just had odd juxtapositions that just don't make a whole lot of sense. the switches needed to flow better.
3. The love interest. OK. this is one i didn't understand AT ALL. Gina, the main love interest is about as interesting as a sack of wet leaves. She's boring, has no personality or anything likable about her, and she hardly does ANYTHING throughout the entire film. On the other hand, the girl Fio travels with Porco for the entire movie. Saving his life, placing herself up to wager for Porco's honor, and eventually freeing him from the curse. and yet, Porco ends up with miss wet leaves? that's just stupid. they spend so much time building the relationship between porco and fio and then dismissing it at the end? wow that's terrible. i'm not one to normally complain about there being a lack of love in movies but my god was the love resolution done terribly in this movie.
4. The ending. for the resolution of this film, we get stock footage of a cloud and a narration by fio. Telling us basically nothing. She becomes the owner of the garage, the American is a star, and porco (mumbles off) oh. thanks. yeah. god forbid we actually want to KNOW what happened at the end. This ending was tacked on, lazy, and the cheapest thing ever. it's like the ending to Fable (the game). you stick with it to the end and you expect a big payoff and get slapped in the face. it was rushed and felt cheap. Miyazaki never does that, and i was very surprised and disappointed he did it here.
The voice acting, animation, and music are once again superb, but it got more than a little messed up in the script department. If you need to see this to finish off your Miyazaki collection, i'd say save this one for later rather than watch it now. and if you're trying to get someone into him, don't start off with this one. i recommend Kiki's delivery service, or for the adventure fans, Castle in the Sky.
The plot premise really was a very good one. It just needed a bit of tweaking and a few rewrites, and it would have been amazing, probably one of his best. But with glaring plot holes, frustrating romances, and indecisive writing, Porco Rosso gets 5 aerial maneuvers, out of 10.