The Film
excerpted from FILM FREAK CENTRAL presents The Films of Hayao Miyazaki by Walter Chaw |
| The only misstep in Miyazaki's later career (and a minor one at that), Porco Rosso tells the peculiar allegory of a WWI-era Italian pilot's rejection of fascism in his native land and subsequent curse to live his life as an upright talking pig. The Crimson Pig, in fact (an obvious take on Germany's Red Baron), fighting for good against evil air pirates in a souped-up bi-plane. His former partner and coy love interest is the benevolent Mata Hari Gina, who runs a pilot's club in a sun-baked inlet. With animation that is simply astonishing in its detail (the highlight coming in an early scene as Porco moves a small table closer to him, jostling a radio and a bottle of wine), Porco Rosso marks both strides in technical achievement and Miyazaki's latent politicism swimming to the surface. Where his previous two films were invested in personal tales of little girls finding their way in the world, this picture announces (somewhat obliquely and clumsily) the return to the auteur's stumbling proselytizing (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds). Though Princess Mononoke deals with green philosophy and Spirited Away can be read as an allegory of child prostitution in Asia, the images of noble pigs and pre-bellum fascism are too broad and obvious to be taken without a certain cynicism. |
The DVD
For 2-disc sets, Disney's Studio Ghibli DVDs are rather sparsely supplemented--particularly those belonging to the current wave, which includes Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as well as Hiroyuki Morita's not-bad The Cat Returns. But the THX-certified A/V presentations of the two Miyazakis are top-notch, while it frankly comes as a relief that the studio has dispensed with John Lasseter's paternalistic video introductions for the abovementioned titles, whether or not Pixar's impending divorce from the studio is the true reason for their absence. Transferred at 1.82:1 and enhanced for 16x9 displays, the bright, colourful Porco Rosso has a very natural appearance in this incarnation, not like we're looking at original cels but as though we're seeing a freshly-minted 35mm print. Though there are minor traces of edge-enhancement, none of it really detracts from the impeccable line-work by Miyazaki and crew. The Japanese, French, and English dubs have each been configured for 5.1 Dolby Digital playback (most sites list 2.0, for reasons unknown), and although the audio doesn't take full advantage of the discrete soundstage, it's sufficiently dynamic, with the rear channels really coming into play during the climactic dogfight. It's easy to see why Miyazaki himself loves the French track, featuring Jean Reno as the voice of Porco Rosso (for a sneak preview of his wonderful performance, see the moment in Léon where Reno dons a pig-faced oven mitt), but in the interest of full disclosure, I sat through only the Japanese version in its entirety. While I realize the argument for sticking with the English dub is that subtitles divert one's attention from the visuals, American Porco Michael Keaton sounds enough like Garfield to prove at least as distracting as the yellow subs--which are of course a much more faithful translation of the Japanese dialogue. Rounding out the first platter: "Behind the Microphone" (7 mins.), an EPK-style piece on the preparation of Porco Rosso for U.S. audiences; a 3-minute, subtitled interview with Tashio Suzuka from 1992 in which the Ghibli producer confirms suspicions that Porco Rosso wasn't intended for children; an 8-minute block of original Japanese trailers and TV spots for Porco Rosso, four in all; THX Optimode tests; and previews for the Bambi Platinum Edition, the Studio Ghibli trio, and The Incredibles. On the second disc, find Porco Rosso in sequential storyboard form, again with your choice of English, French, or Japanese soundtracks.-Bill Chambers
© Film Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author. |
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DVD GRADES:
Image A-
Sound A-
Extras B |
DVD VITALS:
Running Time
93 minutes
MPAA
PG
Aspect Ratio(s)
1.82:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced
Languages
English DD 5.1,
Japanese DD 5.1,
French DD 5.1
CC
Yes
Subtitles
English
2 DVD-9s
Region One
Disney
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Published: March 1, 2005
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