Watch Porco Rosso For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

While I didn't find this to be one of Miyazaki's best films as many people thought, it was still awesome. What's really weird is that it tells the story of a pilot who was turned into a pig. That's about it. The fact that he's a pig really has little relevance on the story. It's actually completely realistic besides that. It's not like he uses his snout to save the day or he summons pigs in battle or something. He's a pig and that's it. Yes, I do finally realize it was meant to be a joke on the term "When pigs fly".Of all the Miyazaki movies, this one may be the funniest. While not an outright comedy, it really did seem to have more jokes than any of the other movies. That's why I love this guy for always experimenting with different genres. The animation and character designs are as gorgeous as ever. I was weirded out by how short this movie was, as Miyazaki's films are some of the longest animated movies ever made. Still, it didn't need to be long and that was another factor in how unique it was. ***1/2

This was indeed a beautiful film from Studio Ghibli. It had some really, nearly perfect visuals, some funny humor, and interesting concept, but there was a little something missing, preventing it from being one of my favorites, Hayao Miyazaki's films. Don't get me wrong, I like this movie, but I think this movie got under the hype that every Hayao Miyazaki film is supposed to be judge as good, just because fans love 1988's My Neighbor Totoro, so much. In my opinion, this movie is kinda overrated. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film was originally planned as a short in-flight film for Japan Airlines based on Miyazaki's manga, 'The Age of the Flying Boat', but grew into a feature-length film. The movie doesn't really have much of a plot and because of that, the story kinda crash and burns. The plot somewhat revolves around an Italian curse World War I ex-fighter ace, Marco Rousolini AKA Porco Rosso (voiced by Shûichirô Moriyama in Japanese/ Michael Keaton in English) whom became half-man, half-pig after his compatriots were killed in battle. He is now a jaded womanizing bounty hunter rescuing ships and babies from the attacks of bumbling pirates across the Adriatic Sea. While, this sum-up sounds entertaining, in truth, the movie, sadly, has very little flying in it. It only has one-major action set piece in the film. The movie depicts most of airplane battles as childish and silly. Lots of bullets are fired, but nobody dies in this PG movie. Even airplane dog-fight, packed with innocent spectators on the ground, doesn't have one victim. Tons of property damage ensues, but somehow the stray gunfire only hits inanimate objects! Come on- movie. Take more a risk. Sadly, the movie never truly, goes anywhere, intense with its action. The odd collection of air pirates are more rivals than villains, and their screwball antics are played for comedy. Most of the film, has Porco repairing his ship with a female mechanic, Flo Piccolo (Voiced by Akemi Okamura in Japanese/ Kimberly Williams-Paisley in English), after being shot down by Donald Curtis (Voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese/ Cary Elwes in English), a cocky American fighter pilot who joins forces with the pirates. He hopes to get payback against Curtis, but the movie ignored that, for most of the film, to push the romantic overtures of both Flo & the cocktail singer Gina (Voiced by Tokiko Kato in Japanese/ Susan Egan in English) on him. We get it, Porco must learn to be least misogyny towards women. In other words, try not to be a pig. One of the film's biggest problems, is the lack of emotional connection. Honestly, all of Porco's relationships, don't seem real. It all seem a bit forced and kinda bland. Most people will say the picture's best emotional scene is Porco's backstory of what happened to him in the war. I have to agree, it was amazing. It is taken from a scene from Roald Dahl short story called They Shall Not Grow Old. Originally there are more be explained, but most of the serious tone of WW1 had to scrap off the storyboard because of the Yugoslavian wars of the early 1990s, due to it, being set in Croatia. Another great scene is Porco watching a cartoon in a darken movie theater. The cartoon depicts a Mickey Mouse Expy striving to save his girlfriend from a villainous pig in an airplane. The obvious metaphor is clear. It's a great moment in the film as we see the "pig" as a symbol of a man's alienation, loathing and despair. If you look deep in the film, you might find themes of redemption, loss and love to be very powerful in this, underneath the more fun surface. Sadly, it's not easy to find. The English voice acting is alright for the most part. Michael Keaton does a good job as Porco. He show the cynical side, very well. Still, I kinda like Jean Reno's French dubbing, more, as it was a little well-rounded performance. British actor, Cary Elwes as American, Curtis was mediocre, at best. The Southern accent was bit odd. It's goes in and out, throughout the film. It was really over-the-top Errol Flynnism. Not his best work, but it was watchable. The music to the film was amazing. Another masterpiece from composer Joe Hisaishi. The animation was OK, for the time. Hand by hand, drawings, is hard to do, and I just glad, everything, more so fluently. The only problem that I notice is that Flo looks very similar to Nausicaa from 1984's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, another Ghibli movie; Miyazaki has a tendency to recycle character models, and it shows here. I like how much the movie is a homage to early aviation. You really can tell that they did, their research. The movie was very accurate with the planes designs. However, there were some exaggerated. The end of the film was particularly unimpressive. I really hate that, it ends abruptly and didn't resolve, anything. Miyazaki has expressed interest in making a sequel. He plans to set it in the Spanish Civil War, calling the film's working title, Porco Rosso: The Last Sortie. As of this writing, the movie hasn't been made, or look like it ever will be, made. Still, the movie did influence, other works. One good example is Disney's Tale-Spin, TV show. Overall: This movie is too silly to be taken seriously. Honestly, this movie could have been amazing. It could had been, probably one of Miyazaki's best works, but with glaring plot holes, frustrating romances, and indecisive writing. It's not. Still, it's a warm, nostalgic fun film, even if it doesn't quite fly high enough.

Another original idea from the mastermind Hayao Miyazaki, a picture with cute humor and stunning animation, it is as absorbing to watch as always. This picture has a very comical atmosphere, which make you grin all the way through, the background, landscape, clouds, with the sun peeking up, its all very pleasurable to watch. A cute symphony is added, adapted to every situation we come across, Miyazaki was able to create this suitable soundtrack which made the picture even more captivating. Miyazaki being responsible for directing, writing and composing, one can wonder how he manages it all, it once again shows his brilliance. The main character, Porco Rosso, is a cursed human, who now is a pig, although the only thing that the curse changed was his appearance, being a war hero he is admired by many people, a pilot, Porco is one grumpy character, agonized of what he has become, although amusing to watch. Overall, this movie is entertaining, creative ideas and a brilliant animation, an enjoyable flick.

First of all, I want to clarify some misconceptions about the film that might have appeared in the comment section. First of all, the movie plays in the time frame after the rise of Fascism in Italy from 1922 on to before the second world war. There is a flashback scene playing in the World War I. In the end, there is a time lapse and they mention World War II.Secondly, the film is not a story about how a man got jinxed to be a pig. Marco having the appearance of a pig can be interpreted in different ways and is often used in word plays and ironic statements, like "better to be a pig than to be a Fascist". The reason why it was never explained is probably that it would be totally unnecessary or even harm the story, including the grand finale. It is the great strength of this movie that it does not want to cover all the stories details, but leaves in a very poetic way so much room for speculation and dreaming.The drawings are just beautiful in all of their details and animation and the music by the ever ingenious Joe Hisaishi surprises. While Hisaishi does take notes from European classical music, it is surprising how he managed to fusion his particular style of music with the nostalgia of the twenties and Italian and Austrian (or rather Dalmatian) influences. This movie is an absolute masterpiece in story telling, animation and music and is greatly underestimated. While other works of Ghibli might be cineastically great, they serve completely different audiences. What makes Porco Rosso so outstanding is that it realistically gives us viewers strong emotions about bygone days that actually never existed in the way they had been depicted and thus sends a strong message to everyone about things we might want to preserve, ideas of freedom,solitude, guilt, adventure and love that do actually exist.