Porco Rosso (1992)
"Kurenai no buta" (original title)

The adventures of a 1920's bush pilot who just happens to look like a humanoid pig.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writer:

Hayao Miyazaki

Stars:

Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Sanshi Katsura

3 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shûichirô Moriyama	...	Kurenai no Buta (voice)
Tokiko Katô	...	Jina-sama (voice)
Sanshi Katsura	...	Pikkoro-oyaji (voice)
Greg Ellis	...	(voice)
Tsunehiko Kamijô	...	Manmayuto no shachô (voice)
Akemi Okamura	...	Fio Pikkoro (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Donarudo Kâchisu (voice)
Hiroko Seki	...	Bâ-chan (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Angel	...	(voice)
Dee Bradley Baker	...	(voice)
Michael Bell	...	(voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	(voice)
Earl Boen	...	(voice)
Cameron Bowen	...	(voice)
Rodger Bumpass	...	(voice)

Storyline

In Early 1930's era Italy air pirates, bounty hunters and high fliers of all sorts rule the skies. The most cunning and skilled of these pilots is Porco Rosso. A former Ace, he now makes a living flying contract jobs, such as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. Donald Curtis, Porco's rival in the air and in catching the affections of women, provides a constant challenge to the hero, culminating in a hilarious, action packed finale.

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Plot Keywords:

air pirate | pilot | 1920s | italy | hero | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for violence and some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [United States]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

18 July 1992 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Porco Rosso

Company Credits

Production Co:

Japan Airlines, Nibariki, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song that Marco (Porco) is listening to on the radio in the beginning is "Sakuranbo no Minoru Koro", which is the song Gina will sing in a later scene.

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Goofs

One of kidnapped girl talked to the pirates before jumping off the seaplane that there are 15 of them . After Porco struck the pirates, there are 15 girls safe in the swim ring but next scene of Porco's seaplane there are 18 of girls playing around.

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Quotes

Porco Rosso: A pig's gotta fly.

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Crazy Credits

Apart from the title, there are no opening credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Pom Poko (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Tokini wa mukasi no hanashi wo"
(theme song)
Written and Performed by Tokiko Katô
Arrangements by Yôko Kanno

User Reviews

An engaging and entertaining animation

It is a time in the Mediterranean when sea planes still rule the skies and large areas are controlled by sky pirates, who run raids and kidnapping on passing ships. The only saving grace of the area is bounty hunter Porco Rosso (or The Crimson Pig) who is famed for his speed and skill. Suffering under a curse that turned him from a man into a pig, Rosso is the scourge of the pirates until they hire the services of American Curtis, award winning race pilot. Their first skirmish sees Rosso defeated and feared dead but, while Curtis gloats over his victory, Rosso returns to Italy where his favourite mechanic lives despite the outstanding arrest warrants for him in that country.

Thanks to FilmFour becoming the first free-to-air film channel in the UK I was treated to a week of Miyazaki films, most of which I hadn't seen before. Kurenai no buta was the first one I watched because it looked like it would be the most fun. The story is an enjoyable tale of a dog fighting pig that works well as an adventure while also having enough invention and character to make it more than just a lot of noise and colour for kids. The adventure aspect is good though and has plenty of classy (ie not just silly and exaggerated) action and children should be easily distracted. Although not that deep, the film does have solid characters that have layers and humour. Rosso is a simple character perhaps but at least he is interesting and less obvious than most animated film leads. This made the film more engaging for me and meant that the film never dropped when the action was put on the backburner – in fact the strongest moments are humour and character based. Miyazaki directs with a great eye and unique style. The film is consistently visually impressive and, although the setting limits the imagination, it is still very much what it is.

The English dub cast do a good job and, for all the criticisms of Disney in their handling of these films, credit to them for doing this right. Keaton makes for a good Rosso, playing him gruff and seemingly uncaring which was the right direction to go. Characters like this don't really ever crack and so Keaton does well to hold back while only hinting at the humanity within his character. Elwes is nicely cheesy as Curtis and works well. Williams is really fun as Fio and she provided a lot of energy once she joined in, certainly she was better than Egan who I found rather dull and unable to do much with her character. An unrecognisable Stiers makes for some nice comedy as master engineer Piccolo.

Overall this was an enjoyable film. Perhaps not enough emotional depth to it to make it stand with Miyazaki's finest work but still a very engaging and entertaining family film with more than enough for children and a solid narrative and character foundation that will make it easy for adults to care about.