A Non-review by Professor Popinjay
(1992)
A film with a huge pig man in a trench coat did not interest me for a long time. Of course, once I had become more familiar with Hayao Miyazaki and the work of Studio Ghibli, I knew I had to see this and all their other works.
Porco Rosso is as charming as the rest of their repertoire. The main character, Marco, for undisclosed reasons, has been turned into a big pig guy and goes by the name Porco. A former ace pilot in World War I, Porco now works as a bounty hunter, bringing in pirates and other criminals who plague the skies.
beats Don Carnage from Talespin.
The film is funny about that prospect though. Porco seems serious about it. The pirates and criminals seem serious about it. But where innocent bystanders are concerned amid this perpetual feud, the whole affair seems like a spectator sport.
As the pirates are nearing a cruise ship (in airplanes) a peppy announcer comes on and says, excitedly, “Ladies and Gentlemen, do not be alarmed but it appears we are being accosted by pirates. Not to worry, as we have prepared for this eventuality. Please give a warm round of applause for our resident fighter pilot So-and-so, who shall now take to the skies in your defense!” Or something like that. The passengers clap and cheer.
Later, the pirates are taking hostages (a bunch of little girls). The girls are giggling and asking impertinent questions of the pirates who seem a bit clueless as to the girls’ reaction to this business.
“Are we being kidnapped!?!” One girl asks, tittering.
“Uhhhh, yeah, I guess so.” Responds the pirate.
“Oh how exciting!” Says the girl.
“Yeah, I suppose it is!” Exclaims the pirate, clearly enjoying how un-afraid the girls are.
Once it’s all over, the girls are safely returned to the ship, everyone says their goodbyes and expresses remorse that the fun is over for now. What a grand day at sea! Freaking weird. And hilarious.
In the English dub distribution by Disney, Michael Keaton provides the voice of Porco. Keaton always sounds half irritated with his line deliveries. I kind of love him for it though.
I also love that both Tom Kenny AND Bill Fagerbakke do voice work in this. The Disney English dub of Porco Rosso was released in the U.S. in 2005 so the two of them had been working together on SpongeBob SquarePants for six years already by then. If one is present, it’s no big surprise to hear both their signature voices in another production.
Of course you can’t have dimwitted sky pirates without involving Brad Garrett. The man is a human fog horn.
I have a question. Why is Carry Elwes always cast as a stereotypical Texan? Hot Shots (1991), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Twisters (2024), even in Dead Man’s Wire (2026) Carry sports a thick Southern accent even though his character supposedly hails from Indianapolis. It’s like he’s better at being a stereotypical Texan than an actual Texan would be. That might make sense until you meet an actual Texan and realize Elwes is actually toning it down a bit. Between him and Daniel Craig, I’m not sure who wins the prize for zaniest Southern American accent.
It took me a while to watch this all the way through, roiling pots of perpetually shifting content that are streaming services. All of Studio Ghibli’s stuff was on one streaming service and then switched to another that I didn’t have. I started watching this over two years ago and finally finished it about a month ago. I finally bought it as part of a Ghibli collection of Fandango.
I have favorites higher up than this on the list of Ghibli films. Spirited Away is definitely at the top with Ponyo coming in at a close second. Kiki’s Delivery Service is third. Regardless of their ranking, I’m always happy to watch anything Miyazaki is involved with, not the least of which is Porco Rosso. It’s a fun flick.
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