I don't think I've ever seen that original title before. Huh. One of my favorite Miyazaki films, anyway.

What an utterly awesome film.

I know for one if I was given this thing raw I'd never have guessed its Studio Ghibli (not to say they don't make great films they do). Porco is a brilliantly stoic figure and nothing about the character is blunt or badly measured. He's got an old school charm to him, at times I felt like I was watching a varient of Casablanca what with the setting, and the smoke filled bar and the pre war intruigy.

The scene where Porco recounts a battle from World War 1 goes down as one of the best I've ever seen, truly moving in its visual impact.

So yeah, thanks Roo for the reccomendation you were spot on.

Porco Rosso has become the cool kids answer to "what's the most underrated Miyazaki film." So I came in with sky high expectations and ... I dunno if it met them. I liked the characters, and I loved the flying sequences but something about it just didn't quite land for me. Maybe its the constant homages to classic American cinema, including a pretty unsatisfying ending. Maybe its just seeing all the women throw themselves at the pig man while all the men are supremely jealous of the pig man. That type of character would have been idolized by a younger Flava'd, but the current one found him annoyingly ungrateful.

There was a lot of good stuff though. You can definitely see how it set the tone for future projects like Cowboy Bebop. Miyazaki might have drifted away from this type of story, but the anime genre embraced it fully.

The best part was how, after the aerial dogfight ended in a draw, they decided to settle it with a boxing match lol.

So I'll give Porco Rosso a 6/10. A lot to like, but not as much as higher tier Miyazaki.

It is okay and still a good and at times beautiful film, but it just does not have a satisfying ending.

Rewatched this, and have a better sense of the movie. And honestly one of Miyazaki’s best and most underrated. I think the unsatisfying ending is to blame, particularly one first watch, but I think this is meant to be a more light-hearted film. It could have hit it to the next gear if the had one more act revolving around Porco having to come to terms with the Italians, but that’s just not the type of film this is. Not every film can be Princess Mononoke. So light-hearted yeah, but funny and like all of Miyazaki’s works, it excels in vibes and in its characters. The English dub is okay outside of a few moments earlier on with Cary Elwes as Curtis (they should have cast an actual American in this role) but Michael Keaton is great as the lead here.