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DVD Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso (The Crimson Pig, 1992) ranks as Hayao Miyazaki's oddest film: a bittersweet period adventure about a dashing pilot who has somehow been turned into a pig. Miyazaki once said, "Initially, it was supposed to be a 45-minute film for tired businessmen to watch on long airplane flights... Why kids love it is a mystery to me." The early 1930s setting enabled Miyazaki to focus on the old airplanes he loves, and the film boasts complex and extremely effective aerial stunts and dogfights. In the new English dub from Disney, Michael Keaton as Porco delivers lines like "All middle-aged men are pigs" with appropriate cynicism, but his voice may be too familiar for some Miyazaki fans. Susan Egan makes a curiously distant Gina, the thrice-widowed hotel owner bound to Porco by years of friendship; Kimberly Williams is more effective as the irrepressible young engineer Fio. Porco Rosso may be an odd film, but Miyazaki's directorial imagination never flags. (Rated PG: violence, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
Hayao Miyazaki has many hobbies, and these show up in the long list of themes in his movies.
His movies almost always have a strong female lead. This is because he's a feminist. He loves machines, especially airplanes and the entire field of aviation. He loves bizarre and cute creatures, and likes to include tough old men (like himself) as the mentor or teacher. This movie was one written for Miyazaki. He made a movie he wanted to see. In fact, it was originaly written for business men and airplane enthusiasts, as he said in an interview after its release. Yet, because it's such a good story, and the feelings involved are all good ones, all ages love this movie. As I have said, and will, these Disney re-masters (Cat Returns, Nausicaa, Porco) all are a great addition for family, Ghibli fans, or anyone who like animation and great stories.
Porco Rosso is the story of Marco, a man changed into a pig by a strange curse after the war. It takes place in the Mediterranian, over the Adriatic Sea, then takes us to Milan in Italy during the 1930's. All of these are beautifully done, so much so that you may just want to visit the ocean. And the period deals with (basically only touches on) the fascism in Italy at the time. But, now that he's a pig, and no longer a soldier (because of the regime), he has become a seaplane bounty hunter, under the name 'Porco Rosso' (thats crimson pig in italian). When the sea pirates he hunts band with a hotshot american pilot named Donald Curtis, Porco and Curtis are more than ready to meet in the sky. After an amazing dogfight sequence with Curtis, Porco's plane needs repairs, so he heads to Milan where his mechanic Piccolo resides. Once there, he meets old man Piccolo's gorgeous granddaughter Fio. She's only 17, and for her first job, she may just have to engineer Porco's entire plane. This is only the first third, and there are so many more points, but the story is never too confusing, or convoluted. Anyone can follow it and it never gets too adult either.
The quality is great, anyone who has seen Kiki's Delivery Service or some of the other Ghibli films with the European cityscapes, these are done by the same amazing art director. He has such detail, from the middle of the ocean, to Milan, everything is crisp and well colored. They show up beautifully on this version, and Disney really out did themselves with such a good transfer. They have kept the film intact, but without any pops, jitters, or fuzz. The sound is great, another one with a grand score. If you have surround sound this one is probably the best for effects, plus the orchestral score just pops out, making the flight scenes as moving as the romantic ones.
The special features are the standard for these collections, with language options and subtitles, japanese TV trailers and spot, and 2 more familiar featurettes.
This time, it's the Behind the Microphone from the other Disney releases, only they seem to cover a lot more of the voice replacement process. It features Michael Keaton of Batman fame as Porco, Susan Egan (meg from hercules) as Gina, Cary Elwes (from Saw) as Curtis, the Mamma Aiuto Boss by Brad Garret from Everybody loves Raymond, David Ogden Stiers as Grandpa Piccolo (he is so many disney voices, and Winchester from the MASH series). One thing it left out was the french dub they did, which featured many famous french actors including Jean Reno as Porco, but maybe they did a PAL version with french features...
Second on the featurette list is an interview with the producer, Toshio Suzuki. This is informative and funny, and if you are a Ghibli fan, this is sure to please.(Not as good as the one on Nausicaa though)
The second disc rounds out Extras with a Complete Storyboard. Again, this is the audio from the movie to Miyzaki's own drawings and boards. Think audio comic. Not all that grand for specials and that's why it lost a star. In another ten years, the second disc will be bigger I'm sure, and I will not feel so bad about taking a star away. But you just exoect more with two discs, and for such an amazin movie, they should be rolling out lots more red carpet. Overall, a fantastic movie worth buying, and if you don't get any of these Miyazaki movies, try your best to SEE this one. Or, do like me and buy them all....
Fantastic!
This is quite a wonderful film! Porco Rosso is a stunning masterpiece. From a visual point of view, it is full of beautiful scenery, partially due to where the story takes place. It is the story of a World War I pilot who is somehow transformed into the Crimson Pig. We watch as he battles evil, faces his own demons, and lives an isolated existence with his trusty flying boat. There is a nice surprise in the end, though at the risk of spoiling it for you, I will not divulge it.
If you are a fan of the period, of flying boats, of the setting, of brave airmen, of flying pigs (quite literally!), of Miyazaki, well, I think you will love this. Porco Rosso is fantastic!
A classic story
I purchased this DVD for my daughter,who as become devoted fan of Hayao Miyazaki. Yet, it is a joy to view this film with my daughter. Where my daughter and may focus on different aspects of the story and/or characters. We both greatly enjoy the fun, and loving story.
The Cat Returns (2002) brings back Muta, the cranky fat cat, and Baron von Gikkingen, the elegant statue, from the feature Whisper of the Heart (1995). On her way home from school, Haru, a confused 17-year-old, prevents an elegant gray cat from being hit by a truck. She's inadvertently saved the life of Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom, and his royal father decides to thank her. He fills her locker with gift-wrapped mice and decides she should come to his kingdom and marry Lune. Haru seeks help from the Cat Bureau, and eventually returns to relatively normal life, with the assistance of Muta and the Baron.
The Cat Returns recalls Whisper of the Heart and Takashi Nakamura's Catnapped, but it offers neither the wistful charm of the former nor the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Chizuru Ikewaki - Yoshihiko Hakamada Director(s): Hiroyuki Morita DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) achieved his first international hit with this delightful 1979 adventure yarn. Quick-paced, high-spirited, and loaded with wit, Cagliostro is a dandy throwback to the caper pictures of the '60s. International man of mystery Lupin III stumbles back into the picturesque European duchy of Cagliostro with his faithful and gruff sidekick, Jigen. They will encounter, in no particular order, a runaway bride, a magical ring, an evil count with a dastardly plan, an inspector bent on catching Lupin, perilous rooftop chases, hooded guards with superhuman powers, a well-used dungeon, a counterfeiting scheme, and an ancient mystery promising grand treasure. Lupin deploys an array of Bond-type gadgets, razor-sharp wit,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hayao Miyazaki DVD Release Date: Released the 25 April 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Inspired by "Gulliver's Travels," the fantasy-adventure Castle in the Sky (1986) was Hayao Miyazaki's third feature, and helped to establish his reputation as a visionary in both Japan and America. The orphan Sheeta inherited a mysterious crystal that links her to the legendary sky-kingdom of Laputa. With the help of resourceful Pazu and a rollicking band of sky pirates, she makes her way to the ruins of the once-great civilization. Sheeta and Pazu must outwit the evil Muska, who plans to use Laputa's science to make himself ruler of the world. Castle echoes elements in Myazaki's earlier Nausicaä, and anticipates imagery in his later films, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away. Disney's new English dub, which features Anna Paquin... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 15 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In Hayao Miyazaki's magical Kiki's Delivery Service, a 13-year-old girl meets the world head on as she spends her first year soloing as an apprentice witch. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a cat Jiji (a gently subdued Phil Hartman) by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home. Miyazaki's gentle rhythm and meandering narrative capture the easy pulse of real life (even if his subject is a girl flying high upon a broomstick) and charts the everyday struggles and growing pains of his plucky heroine with sensitivity and understanding. Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 15 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Holly Hunter - Samuel L. Jackson - Jason Lee - Craig T. Nelson DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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