Hayao Miyazaki's “PORCO ROSSO”
Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald
This is an astonishing, moving, and intelligent animated film about a post WWI Mediterranean air pirate who is half man and half pig. The themes are a bit more mature than with other Miyazaki films, but the adventure and intrigue are real. The semi-realistic historical setting is lovingly depicted; we see this in even more grandiose fashion in Howl’s Moving Castle.
Yet there is an amazing realism that suffuses this fantasy, starting with the amazingly detailed seaplanes. One sequence stands out and involves a far-off glimpse of a stream running in the sky above the clouds. The effect is magical.
Review copyright (c) 2006 by Dennis D. McDonald
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A lot has been written about the harrowing plane crash flight. Yep, it’s pretty harrowing, but I’ll still hold of World War Z, Numbers, and Pitch Black is having comparable crash sequences.
Basically, if you’re into really well-made sci-fi-action-zombie-post-acopalyptic-action-gorefests, this one’s for you.
This movie has plot holes galore, the graphic concepts and technologies are derivative, and the characters are oddly un-engaging. Still, it moves along at a very fast clip, the story itself is unusual, and some of the action sequences are spectacular.
Next time someone says, “Yeah, Avatar was great, but the story sucked,” suggest this film instead. The story doesn’t suck.
This is a worthy continuation of the Terminator franchise. There’s enough new stuff here to keep your attention, the action is spectacular, and the characters are sufficiently differentiated to create some dramatic tension despite being frequently out-staged by the savage action sequences.
Wonderfully animated, this moody anime adventure combines elements of 1984 (perpetual warfare), Blade Runner (androids with fuzzy memories), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (alternate history and retro-futuristic aircraft), and Dark City (constant recycling of character experiences and events).
This 1942 Technicolor film starring James Cagney has some of the most gorgeous aerial photography I’ve ever seen.
This is an astonishing, moving, and intelligent animated film about a post WWI Mediterranean air pirate who is half man and half pig.
This tightly plotted thriller pits Jodie Foster against the disappearance of her character’s little daughter on a giant super-jumbo airliner in midair. Playing a jet aircraft engineer who helped design the aircraft where most of this midair plot takes place, Foster pits her innate intelligence and cunning against both the disappearance and her natural instinct to panic.
These two long-out-of-circulation movies present a version of John Wayne to the public that we have all but forgotten: the strong silent type who doesn’t go around smashing people with fists or blasting them with a gun. Instead he exerts his authority through quiet determination and professionalism.
What is it about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli that are so consistently impressive? Seeing 1984’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds for the first time reminded me of some of the answers to this question.
The Aviator is a grand and unique combination of glamour, adventure, intrigue, spectacle, humor, tragedy, and melodrama. It's about big, famous people doing things that we expect big, famous people to do. And it uses all the power that modern filmmaking technology has to offer. But its focus, ultimately, is on people and the things they do. The fact that the people inhabit (and helped create) the world of today is a definite plus, and Scorsese makes the most of this.
The most interesting extra on this DVD is the long documentary that tracks the production of the film. It documents with great detail and enthusiasm what I think is the main message of this film, that people “outside the mainstream” who have a vision can produce blockbuster entertainment that depends heavily on modern technology managed and used in a tightly controlled temporary business environment.