| Porco Rosso | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Kanji | 紅の豚 |
| Literal meaning | Crimson Pig |
| Revised Hepburn | Kurenai no Buta |
| Directed by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Screenplay by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Based on | Hikōtei Jidai by Hayao Miyazaki |
| Produced by | Toshio Suzuki |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Atsushi Okui |
| Edited by | Takeshi Seyama |
| Music by | Joe Hisaishi |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Toho |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | $44.6 million (est.) |
Porco Rosso (Japanese:紅の豚,Hepburn:Kurenai no Buta,lit. 'Crimson Pig') is a 1992 Japaneseanimatedadventurefantasy film written and directed byHayao Miyazaki, based on his 1989 mangaHikōtei Jidai.[1] The film stars the voices ofShūichirō Moriyama,Tokiko Kato,Akemi Okamura andAkio Ōtsuka. It was produced byToshio Suzuki, animated byStudio Ghibli, and distributed byToho. The score was composed byJoe Hisaishi.
The plot revolves around an ItalianWorld War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelancebounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in theAdriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into ananthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso".
A first English-dubbed version was made for Japan Airlines and included in the Ghibli LD Box Set and on the first Region 2 DVD releases in 2002. The film was later redubbed byWalt Disney Home Entertainment and released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on February 22, 2005.GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017, under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.
In 1929, Italian World War I fighter ace and bounty hunter Porco Rosso, cursed to have a pig's head, defends an ocean liner fromairborne pirates. He dines at his friend Gina's Hotel Adriano.
The pirates contract American ace Curtis to assist their attacks. Curtis falls in love with Gina but she loves Porco. While Porco is flying toMilan to have his red seaplane serviced, Curtis shoots him down. Porco survives and continues the trip by train with his damaged plane, to Gina's irritation. She reminds him there is a warrant for his arrest inItaly.
Porco meets his mechanic Piccolo in Milan. Piccolo's sons have emigrated so the work will be done by his young granddaughter Fio. Once Porco's plane is finished, Fio joins him on his flight home as cover should thesecret police arrest them. They can claim that Porco took Fio hostage to force Piccolo to help.The new fascist government is hiring pirates for their own use, putting Porco out of business.
Curtis proposes to Gina but she says she is waiting for Porco. Porco and Fio are ambushed by the pirates, and Curtis challenges Porco to a duel. Fio declares that if Porco wins, Curtis must pay his debts owed to Piccolo's company, and if Curtis wins, he may marry her.
While Porco is preparing shells, Fio glimpses his true face. Porco tells Fio a story from World War I. Just after Gina's wedding to Porco's pilot friend Bellini, their squadron was attacked. Porco entered a cloud to evade his pursuers. He blacked out then awakened to complete stillness above the clouds. The airmen who died in the dogfight—Bellini included—rose out of the cloud to fly up towards a band of thousands of planes flying together. After offering in vain to die in Bellini's place for Gina's sake, he awakened again flying alone low over the sea. He concludes that he is meant to "fly solo". Fio rebukes him and kisses his cheek.
Curtis and Porco's dogfight devolves into a boxing match when both planes' guns jam. Porco accuses Curtis of being a womanizer; Curtis responds that Porco is worse; Fio adores him, and Gina is waiting on him to the exclusion of any other, but he does not reciprocate. The combatants knock each other out and fall into the shallow water. Gina calls out to Porco, who rises first and is declared the winner. She warns that the Italian air force is on its way, and invites everyone to regroup at her hotel. Porco requests Gina look after Fio and turns away. Fio gives Porco a kiss.
Porco volunteers to lead the air force away and invites Curtis to join him. As they walk to their planes, Curtis catches a glimpse of Porco's face and says he has changed; he asks to get a better look and is refused. As she flies in a jet seaplane, Fio narrates the epilogue: Porco outflew the Italian air force and remained at large; Fio became president of the Piccolo aircraft company; Curtis became a famous actor, and the pirates continued to attend the Hotel Adriano in their old age. She says that whether Gina's hope for Porco Rosso was ever realized is their secret. A red seaplane is docked by Gina's garden as Fio flies over the hotel.
| Character name | Voice actor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | English dub | Japanese | English | |
| Original, 1992 | Japan Airlines, 1992 | Walt Disney Pictures, 2005 | ||
| Porco Rosso / Marco Pagot | Porco Rosso / Marco Rossolini | Shūichirō Moriyama | Ward Sexton[2][3] | Michael Keaton |
| Donald Curtis | Akio Ōtsuka | Unknown | Cary Elwes | |
| Fio Piccolo | Akemi Okamura | Lynn Eve Harris[2][3] | Kimberly Williams-Paisley | |
| Madame Gina | Tokiko Kato | Unknown | Susan Egan | |
| Mr. Piccolo | Sanshi Katsura | David Ogden Stiers | ||
| Ferrarin | Ferrari | Mahito Tsujimura | Tom Kenny | |
| Capo | Boss | Tsunehiko Kamijō | Brad Garrett | |
| Mamma Aiuto Gang Members | Reizō Nomoto | Bill Fagerbakke | ||
| Osamu Saka | Kevin Michael Richardson | |||
| Yuu Shimaka | Barry Gjerde[2][3][4] | Frank Welker | ||
The French dub of the film starsJean Reno as Porco.[5]
The film was originally planned as a short in-flight film forJapan Airlines based onHayao Miyazaki'smangaThe Age of the Flying Boat, but grew into a feature-length film. The outbreak ofwar in Yugoslavia cast a shadow over production and prompted a more serious tone for the film, which had been set inDalmatia. The airline remained a major investor in the film and showed it as an in-flight film well before its theatrical release.[6] Due to this, the opening text introducing the film appears simultaneously in Japanese, Italian, Korean, English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, French, and German.Telecom Animation Film Co., Ltd. helped animate the film.
As with Miyazaki's other films,Joe Hisaishi composed the soundtrack. For the soundtrack,Tokiko Kato performs"The Time of Cherries" as well as an original song, "Once in a While, Talk of the Old Days".
Marco is an Italian hero from theFirst World War and is shown fighting against Austro-Hungarianfighter planes in a flashback sequence. The story is set inNorthern Italy, includingMilan, and the Italian and CroatianAdriatic Sea east coast. Some locations resemble certain islands of theItalian Lakes. The concealed beach Porco uses as a hideout bears a strong resemblance to Stiniva Beach, on the southern side of the Croatian island ofVis.[7]
Miyazaki shed light on the political context of the making of the film in an interview withEmpire. He reflects that the conflicts that broke out during the film's production (such as those inDubrovnik and elsewhere) madePorco Rosso a much more complicated and difficult film.[8]
Evident historical and political realism aside, at least one scholar has argued that the film's more overt historical references can be understood as representative ofwakon yōsai (Jp; "Japanese spirit, Western learning")—a tendency, since theMeiji period, for Japanese artists to paint Europe as spectacular, while simultaneously maintaining the distance necessary to preserve a distinct sense of Japanese identity. "In Porco Rosso," states academic Chris Wood, "Europe is tamed, rendered as a charming site of pleasurable consumption, made distant and viewed through a tourist gaze."[9]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Porco Rosso" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The fictional "Piccolo" aircraft company depicted in the film is based on the Italian aircraft manufacturersCaproni andPiaggio. The jet shown in the last scene is very similar in concept to theCaproni C-22J, an aircraft designed by Carlo Ferrarin, a designer for Caproni, whose name is notably used in the film for Marco's Air Force pilot friend. The jet-amphibian also has aV-tail, slightly reminiscent of theMagister jet trainer. TheSavoia-Marchetti S.55,Fiat C.R.20 andMacchi M.39 are featured in the movie.[10]
Porco's air-force friend Ferrarin was inspired by the Italian Air Force pilotArturo Ferrarin who flew with anAnsaldo SVA.9 fromRome to Tokyo in 1920.[11] Additionally, theCaproni Ca.309 light reconnaissance aircraft, known as the "Ghibli", was the namesake for Miyazaki's and Takahata's animation studio.
Porco's plane is named after theSavoia S.21, but is based on theMacchi M.33.[12] While in Piccolo's engine shop, the engine to be used in Porco's rebuilt Savoia S.21 also has the word "Ghibli" visible on its rocker covers—in design it is a narrow-angle V-12 engine, similar in form to racing engines of the period. Piccolo mentions that it was used in a racing aeroplane for theSchneider Trophy race in the year before.
In the early 1930s, Italian seaplane designers set world speed records (such as theMacchi M.C.72 designed by the Italian airplane designerMario Castoldi). One of the test pilots killed during the attempt to set the speed record was named Bellini, the name given to Porco's pilot friend in the film. Italian top fighter acesFrancesco Baracca andAdriano Visconti also appear in the film.[10]
Marco Pagot, the real name of the main character, is also a homage to the Pagot brothers, pioneers of Italian animation (Nino andToni Pagot were the authors of the first Italian animated feature film,The Dynamite Brothers, and Nino's son and daughter Marco and Gi Pagot[13] were Miyazaki's collaborators in the production ofSherlock Hound).
Meanwhile, the character of Curtis is likely to have been named after the American aviation pioneerGlenn Hammond Curtiss who, along with theWright Brothers, founded theCurtiss-Wright Corporation. Curtis' airplane is aCurtiss R3C, which was built for the 1925Schneider Cup race (which Porco refers to when he first meets Curtis). His character is also an oblique reference toRonald Reagan, in that his ambitions lie not only in Hollywood, but also the Presidency. The rest of Curtis' character appears to come directly from the adventure film heroes portrayed byErrol Flynn at this time—indeed, they share a jaw line—including his buccaneering derring-do, willingness to fight, and overall demeanour combined with romantic ardour.
_left_front_view_at_JASDF_Miho_Air_Base_June_2%2c_2019_02.jpg)
In 2017, Miyazaki and producerToshio Suzuki collaborated with Setouchi Seaplanes, a Japanese company flyingKodiak 100 seaplanes in Japan's Seto Inland Sea area, to design a special editionL’ala Rossa livery for Kodiak 100-0143.[14][15][16]
Miyazaki revisited the theme of aviation history in his 2013 filmThe Wind Rises.
The film was released in Japan on July 18, 1992, byToho and was released on VHS byTokuma Shoten in 1993. The movie was later reissued on VHS byBuena Vista Home Entertainment Japan (nowWalt Disney Studios Japan) on April 23, 1999, and was released on DVD on December 18, 2002. The film was released onBlu-ray Disc on November 6, 2013, with a reissue of the DVD following on July 16, 2014.
Japan Airlines commissioned an English dub that was produced in Japan in 1992 for viewing on international flights. The dub was supervised by Ward Sexton, who also starred as Porco.[2][3] Although Sexton felt the project was too big for an English-speaking cast in Japan, Studio Ghibli insisted he be in charge.[2] The dub was included in the 1996 Ghibli ga Ippai Laserdisc Box Set and on the 2002 Japanese DVD release of the film, both of which are out of print.
Walt Disney Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on February 22, 2005, and on Blu-ray on February 3, 2015, both with a new English dub featuring the voices ofMichael Keaton,Cary Elwes,Susan Egan, andKimberly Williams-Paisley, which is included on most international releases as well as the 2014 Japanese DVD reissue. This dub was supervised byTony Bancroft and written by frequent Ghibli dub screenwriters Don and Cindy Hewitt.GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017, under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.[17]
Porco Rosso was the number-one film on the Japanese market in 1992, withdistribution rentals of¥2.8 billion[18] and gross receipts of¥5.4 billion,[19][20] at the time equivalent to$43,000,000 (equivalent to $96,000,000 in 2024).
In France, it sold 167,793 tickets,[21] equivalent to an estimated$1,006,758 at an average 1992 ticket price ofFF34 ($6).[22] In other European countries, it grossed $573,719,[23] for an estimated combined total of$44,580,477 grossed in Japan and Europe.
It won theCristal du long métrage ("Best feature-length film award") at the 1993Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and also madeTime Out's Top 50 animated movie list.[24] OnRotten Tomatoes, 96% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10.[25] On review aggregatorMetacritic, it has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 11 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]
Wilson McLachlan, of theLeft Field Cinema, considered it "the most underrated film from the Studio Ghibli catalogue." Jeannette Catsoulis ofThe New York Times wrote: "Mr. Miyazaki smooshes fantasy and history into a pastel-pretty yarn as irresistible as his feminism."[25] Robert Pardi ofTV Guide gave the film 4/5 stars, stating: "Miyazaki pays homage to Hollywood’s wartime adventure films in this masterwork built around the adventures of a high-flying pig ... This animated feature's visual splendor is matched by a droll screenplay that takes a sty-side view of heroism ... Seamlessly adapted for American audiences by Donald H. Davis and Cindy Hewitt Davis, this spoof/pastiche of old-movie cliches also soars as a paean to the redeeming power of friendship and loyalty."[27]
Porco Rosso and his famous line "Better a pig than a fascist" became a rallying symbol among some Spanish artist circles encouraging people to vote against conservative to far-right parties in Spain's2023 general elections.[28]
In 2011, Miyazaki said that he wanted to make a follow-up anime to the 1992 original film if his next few films followingPonyo were successful. The film's working name wasPorco Rosso: The Last Sortie; it was to have been set during theSpanish Civil War with Porco appearing as a veteran pilot.[29] Miyazaki was to create the sequel, although the studio has since indicated that the sequel is not in their current plans.
.jpg)
.jpg)
