ANI-MOVIES, *Porco Rosso

Before Talespin but after Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines, the field of cartoon animals as fighter pilots was limited to the occasional Snoopy daydream until Porco Rosso came out in 1992 from Studio Ghibli. Based on Hikotei Jidai's manga, the anime adaptation was directed by Hayao Miyazaki who you might have heard of. The quintessential animator worked on this after astounding audiences across the globe with Kiki's Delivery Service which he did just before his original swansong film of Princess Mononoke, even though he's reset that clock several times since then when it comes to his retirement. This film mixes in high-flying adventure and fantasy in a post-WWI setting with awe-inspiring details and old fashion cartoon shenanigans.

Set in 1929 Europe, the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy is filled with sky pirates who pillage innocent ships. The only hope for the civil sailors is a bounty hunting pilot from The Great War originally named Marco Pagot, although for some reason he is under a curse where his face has been magically replaced with that of a pig and is called Porco Rosso. The pirates hire the flashy American flyer Curtis to take out Porco and does so when the piggy pilot is secretly taking his one-of-a-kind seaplane to Italy, even though the Italian police are looking for Porco considering him an outlaw. Porco gets his aircraft remade thanks to the brainy young Fio Piccolo who gives it a whole new engine and accompanies Porco back to his hidden island home to complete the plane. Once they return home, Porco and Fio get ambushed by the combined forces of all the pirate gangs and arrange to have an aerial duel with Curtis which if Curtis wins gain him Fio's hand in marriage since he was rejected by Porco's old girlfriend Gina who runs a local tavern. The sky fight ends in a draw, so the two rival pilots settle their difference in a wet boxing match which Porco eventually wins. Fio returns home to become a successful aircraft maker, Curtis gets a career as a genre movie star, and Gina still waits for Porco to someday come back to her as a full man.

Porco Rosso is unusual as it had two completely separate English dubs for it, one by Japan Airlines specifically done for in-flight movies so passengers could experience a bit of cultured anime, and the other was done for the international market by Disney which was eventually bought up by GKids. The American dub is pretty spry with Michael Keaton as Porco, Cary Elwes pulls of a convincing American accent as Curtis, and none other than Rose Quartz herself Susan Egan as the classy Miss Gina. Miyazaki and Ghibli pulled out all the stops to make this one of the most enjoyable feature-length anime of the 90s. Even though this isn't intended for all audiences, it's still a great family film that the kids will love.