Wait.. What?

If you want to sum up how confused you'll be when you watch the movie Porco Rosso. Not that there is anything bad with this movie, it's still a damn good Ghibli film. It's just some story elements don't make any sense and are never clarified. Well let's talk about the movie.

Set after the First World War in the Adriatic Sea, we follow an Italian ex-fighter ace who became a bounty hunter, catching seaplane pirates. Originally went by Marco Paggot, a mysterious curse has transformed him into anthropomorphic pig which of course, no one seems to question. He's better known throughout the Adriatic Sea as Porco Rosso (Italian for Crimson Pig). He spends his life living in hiding and frequenting Hotel Adriano when the seaplane pirates gang together to try to kill him. One thing leads to another and Porco finds himself having to return to Italy, where he's a wanted man (or in this case pig) for deserting the air force, to get his plane fixed and get the pirates off his tail once and for all.

It's an interesting and rather different story. It's one of the very rare Ghibli films based on history and the animation looks like it could be set in the real world. You can see that research went into it to create its set up and there's a lot of detail with aviation when the engineers are fixing Porco's plane. They display every detail that goes into these planes and it's just fascinating. The characters are also fun and unique and get out quite a bit of comedy. Porco's just a guy who does his own thing not really caring what others think, even if he's risking his life with the fascist police. And Hayao Miyazaki once again portrays a memorable female character, the Italian engineer, Fio. She's a very talented engineer at only 17 years old and has a lot of spunk and will take a stand against people who threaten Porco. I just love how female characters are portrayed in these movies and are so unique and independent. I don't think there's any point in bringing up the animation: it's brilliant. The colors pop. And there are some really beautiful flying scenes.

But as I said before, I do have a couple of downsides with this movie. Particularly Porco's "curse". In the beginning, it's stated that he was cursed but he never really explains how it happened until the last third and even then, it still doesn't really make any sense and it feels really rushed. It's like how Howl is "cursed" in Howl's Moving Castle, the curse itself is never really explained in its entirety, and in this film, it's never broken or is even that big of a focus.

And without giving too much away, the ending is one of those endings where it's like, "Wow, that's it?" It's an hour and a half but it does feel really short. I mean there's enough story as is, but with how it ends, you're just left wanting more. It was a bit of a disappointment.

But as is, it's still a good movie. I enjoyed the comedy, drama, action, and animation that went into this movie and I'm sure I'll be seeing it again someday.