Lord Spencer

Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso feels like a call back to the adventure days of his earlier works such as Lupin III, The Castle of Cagliostro, and Future Boy Conan. It is one of the most straightforward films by him, and that's both a reason it retains a cult favorite status among Studi Ghibli fans and why it is less well-known compared to his more seminal movies (My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle).

Porco Rosso is the story of an ex-Italian WWI air pilot, cursed to look like a pig, who works as a bounty hunter in a fictional version of the Adriatic Sea; a place where pirates run amok and sporadic islands run themselves with little to no government. What is curious about Porco's, the story's hero, curse is how uninterested the movie is in dealing with it. There is no explanation about what cursed him and why, and as far as we know, we don't see if the curse was ever resolved by the end. What it does is provide a clear visual cue to the watcher that Porco is out of place in this world, which carries with it a deeper meaning in the movie, but more on that later.

Originally pitched as a short-ish film to be shown on international Japan Air flights, I do not doubt that the adventure and action angle of the movie was first and center in its development. Here, we see Miyazaki at his best in crafting action scenes and beautiful vistas; showcasing his love of aircraft and flying in some visually stunning scenes. Yet, he also takes the time to pay respect to the idea of craft in an excellent section that showcases another Miyazaki heroine taking control of her destiny and leading the repair of Porco's airplane.

For most viewers, and indeed myself at first, I think Porco Rosso will always be a straightforward adventure story. For some, they like to analyze the between-war period the film is set in and its very brief depiction of the rise of fascism as further proof of Miyazaki's pacifism. That may be true, but that's not the deeper meaning I alluded to earlier.

For me, the real curse on Porco is not that he was turned into a pig, but that he was somehow unstuck in time. As things and people changed around him, he sat there secluded on his island, and his talent, while the world was moving forward. The Adriatic Sea was always going to change, and yet it wasn't always clear that Porco would change with it.

By the end of the movie, it is not clear if the curse was ever lifted from him, but it becomes clear that the place he lived in and the people he knew all irreversibly changed. What we do know is that we watched another brilliant Studi Ghibli film, filled with excellent animation and memorable characters, cementing its place as another Tope Tier film.

Looking back at Studio Ghibli's history, you may be surprised to learn that their first commercial success wasn't with My Neighbor Totoro (although Totoro's merchandise would eventually become the pillar of the studio's fortunes) but with Hayao Miyazaki's film after it, Kiki's Delivery Service. It is with this movie that Studio Ghibli's commercial reception caught up to their critical pedigree, and that continued with most of their movies since. It makes sense then that Kiki's Delivery Service, more so than any other film before it, encompasses Miyazaki's style and ethos.

The movie follows the story of 13-year-old witch Kiki in her coming-of-age ceremony, in which she needs to travel and live in a different city as its resident "witch". We see the initial excitement as she leaves her home behind, accompanied by her talking black cat, Jiji, and then the initial notes of hesitation when she arrives in her new chosen town.

Miyazaki is not shy about the message in his movies to youth. He showcases the values of hard work, labor, perseverance, and the pursuit of a worthwhile endeavor regardless of the result. Kiki is Miyazaki's first heroine that goes through the gamut of growing up on-screen, and she is helped in that by a cast of characters that support her in both action and example, but without babying her. For example, the bakery owner Osono allows her to live in the bakery's attic, but she asks that Kiki helps in the bakery as compensation.

From that point, the movie could have been a straightforward romp as Kiki starts her flying delivery service and has the occasional adventure, but the movie is better than that because it goes into deeper places. Like any person, especially someone growing up, Kiki has her own insecurities and worries that she faces, and the way they manifest on screen and she deals with them makes her a hugely believable character.

Ultimately, this is a movie about growing up with all the joys and pains accompanying that process. Kiki is a good, but not perfect person, and that makes her journey easier to empathize with. It is a beautiful film with great characters and a strong theme that is perfectly paced from beginning to end and therefore earns a High Tier placement in the Studio Ghibli canon.

As an aside, there is one curious difference between the original Japanese version of the movie and its first official English dub (I am not sure if this difference is there in the updated dub) that I think showcases the difference in maturity and sensibility between Studio Ghibli and the Disneyfied children animation for the west. At the height of her crisis in confidence, as she grows up, Kiki loses the ability to talk to her cat, which devastated her. That moment expresses the pain and uncertainty of growing up. Later, we see Kiki accepting her growth and self with all the difficulties associated with it, and despite still being friends with Jiji she never regains the ability to speak to him. However, in the finale of the original English version, they dub in a few words to suggest that Kiki did regain that skill, thereby cheapening the message of the film which does not shriek itself from pain.

Considering the esteem and cultural reputation of My Neighbor Totoro, as well as the large fandom around it, it is amazing to consider it struggled to get financed initially. In fact, it would not have been made had Ghibil's star producer, Toshio Suzuki, not linked it with the much different (and quite bleak) Grave of the Fireflies.

If I try and watch the movie while being as distracted and uninterested as possible, I could understand why it was a tricky proposition to pitch the film. Its a slow, sometimes pondering film about two girls moving house and missing their mother. Not much "plot" happens in the movie, with even the titular Totoro appearing little, and doing little when he appears. You could watch the movie this way, and if you do, you would be watching it wrong.

It should be a litmus test of sort, watching My Neighbor Totor and engaging with it being a proof of humanity at some level.

Here is a movie that, if you remove your cynical adult self that was battered by life's miseries, will transport you into the viewpoint of childhood through its own lens of Mei and Satsuki. Its a movie about the BIG feelings of children and how they navigate the world around them. A movie where the Totoro creature can represent almost anything you want it to represent, including the pure imagination of children coping with life.

Its pastoral colors and brilliant soundtrack bring the Japanese countryside to a life that transcends the country, and becomes the backdrop of childhoods everywhere. I remember seeing Totoro's as a child, and I hope to keep on to that memory, to keep the value of empathy and life. For both what it does and represents, My Neighbor Totoro is a Top-Tier Ghibli film.

P.S: Remarkably, the My Neighbor Totoro play by the Royal Shakespere Company at the Barbican center (London) turned out not only good, but exceptionally brilliant. I was mesmerized when I watched it, and I am amazed at how it both equals and sometimes exceeds its source.

This is officially the first actual Studio Ghibli film, created under the newly formed Studio unlike Hayao Miyazaki's first film; Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. For many, this is the film that introduced them to Ghibli's work, even if they didn't know it at the time, being a favorite of localized Anime reruns in many countries. If nothing else, then it's a great introduction to the style and sensibilities of Miyazaki and his studio.

Castle in the Sky followed Nausicaa in establishing many of Miyazaki's trademark themes. From his focus on flight, smaller moments that underscore the humanity of his characters, the power of community in both social and physical forms, the confluence of technology and nature, and the fearsome power of technology misused.

The movie concerns the pursuit of the mythical city of Laputa, which is floating in the sky, by a number of different factions. First, is a governmental faction, that obtains a clue about the city's existence by holding Sheeta, an orphaned girl with a mysterious connection to the city. Then, there is a lovely band of pirates that feel the government is about to lead them to a great and profitable find. After an action-packed opening sequence where these two factions square against each other in the sky, Sheeta falls to her doom from the airship, only to be saved by her mysterious pendant, and she falls into the arms of Pazu, a boy from the local mining community.

What ensues is one of Studio Ghibli's most straightforward movies, where a sense of adventure propels the narrative, but not without key moments underscoring the themes of possible technological annihilation. This could be considered a strength of this movie by some, but I found it to be one of the least complex and impactful Miyazaki films as a result.

The central themes undergo too much exposition and the movie feels like it's preaching the message (never an effective tactic in movie-making) instead of simply showing it. More damagingly is the central villain, who is a mustache-twirling maniac without a degree of depth to him, which may be the first and last time that happens in a Ghibli movie.

As a result, while the movie is certainly fun, and is indeed brilliant at times, especially thanks to having one of Joe Hisaishi's top scores, it is a Middle-Tier Studio Ghibli movie for me.

P.S: In my opinion, Studio Ghibli films are so high in quality that their Middle-Tier films could be considered generally a Top-Tier Anime films. Only the few films I would relegate to Low-Tier are ones I don't consider Very Good or Great films.