Porco Rosso: An animated love story?

“I’d rather be a pig than a fascist”

Now I could start off with a heap of jokes about pigs flying, but I think I’m above that. Well, I hope I’m above that.

Now I appreciate I was late to the Porco Rosso party, this movie was only recommended to me by a good friend six months ago. I will admit I was skeptical as this was my first Japanese anime series since I had watched Space Battleship Yamato as a kid.

The premise of Porco Rosso is straightforward enough; Italian flying ace turns against his mother country because of its fascist views, ends up becoming a mercenary of the skies, is madly in love with his now-dead friend’s wife, and must defeat an evil bunch of air pirates, helped along the way by a young, brilliant girl who idolizes him…

…oh, and he turned into a pig at some point, I probably should have mentioned that bit at the start.

A very good friend recommended this movie because of my love of another classic, Casablanca. They compared the two stories and whilst I wasn’t sure that I agreed with their assessment of Humphrey Bogart, turns out I could see where they were coming from.

The film is the brainchild of writer and director, Hayao Miyazaki, who is also responsible for My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Spirited Away. Porco Rosso was originally released in 1992 and was Miyazaki’s 6th feature film.

Originally released in Japanese, it was later re-dubbed into English with some well-established stars lending their voices including Michael Keaton as the anthropomorphic pig pilot, David Ogden Stiers (M*A*S*H) as Grandpa Piccolo, Kimberley Williams-Paisley (According to Jim, Father of the Bride) as Fio, and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Mamma Aiuto Boss.

Porco as a character is complex, he knows what he needs to do, and he knows what he needs to not do. He avoids commencing relationships because they will merely complicate matters. He is convinced that a beautiful woman could never possibly love a pig.

The animation and the dialogue let you like Porco whether he wants people to like him or not. This is perfectly captured by the way Porco behaves when he meets Fio, the daughter of his old friend, Piccolo who will repair his aircraft. Porco doesn’t believe that a woman can possibly design and build a functioning aircraft, yet Fio persists and shows her worth, then invites herself along on Porco’s escape from Milan.

Porco is challenged to a duel by his loud-mouthed American nemesis, Curtis. It is a fight for air supremacy but also a fight to save Fio from the American who claims he wishes to marry her. Fio inserts herself in the bet willingly demanding that if Porco wins, then Curtis will pay for the repairs to Porco’s aircraft sustained earlier at the hands of Curtis.

The duel is reminiscent of air races from the 1940s and 50s. The carnival atmosphere as two men duel it out in the skies above is overshadowed by news the Italian Air Force is on its way to apprehend Porco for his desertion.

I watched the movie on a flight and I’m not going to lie, it got to me. Well-written, funny, touching, and nostalgic are all words I’d use to describe the movie. Who would think you would end up watching a movie where you are rooting for the central character that is a pig who can fly? This isn’t Porky Pig or even Arnold from Green Acres, this pig is something else.

Porco Rosso is currently streaming on Netflix, Google Play, Apple TV, and Prime Video.