Porco Rosso

Hayao Miyazaki’s film began as an in flight short. Adapted from his manga Hikōtei Jidai, it was commissioned by Japan Airlines; as the storyboards grew it was extended twice and spilled past feature length, the first feature produced in Japan for in flight screening. War broke out in Dalmatia, where the film is set, during production, and Miyazaki says this made the work far more complicated and difficult. The result promises aerial combat and withholds it. Nobody dies in the duels, and the final reckoning turns into a fist fight once the guns on both planes jam. The fascist state is no enemy to be beaten either, just a warrant and the secret police in the background. The aircraft rest on real machines: the plane Porco calls a Savoia S.21 is based on the Macchi M.33, his rival flies a Curtiss R3C built for the 1925 Schneider Cup. It was the top earning release in Japan in 1992. Jean Reno voices Porco in the French dub, Michael Keaton in the 2005 Disney English version. A good fit if you like that the figure at Porco’s side is no armed sidekick but Fio, the young mechanic who rebuilds his aircraft from scratch. Not for you if you need the pig transformation explained, because the film deliberately leaves it open.