Porco Rosso

Ok, anime is always a good thing, but most times the disjointed storytelling is really annoying. The writers and animators seem to think you've been following their story arcs since inception, and if you haven't, don't care enough to fill in enough backstory to tell you what the plot is really about. Porco Rosso is different.

The storyline is clean, well exposited and easy to understand. That is to say, written for an average Western audience, aged 5 to 7 years. Few anime conventions are present beyond the absolutely required. the artwork and voice-over is very well executed, and if I have any issues, it is with the popeye villains, but even they are well rendered and more than cardboard cutouts.

The cast includes many famous North American actors such as
Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Susan Egan, Brad Garrett, David Ogden Stiers, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Bobby Edner and Bradley Pierce, and has seamlessly integrated the english dialog into the original japanese mouth movements, not an easy task.

Great flick for the family. Parents, adults and small children, will all enjoy this tale of pirates and love and realization.

Critiquegod's grade O for OUTSTANDING!