Porco Rosso Is an Underrated Entry in the Studio Ghibli Catalog

Studio Ghibli

Living in quarantine is a challenge for everyone. Many of us are stuck at home, leading to loneliness and, in some cases, plain old boredom. I wish I could go on an adventure. Alas, we must remain indoors for the sake of not only our own health but the collective health of the rest of the country. But while outdoor activity is strictly limited to us, it’s still fun to watch movies and TV shows about others going on adventures that we ourselves could never even dream of embarking on in real life.

Enter Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso, a 1992 animated film from the mind of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Despite raking in $59 million at the box office, this movie has been largely overshadowed by the better-known blockbusters, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Ponyo. To me, this is a crying shame because Porco Rosso is an exciting adventure with a cast of lovable and quirky characters.

The story follows the titular Porco Rosso, a seaplane pilot, freelance bounty hunter, and all-around lovable antihero. Despite an undefined curse transforming his once-handsome face into that of a pig, the ladies still love Porco. When his plane gets shot down by the blowhard Donald Curtis, Porco is forced to go incognito in Italy, which wants him behind bars, in order to get his plane fixed and square off with his new rival. Along the way, he encounters his mechanic’s granddaughter, Fio Piccolo, a brilliant and lively engineer who is more than eager to get Porco’s seaplane back into tip-top shape. The real excitement begin when Fio tags along with Porco back to the Adriatic Sea for his rematch with Curtis.

What makes Porco Rosso stand out from the rest of the Studio Ghibli roster is its protagonist character; while Porco himself isn’t a beacon of virtue, he’s also not a heartless scoundrel. He looks out for himself, first and foremost, but he tries to ensure that innocent people don’t get caught up in his plans. The reason why he is so harsh toward Fio in the beginning is because he thinks that she is an innocent girl and doesn’t want to potentially hurt her, but eventually he grows to genuinely care for Fio and treat her as an equal. To me, Porco is a well-written antihero who gravitates towards righteousness.

My only real gripe about Porco Rosso is the ending. Without giving too much away, it feels pretty anticlimactic, and we don’t see any real closure for Porco. Fio does not tell us what happens to him, stating that it’s a secret. It felt like a bit of a cop-out, and it’s especially frustrating when Studio Ghibli has shown time and time again that they are more than capable of showing us the fates of their characters without taking up too much runtime.

Porco Rosso may not be a perfect film, but if you’re looking for a movie of high-flying adventure and death-defying derring-do, then it’d be well worth your time to check it out.