Character of the Month: Porco Rosso
Greetings, fabulous people of the
Internet! Miyazaki May is coming to a
close, and that means it’s time once again to talk about Character of the
Month. I’ll be completely honest here,
this month’s pick was kind of hard because both of the movies I reviewed for
Miyazaki May were pretty average.
Nothing really stood out, but what this pick came down to was the
performance. So, with that being said,
let’s talk about Miyazaki May’s Character of the Month, Porco Rosso from (well)
Porco Rosso!
For those who missed my review on Porco Rosso, Porco Rosso is a rogue
pilot who has an unusual cursed placed on him that turns him into a pig. The film follows him after his plane is destroyed
by an American pilot, forcing him to get a new plane in Italy-where he’s wanted
by the government. He soon escapes with
a new plane and assistant only to be caught by sea plane pirates and the
American pilot from before with his only way out being a duel between him and
the American. And to make a long
synopsis short, Porco wins the duel and everyone goes about the merry way.
Though I don’t think this would be
a shock to anyone, Kaguya from The Tale
of the Princess Kaguya was my other option for Character of the Month. And as I mentioned before, both Porco and
Kaguya are average characters from average movies. Both of them are serviceable in their
respected films in terms of moving the plot along but don’t have enough depth
or intrigue to make them stand out. But
Porco won the spot for me over Kaguya because of the performance done in the
English dub. If you watched my review on
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, I
mentioned how I wasn’t a big fan of the dubbing. Not that the dub was bad, I just felt that
everyone seemed to give the bare minimum.
I didn’t get that with Porco Rosso; Michael Keaton does a great job portraying
Porco, even though you can tell it’s Michael Keaton doing a voiceover. He gives a genuinely good performance
here. And while that’s not to say that
Kaguya’s English voice actress, Chloë Grace Moretz, didn’t do a good job
herself in her performance in The Tale of
the Princess Kaguya, there were a lot of times I felt she could have given
more. More passion, more drama, just
more of something! Again, it was a close
call this time around, but I had to give it to everyone’s favorite pig
pilot. So keep giving meaning to the
phrase “when pigs fly,” Porco Rosso, cause you’re Hanime on Anime’s Character
of Miyazaki May!
And so, that wraps up 2019’s
Miyazaki May. Be sure to stay tuned June
2nd for another video review on one of the most talked about Winter
2019 shows, more or less for the better.
-Hanime
on Anime
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