Review for Porco Rosso - Double Play: The Studio Ghibli Collection

Introduction

So you get your Blu-ray player, your HD TV, and you start buying those high definition films, are suitably impressed with what the technology has to offer when it comes to the latest cinema releases and the most recent summer blockbusters. Your attention then turns to your DVD collection, and you think about going on an upgrade spree, the way you did when VHS was superseded, but this time you decide against it. After all, DVD is just about good enough, and there is a recession on. So it becomes a question of opportunistic double-dipping, replacing a few select favourites, and then upgrading the odd title when its Blu-ray drops into a bargain bucket for less than what the original DVD probably cost you. Then there are films like Porco Rosso, which no matter that you first owned it on VHS, and then on DVD, you’ll still line up on the day of release to buy the Blu-ray no matter the cost. You could say that about any of the Ghibli catalogue, but for me Porco Rosso is my favourite Ghibli film (unless I’m watching Kiki’s Delivery Service, or Laputa), and this was one Blu-ray I just had to have. It’s also Studiocanal’s final new Ghibli HD release of 2013.

Once again I’ve recycled part of my review of the Optimum DVD, which you do in fact get in this double-play collection, and that text is in italics. But for this review, I watched the Blu-ray disc only.


Porco Rosso is an airborne bounty hunter, whose red seaplane is the scourge of air pirates in the Mediterranean. He’s also the victim of a magic spell that has left him resembling a pig, none of which hampers his reputation as a ladies’ man. The pirates are tired of getting shot up by Porco, so they employ a hotshot American pilot named Curtiss to take care of him. Porco’s plane needs an overhaul anyway, and easily falls prey to Curtiss, and it takes some nifty flying for Porco to survive. Now Porco must take his wrecked plane to Milan for repairs. The Piccolo family is happy to refit the plane, at a price, although Porco is a little shocked to see that the mechanic who will oversee the work is a young girl called Fio, granddaughter of the workshop’s owner. It isn’t easy for a freelance pilot in 1930s Milan, especially with the fascists recruiting and the secret police on Porco’s tail. Fio decides to join Porco as his ‘hostage’ to safeguard her family and to make sure the redesigned plane is sound. Porco is reluctant to accept a partner, especially when the pirates show up with Curtiss, ready for a rematch, with Fio as the prize.

Picture

Porco Rosso gets a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer at 1080p resolution, and the image is gorgeous. The film has had some restoration done to it, the print is free of damage and dirt, and in playback it is stable. As usual what will be for many a contentious issue is what I guess is DNR, which becomes apparent when you compare the film to its trailers, but for me there is still enough in the way of flicker, texture and grain structure to provide a filmic experience. Madman Entertainment who created the transfer find a pleasant balance between the original look and meeting the expectations of fans new to animation. At no point did I feel that the film’s detailed artwork or vibrant animation was compromised, and I was enchanted by every frame. The HD presentation brings out the best in the detail and I was noticing things I had never seen before.

Sound

The original stereo experience is recreated here, but you do get the added clarity and richness of uncompressed audio, PCM 2.0 Stereo English and Japanese, with optional translated English subtitles. The stereo works well in conveying the film’s aerial action sequences, and the dialogue is clear throughout. The original Japanese audio certainly is my preference, but Porco Rosso does get an A-list dub, with Michael Keaton in the title role. The subtitles are accurately timed, and free of typographical error.

Extras

Porco Rosso comes presented in an Amaray style Blu-ray case, with the DVD on one inner face and the Blu-ray disc on the other. The whole package is wrapped in an O-Card that repeats the sleeve art.

The Porco Rosso DVD is the Optimum disc (with old logo) that was originally released here seven years ago. For me its presence is really just a reminder of how good the Blu-ray is, as the DVD’s standards converted, window-boxed (for overscan purposes) image is messy to the point of being unwatchable. But I suppose the same is true for any DVD after being exposed to an HD version of it. Studiocanal could have used the opportunity to strike a new DVD from the HD master, and get it looking a lot better.


The one disappointment with this release comes with its extra features. It merely repeats what is on the DVD, and there is no actual new content from Studio Ghibli, as there has been for other Blu-rays, which is a shame given how personal a film Porco Rosso is to Hayao Miyazaki.

What you do get are the film’s storyboards, presented in picture in picture format at the bottom right corner of the screen.

You also get the interview with produce Toshio Suzuki that was on the previous release, and here it’s been up-scaled to 720p and runs to just over three minutes.


Actually making its UK debut is the Behind the Microphone featurette, although it was on the US DVD release of Porco Rosso. It has interviews with the English voice cast and dubbing crew, and lasts 7 minutes, again up-scaled to 720p.

There is almost 8 minutes worth of original trailers for Porco Rosso, presented in 1080p, and you can see a little of what the film looked like pre-restoration and without DNR.

Finally there are trailers for other Ghibli titles, including My Neighbour Totoro, Laputa, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Nausicaa.

Conclusion

All the ingredients to a Miyazaki film are here, the elements of magic, a young heroine, and plenty of flying. There’s even a pig in the title role. Central to Porco Rosso is the veneration of a better time, a golden age. Here it is that brief golden age of flying that existed between the wars, when the rickety flying machines of the Wright Brothers had evolved into graceful wooden birds, and where an individual could carve his own path, forge a career flying his own plane. Air travel was a luxury, but treated as such, with comfort and opulence more important than profit margins. This was before the war, before the age of the airlines and multinationals, and a far cry from the crammed sardine tins that clog the skies today.

Porco Rosso is set at the end of that age, with the dark clouds of the Second World War on the horizon. But the story that it tells is hardly anything as weighty, rather it’s the personal tale of the porcine bounty hunter, as he goes about his business, burdened by his past, yet reluctant to face the future. He’s the last survivor of a group of flyers, and has a potential relationship with the widow of one of them. But he keeps shying away. It takes the entry of young Fio into his life to get him to re-evaluate his situation. She is the mechanic who repairs his plane, and insists on joining his adventures. She becomes the prize in an aerial duel between Porco and Curtiss. It’s a simple story, but it’s set against the rich tapestry of the pre-war years. The music and the fashion as recreated here looks and sounds splendid, and the attention to detail is astounding. The background is intricately filled in, specifically with Porco’s past, and generally with the onset of the depression years, and the rise of the fascist movement in Italy, yet it never overshadows the entertainment.


In some ways, Porco Rosso is a lesser Miyazaki, with the magic and romance of childhood toned down, and the comedy more prevalent. The story is quite ephemeral too, and it all feels like frivolous fun. But even a lesser Miyazaki stands head and shoulders over many other animations, and the attention to detail, the beautifully animated flying sequences very much makes this a heartfelt ode to that golden age.

Watching Porco Rosso again last night, reflecting on my initial description of it as frivolous, it’s hard to argue that it has the same impact as something like Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, or the mainstream appeal of something like Ponyo. But I have to admit that I like this film more than the renowned Ghiblis. I love the film, I love the characters, and I love the energy and vibrancy of the animation. It’s a film that holds the attention even now, and having watched it a fair few times, I realise that the period setting, the pre-war tension and the totalitarian creep that is developed almost in subtext is a lot more effective and memorable than spelling it out directly would be. Porco Rosso is actually a film that has improved in my estimation, and this Blu-ray is the perfect way to watch it.