Porco Rosso (1992)

In Porco Rosso we follow the story of an inexplicably pig-faced Italian World War I pilot turned bounty hunter who expertly out-flies pirates in his antique red plane. If that doesn’t sound bizarre or complicated enough for a Japanese children’s movie, consider that the pirates Porco Rosso (the Crimson Pig) fights turn out to be more civil than the Air Force who tries to intervene in their affairs. What’s more, at the end of the film we are left with few clear answers to any of the many questions regarding characters and plot that Miyazaki conjures up over the course of the story. We are expected to rely on our own imaginations to fill in the blanks, or not, as we see fit.

What I love best about Miyazaki movies, Porco Rosso included, is they not only display the beauty of a childlike uninhibited imagination visually, but that they also inspire imagination and thought that goes beyond the borders of the screen. Rather than spoon-feed the audience moral values through hackneyed plotlines and sugarcoated romances, Miyazaki instead offers breathtakingly strange and intriguing tales appropriate for any age. We go places when we watch his films. We see new things, we consider new possibilities. Just what animation, and film in general, is supposed to do.

With frequent magical and unexplained interventions into characters’ identities, highly unconventional narrative trajectories (at least in Western terms), and loads of astonishingly unexpected heroes, Miyazaki’s animated masterpieces are crafted for the truly adventurous and imaginative moviegoer. Lucky for us, in the treasure trove of Miyazaki’s work Porco Rosso is only one small gem.

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If you’d like a bigger list of Miyazaki’s movies, check out his imdb profile.
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/)
The majority of his movies are distributed in the US by Disney on very nice DVDs with options for either English language dubbing or English subtitles according to your preference.