Pom Poko (1995)

When the two genius minds at Ghibli get selfish, they make some of their most underrated and thought provoking work. Porco Rosso was as selfish as Miyazaki ever got, and for my money I think it's on par with Mononoke, Totoro, and Spirited Away. His partner on the other hand (albeit not an animator himself) has played it selfish on nearly every film he contributed, and for that, among other reasons, he will never be as popular as Hayao. Pom Poko is Isao Takahata and Ghibli's most amazing epic achievement. It's the funniest, smartest, most original, riskiest, darkest, most light hearted, best animated, and boldest film in the catalog. It's hated amongst those who want another Howl's Moving Castle, or Kiki's Delivery Service (nothing against those films, they're just easy to like) and loved by the few who know how truly brilliant these guys really are. It bothers me to no end how underrated this movie is, but on the other hand it doesn't surprise me or bother me at all. There's no need for me to re-hash the plot of this raccoon dog vs. human meddling masterpiece, just believe me it's amazing. And if you don't like it I'm sure there's many a Ghibli you will enjoy instead.

Suspiciously lame political message from the overrated Ghibli. The narcissistic writers prove what a moral cesspool their city of Tokyo is by trying to convince the audience that all Life on planet earth must adapt to the sadistic whims of idiot bipeds. I'm sure Tokyo's construction contractors showed their gratitude to Takahati and his cringing assimilationist rhetoric. At least one character pulls through this blatant environmentalisn't propaganda with his soul intact - Gonta: a hero with balls big enough to take on dump trucks. Go Gonta! If he could pull off a few more Fukushimas, Japan might be suitable for life again in another 2000 years.

I love Studio Ghibli. This was a huge disappointment. From the moment it started I knew it was going to be a poor effort from an exceptional studio. It was head achingly preachy and condescending from the very beginning. Princess Mononoke was able to evaluate the relationship between man and nature without coming off as educational seminar. In Pom Poko, we are given facts and figures and diagrams and highly obvious visual "metaphors". The entire film is a mess of wrongfully judged tonal shifts. Yes, it was brave to have the raccoons kill the humans, but it's attempt at comedy and cuteness it severely misjudged. The whole film is narrated over in a very lazy fashion. The film is pretty much told to us, without any attempt at creativity or visual imagination. There are no lead characters to connect with, making these raccoons as bad as the humans they fight, if not worse. There are also a lot of awkward moments involving male raccoons forcing themselves upon the females, and testicles that can morph. These testicles are used as humor but are simply not funny. It's an awkward movie with an obvious message, handled with none of the charm, passion, nor humanity, that I've come to expect from Ghibli.

Most anime fans remember Isao Takahata best for his wonderful tearjerker, "Grave of the Fireflies", will find interesting this title as well. This lavishly animated tale about raccoons battling for their homeland isn't so dramatic as "Grave of the Fireflies" but is an interesting amalgam of humor, drama, and action delivered instead. At times, the viewer gets treated to scenes which recall the tragic elements , but even though the tone of the movie is somber, a handful of lighthearted moments elevate the overall production out of depression. As this is a Studio Ghibli film, production values are spectacular. Backgrounds are painted with a tasteful mixture of simplicity and art, and the raccoons are as cuddle-some as you would expect. (If you're scratching your head while reading this, don't be alarmed--according to Japanese folklore, raccoons have the power to transform into anything--including human beings) The actual animation is as colorful and imaginative as you might expect from a Ghibli movie(and there is one scene where we are treated to cameo appearances by Porco Rosso, Kiki, and Totoro.) While Pom Poko has a story to tell and a meaningful message for one to think about, its character and plot aspects may come across as a bit off-putting to viewers expecting a typical animated feature. Indeed, while some raccoons identify themselves with distinguishable names and/or personalities (for example, Gonta is a burly, rough-and-ready raccoon who is always looking for a fight, while Oroku is the "wise woman" of the tribe), the story offers little in the way of character development. In fact, most of the action in the story is narrated (by Maurice LaMarche in English, Kokondei Shinchou in Japanese), which elevates the overall effect of the movie to that of a semi-documentary. For the most part, this approach works to a very interesting degree and is a refreshing change of pace. However, there were some scenes in the movie where I wished the narration could have been reduced a little bit, as it sometimes gets in the way of appreciating the beauty of the visuals on screen. Unfortunately, most of the attention that this movie received were some silly controversies about the fact that the movie shows the testicles of the male raccoons, but that was a minor detail if you compare with the charm and the originality of the story. Even when it is not perfect (Some consider this movie a inferior work of Ghibli )this movie was funny enough for me, and is one of the my favorite animes.