Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Porco Rosso Review

This is Phil Lamar and you are listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Hello and welcome to

another episode of the Cinema Geeks as we continue

our Hayao Miyazaki retrospective. Today we will

be reviewing Poco Rosso. Joining me on today's

epic adventure, as always, is Kevin Optimus Solo.

How's it going? It's not going too bad. Not too

bad at all. Nice, nice, nice. Also joining us

today is Amanda Hard Candy Mandy. How are things?

Uh, they're things, that's for sure. Things are

good, I guess. Things are things. And last but

of course, not least, Matt, or Lysent. Hi. Hi.

nice not awkward you just said my name you asked

them questions i know i i but i can't you know

answers weren't i don't know i thought he's like

that's not working i'm gonna try something different

with that yeah i guess i gotta make it you gotta

make it challenging everybody try something different

than that pretty sure it's time but but for those

joining us for the first time of those returning

visitors Today we are continuing our Hayao Miyazaki

retrospective. We have been going through all

of his films, and now today we are at his Poco

Rosa, which is I think is one of his films that's

probably least talked about. I mean, at least

for me, this is I think the first movie we have

gotten to that none of us watched completely

through. Previously, so that that should be interesting

as we get into this But if you're not listening

to those past episodes, I would definitely go

back and do so You can start with an introduction

episode and then move on as we move through all

his films So as as mentioned Maybe Maddie since

I didn't give you a question previously. I can

give you a question now Knowing this was if I

think the first time we this is we got some movie

that you have not seen completely before I was

curious to hear What your overall thoughts were

on Poker Rosa? Actually, I hadn't seen some of

the earlier ones. I am just wrong all over the

place. Just. No, but I'd seen all of the ones

that anyone had ever heard of. Yeah. But like.

The question was what I think about it, because

I thought it was awesome. Like he doesn't make

a bad movie. Like that, I mean, that sums it

up. Miyazaki doesn't do bad movies. And like

I think I said on the previous one his worst

movies like a seven and they're all above that

Interesting and then that should be a intriguing

conversation then I guess Amanda going backwards

the way we introduced introduced. So Matt's a

big fan I I know some of these Films so far you've

been mixed on I think you really like kiki's

you weren't a fan of some other ones But what

were your overall thoughts on pocahontas? Might

have been the strangest, but I had fun with this

one, and I don't think that it was too serious.

I don't think it took itself too serious. So

I think it was definitely one of the more enjoyable

ones for me. Interesting. This is gonna be a

fun conversation, I think. Kevin, what about

you? What were your thoughts on Crockerosa? I

guess I'm gonna be a little bit more mixed, or

maybe... more down on it than the other two so

far, which does not mean I did not like the film.

I did have fun with it, and I thought it was

enjoyable. And I can see to a point what Matt's

saying with as far as, you know, he doesn't necessarily

make a bad movie, very similar to when we're

talking about Tarantino, that even the worst

one we reviewed might not necessarily be a bad

movie. But I couldn't help but think as I was

going through here, because now, you know, we're,

I don't know, somewhere near that. the halfway

mark, I guess, through his filmography. I don't

have the numbers in front of me, but it seems

like so far we have two different classes of

films that we've seen from him. And one of them

has a lot more of the aviation aspects or war

or. You know, flying machine type deal, and then

we have the others. And sometimes there's blending,

blending or bleeding over the. to and then the

other one seems more like it's a character piece

on you know these these younger so far young

girls uh kind of coming of age or or different

things like that and i couldn't help as i was

watching through this one thinking that there's

a lot of pieces of something like nausicaa or

uh you know castle of the sky and and stuff of

that nature but it never got to that level for

me of uh as I don't know necessarily grand, but

it just never never hit home or hit the beats

like those other films did for me I still enjoyed

it, but I had some issues with the film that

kind of left me wanting a little bit especially

at the end So I think I think it's gonna be interesting.

So I think we have a little bit of a split panel

here I think I ended up falling a little bit

on Kevin's end like like Matt was mentioning

I would not say this is a bad movie It's still

well made well crafted. There's things like about

it. It feels like You know basically this repetitive

cycle just to say how greatly animated it is

and how beautiful it is at this point I think

watch that the bad thing about watching Miyazaki

films back to back to back Is that you almost

don't appreciate how great they look because

you just get used to it so much, you know It's

like living in the Grand Canyon. It's like you

kind of Eventually just gonna look like a bunch

of rock rock faces and then still with this like

the animation is So great yet like it's just

at this point. It's just come to be expected

like the flying sequences are amazing and it's

Beautiful to look at and you know even like something

like the sound effects from the planes just like

really work well But I think for overall as a

movie it probably worked the least for me out

of all the movies We've seen so far and maybe

just like this style doesn't like Kevin was mentioning

So much of what you were saying I think there

are kind of two different Miyazaki films there

are those that have them the epic adventures

full of story and a lot of intricate plot that

we've seen and then those the slice of life films

like we've seen with Kiki we've seen now with

My Neighbor Totoro and now with Pokeroso and

I think Pokeroso is a little bit in between And

I think I did like about it, but I guess The

movie I kept kind of going back to I felt very

similar to was that of like Lupin the first film

we talked about Just it felt like similar where

this for the first time Felt since then felt

like a movie that was directed towards adults

I'm not in maturity in the sense of like language

or anything of that nature just in sense of story

and I think I even read some interviews with

Himizaki mentioned like you meant he made a Children's

film for adults and he didn't realize it at the

time but I kind of get that feeling and I think

For whatever reason there's aspects of it that

I enjoyed but it like I didn't necessarily Get

engulfed in it like I did with previous films

even something like Kiki I guess maybe just Parker

Rosso as a character. I thought he was Intriguing,

but I was never truly invested like I felt like

I needed a little bit a little bit more from

him He's an awesome pilot. You know, I would

he's great at doing that But I guess I didn't

have like the similar feelings I had even with

someone like Kiki from last time we talked about

Yeah, for me, I think you're hitting on a couple

things here You've kind of elaborated on some

stuff that I was thinking that I didn't elaborate

myself But I I think for me the problem was is

I never knew what this film wanted to be like

I was I wasn't convinced as to which direction

that it wanted to go. It seemed like it wanted

to do a little bit of the slice of life like

you were talking about, like we got with Totoro

and Kiki, but it also wanted to do the fun adventure,

you know, escapade stuff that we got with some

of those other ones, but it never took a lane

for me. It never, it never chose a lane and then

went and committed to it. So it kind of left

it a little bit lacking for me where I was just,

I wasn't convinced either way. And like you say,

Porco Rosso. I don't necessarily enjoy his character.

I did enjoy him as a character, but not, I don't

know, not maybe to the level that I did with

some of those other films. So I was just kind

of left in this middle ground where I wasn't

sure where it was going or which lane it wanted

to take. And for me, that affected my enjoyment,

I think, a little bit throughout. I think this

definitely wasn't, like, his strongest film that

we've seen so far. And I think a lot of the time,

I was kind of going back and forth, like, is

Porco Rosso a good guy? Is he a bad guy? or just,

you know, a guy that really has some loose morals

now and then, and maybe just some bitterness

from things that have happened in women's life.

Like, I really wanted to find out more about

why Porco Rosso was Porco Rosso, but I think

that the glimpses that we got of him, it was

really up to you to figure out what you felt

about... His character in in the sense of is

he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? Is he somebody

that's likable or? Trust worthy or or isn't he

is he because I mean, there's a couple like lecherous

Like moments going on like with him and like

a younger girl and stuff creepy. All right And

at one point he was like smoking while like rocking

somebody's baby like questionable guy Technically

it was the 30s. Yeah true Yeah, dude knows how

to party though cuz like when we first meet him

he's like on an island chilling with a bunch

of like you know, like cigarettes and you know,

he's got his his wine and his music and his his

magazines and stuff. Dude knows how to party.

I think that's why it almost came across more

like what Dan was saying more like one of the

like the first film with Lupin because you kind

of have that type of character where you don't

really know everything about him, but he seems

to have a lot of interesting facets to him. don't

necessarily get to dive full in with that. If

the Lupin film that we watched was your only

exposure to that world, which I know there's

other parts that Matt kind of elaborated with

that episode, but kind of jump right back in.

Like we do a lot with Miyazaki, you jump in midstream

and kind of try to play catch up, but it kind

of, the porquerosa as a character kind of reminded

me a little bit about Lupin, even though they're

different, but the way we kind of learn about

them, I guess. Both money motivated, both will

save a younger girl because they're kind of much.

I didn't say that. I didn't. So, Maddie, maybe

it's only fair to kind of hear your end of it,

because I know you said you're a huge fan of

it. You loved it. So I was curious, like, what

about it? What are you getting out of it that

clearly I'm failing at doing, basically? Oh,

I don't. I see. I enjoyed it. But I guess I also

don't disagree with anything said. Like, it isn't

maybe the best. And part of me wonders if some

of the difference in the storytelling isn't an

East versus West story. Telling style. Yeah,

cuz I don't know enough about that cuz like cuz

like you guys said it you just jump in and then

The movie happens and then it just ends and you

go you don't get the resolutions that you you're

totally expecting it like it really Yeah, the

lady or the Tigers you at the end or it's like,

yeah, is he a pig? Is he not? I don't know that's

not important because it's like it's not important

like Nothing was important to it by the end.

It was just like you know like here's the thing

you like judge the story that you saw don't worry

about what happened before or after which i thought

was super interesting i agree i did find it interesting

but it almost came across and it even has an

opening like the opening of this film is so reminiscent

to me of like the opening of any 80s action cartoon

like it you could have easily convinced me that

i was watching an anime that was made in the

80s just a you know a weekly curve Tune type

thing and it almost gave me that type of feel

like you just get that little bit and it's like

well There must have been stuff before there

must have been stuff after that. I just didn't

see I got a little bit of that vibe Yeah, I was

expecting because I know when I was watching

Lupin the the castle of Cassie Kelly Ostro the

first movie Like I didn't know going into that

that like Lupin was this epic character that's

been around forever So and I out watching this

I was like, oh, I'm guessing pocahontas So maybe

he's something similar He was a character that's

been around and I guess that's not the case And

and I agree with what Matt what you're saying

is like it's not necessarily important It's like

I don't need you to do a flashback scene Of him

becoming a pig or you know, like I you know throwing

the the story line that basically you were cursed

by which I'm like, okay So it's not just I was

wondering it if there would be any mention of

it or if it would just be horrible That's like

a thing that happens because it wouldn't be the

weirdest thing that happened in a haomi's movie

Like just a guy that's a pig just how it is,

you know I wanted to know like I wanted to see

the transformation I was actually curious as

to what he did necessarily because it seems like

his worst crime was that he didn't want to join

the World War two Italian government Yeah, he

was a free -loving pig He I think there was some

pretty cool aspects of the world building here

as far as like when you see The culture that

all surrounds putting these pilots on a pedestal,

really. And I think they had some funny signaling

thing with light, a way to talk to each other.

That was the most bizarre Morse code I've ever

seen in my life. Yeah. That was some upper level.

They took that stuff to the next level. I think

they went hardcore in, oh, can girls be plane

builders, too? And all these women can do this

stuff. I think that was a little heavy in a couple

spots. that I don't necessarily know if it really

needed to be there, but I think it was kind of

a theme throughout, so it made sense. The girl

had a lot of worldly knowledge that I wouldn't

have expected based on the way they introduced

her character, too. I think that's a Miyazaki

thing, though, too, because we've seen that quite

a bit. Sure. I think that Miyazaki was trying

to really set the scene, because this is, like,

pre -World War II, where... Like at least I know

that was like in America. I'm not super acknowledged

in how the world was a hundred years ago. But

like, like I think Porco was like a really stock

standard man. Like women can't do things. Women

don't do things. If they could, they would. Right.

And then all of a sudden he sees all these women

doing things. And then there's the question of,

is he really lecherous or is he just a product

of his environment? But there was like a, like

a weird like beauty rest comment, like you need

your beauty rest and like bullshit like that.

I just he made comments throughout and I was

like, do we really need that? He's like the man

man of the pilots, I guess, you know, 30 years

before the man. At first I was like, is this

going to be like a Garfield thing? Because like

I could hear him and I didn't see his mouth moving.

I'm like, is he thinking or like hearing it like

Garfield or what's going to go on? Like, I didn't

know if he was like a talking pig man or if or

what? Just everyone's imagining him talking.

What what's interesting too is like realizing

like the amount of different like cultures that

are within this because it's like you have You

know a Japanese animator writing the story about

basically, you know Italian Pigfighter, you know

with the American rival that he's going against

and I think I wonder if there was just this kinship

seeing like I know Mizaki as a has worked with

Italian animators in the past and just seeing

Italy at that time compared to where Japan was

after World War II and especially talking about

the scene with all the women who had to work

because all the men had to flee to find jobs.

I think you probably you've seen that in other

studio Ghibli films of just kind of the way war

affects the The war affects the country war effects

the people and I think this you're seeing it

But in a different land in a more kind of realistic

setting even though the guy's a pig There's gonna

be so many pig puns that we could use during

this episode, but I'm gonna try to stay away

from that Yeah, I think those are some good points

and I think those are valid for sure I did like

the the sky gang aspect I guess and what they

did with that. I mean he seems to be pretty good

at kind of telling these stories about these

sky adventures or those types of things. So I

did enjoy that. I also like how it's just apparently

normal to be attacked by sky gangs in this environment

that has been created. It's just like... Dude,

sky pirates. Yeah, it's just expected. It's like

leaving your doors unlocked and getting your

car taken here. It's like... watch out for those

sky games there. I was going to get you if you

let your guard down. So I thought it was a fun

environment that they did create. And it definitely

harkens back to a lot of the other stuff that

we've seen from his other film. So I thought

that was good. I just wanted to mention another

pretty positive thing that I thought from this

film. And I'm not usually one that brings this

up. But I did think that the music, the score,

and the soundtrack for this are pretty darn good.

I enjoyed it throughout. So I was a big fan of

the musical choices here as well. I'm a big fan

of some of the insults that happen. Like it really

fucked that dude's plane up like he was like

fight me pig and Then he just jacked that dude's

plane all to shit and see the American got a

little gangster He was not messing around. He's

like, I'm gonna kill this pig It was like Bloods

versus Crips But like everybody against the pig

is kind of what it was and what was up with the

pickle? Oh, was he like a cat thing? Like cuz

he had some weird whiskers and I'm like, so is

this dude fucking person? He's like an animal

thing too or what because he kind of looked like

me out from fucking Pokemon He did throw some

whiskers. I don't know, every time he said Piccolo,

I just, I ironically were thinking of Dragon

Ball Z, so that's where mine was at. Yeah, I'm

like, he's not green. What's up with this? These

gems are often known for their characters obviously

we've talked about a lot in previous movies and

There were any of them like maybe outside the

norm that stood out for you guys anything that

like any characters that you felt like were Ones

that will if you were to look at the best characters

or ones that at least should be mentioned within

this movie I Mean even though I did this on him

a little bit early on I still think he does the

poker also himself does stand out the most on

this one That's that would be the person I would

remember from the from the film. I Think a lot

of other ones you could just can tie parallels

to characters from all the other movies So they

would all kind of I mean you could go up and

down the roster of you know, the the young girl

Character or and I was let me just put this out

there I was confused about what her age was throughout

this entire film because At first I thought she

was depicted as a young girl And then it seems

like she's maybe in her 20s at one point and

then they're the way that the comments are being

made From the guys. It's like she's a full -on

adult similar to them. I was confused on her

age throughout the whole thing, but that's a

sidebar. But the other part I was talking about

is, I mean, you do have that young girl character

in a lot of his films. You do have, you know,

I mean, you could pick out different types of

characters and then kind of trace them through

each film. But for me, Porco Rosso himself stands

out the most. Any other characters for people?

Anything else anyone else wanted to bring up?

I think Porco Rosso was definitely the most standout

-ish character, I think, you know. especially

Kevin was saying in line with what he was talking

about. I think the characters are kind of one

in the same sometimes with Miyazaki movies. I

think that they're kind of interchangeable almost.

And especially the side characters, side lady

characters, you know, some of these weird, quirky,

you know, villain space guy pirate dudes. But

I think that the scenery and stuff was super

cool in this, and the animation was impeccable

as per the use, but the water was sparkling.

It looked really great, and I think that it was

a visually enjoyable movie, too. Yeah, and I

mean, the actual flight sequences, the flight

simulator, those were quite amazing. I mean we've

seen this a lot because Miyazaki loves his hair

craft and when you legitimately have a movie

dedicated to that it's really just impressive

what he's able to do and just the creation of

the ships to really keep everything exciting

and I mean that's maybe something that like he

almost doesn't get enough credit for is that

he's really great and well him and his animators

are great at crafting exciting and interesting

acting sequences within all this and Yeah, I

just love how also like sense of scope and the

size of planes and how he uses like environments

to kind of give you an idea of like What all

these people are up against and things like that.

So What about the little girls hanging off the

Gatlin gun as it's being fired? Like dangerous

and they all the little hostage girls who all

look the same? Questionable choices. I do think

it was kind of funny that he got more interested

in saving them Once he found out there would

be a bunch of high school girls. I mean that

That's another weird comment. I don't know, again,

we've had this conversation a number of times,

but I don't know how much is lost in the translation,

so to speak, or in the choices that is made for

the Dove version as far as what words are changed

and what lines are changed. Did think that the

dialogue in a lot of places was was real the

English dialogue that we get it is pretty bad

at times Compared to what we've seen in some

of the others the other films. I thought it I

don't know. I don't like I said, I don't know

if it was just because of the translation Aspect

or the dubbing aspect, but I was not a big fan

of most of the dialogue. I Had a feeling just

I don't know if it's based upon the version that

we we watched Because I don't think it was the

legitimate like actual Disney animated dubbing

of it I think it was the the first one because

it sounded like to be honest the one the the

version I watched of it like the English sub

what do you want to call it the English words

that were used they just sounded off at times

like even just like the sounding of which I I

don't think it was the actual I can't blame The

movie because it was something like even like

the sound of someone talking like like the back

It didn't sound right like it didn't sound like

they were in the same room But I think that was

more a product of the movie being then the actual

well the product of the translation in the actual

movie itself But yeah, I had to go hood and watch

like a ghetto streaming version Yeah, we'll have

to we'll have to somehow compare Matt and see

which if we watch the same version And that might

be just because we got I know there are multiple

dubs of these films a lot of times and maybe

we got the substandard one because even the in

the voice work went hand in hand with it the

voice work was not good and With the exception

of I did enjoy kind of the the quote -unquote

gangsters I guess that you get surrounding the

bar because they each had like a different A

different specific like trope of a voice. I guess

you could call it like there's distinct voices

that exist, especially in early, you know, like

radio TV movies. And it seemed like they were

playing off of a lot of those. Like you could

identify some pretty famous voices that they

were kind of going for that style. And I thought

it was fun that each gangster kind of had a little

bit of that. But outside of their voices, I thought

the rest of the voice work was pretty shoddy

and that might go in hand in hand like what we're

saying. Maybe we got a bit kind of a badly dubbed

version of this. Well, here's the thing. Was

the main pirate Brad Garrett? No. Oh, then yeah.

Okay, i was gonna say because he's very obviously

brad garrett in the disney version. No, we did

not watch that version then my man I had to go

hood in rockford and fucking do what I had to

do It might have been it might have been somebody

on the internet voicing this. I don't even know

dude fandom It could have been I don't know I

would just like to rewatch it because it was

like it sounded like someone did it like in a

cave and then the other person like did it and

like it sounds. Oh no! We hooked up to the tv

and it didn't sound that bad. We were playing

it through the tv. Yeah it didn't come off like

it was it was weird it just came off like it

was not a professional voice work like we're

used to so maybe we'll have to like put an asterisk

next to this review and like come back at a time

where we can watch the the disney dome but i

don't think that's going to change a lot of the

other parts of what we're talking about. No,

I mean, I know there's a blu -ray version out

in that, but I didn't honestly want to buy it,

not because I'm cheap like that. But yeah, I'm

sure that would fix it. Like that overall didn't

account for, I think, my appreciation of it.

Maybe it would be better with better voice actors,

but still I think my issues are more grander

than just the dialogue. I kind of come to accept

that when it comes to a foreign film just because

of the translation barriers and stuff like that.

Yeah, I agree. Did the only other note that I

had was that I did think that the second act

was a tiny bit slow Compared to the rest of the

film that made it seem a little bit disjointed

But not enough to like throw me off or or take

me out of the movie when they were like building

the plane Yeah, kind of that whole aspect where

they kind of where it goes off and does that

whole repair and meets the girl like it seemed

Like a slowed way down almost to an extreme standpoint,

but not enough to where it was jarring It just

kind of I didn't notice it. So I guess that's

why I wanted to bring it up Yeah, so this is

like, this is actually the sixth film that we

have, we've gone so far in the Miizaki retrospective,

going from where we started to where we're at

now. How has that journey been so far? Does it

feel like watching these back -to -back is almost

not something you would recommend because...

like we're saying we're seeing similar ideas

or is it maybe allowed you to appreciate his

style more because you can see some sort of evolution

and just the different ways he can, Miyazaki

can tell a story. I would think that maybe the

order if you could put this right after Lupin

in the order that you're watching it and maybe

switch up the order a little bit that way. I

think that working up to his more deeper pieces

it'll still let you pick up on his style quite

a bit and also see some of the things that he

sticks with and the themes that he uses and the

kind of character tropes that he sticks to. I

think that it doesn't necessarily benefit watching

in the chronological order that we are. I guess

maybe I was dull, but when I watched Miyazaki

films in the past, I didn't realize how much

he inserts aviation into everything in just a

little bit. Not that that's a bad thing, but

it's just kind of interesting seeing. Even some

character designs, like old women, I feel like

we see a lot of similar looks for... All the

elderly women but again, it's not it's not a

bad thing It's just interesting seeing like different

versions and styles of characters kind of repeat

Which is you know, you would have that with Disney

you would have that with a lot of different animation

styles, but They all look like my baba I do think

watching them the way we're doing does let you

pick up on some stuff that you might not otherwise

pick up on whether it's character designs whether

it's aviation pieces whether it's you know, just

jumping in with the characters and kind of learning

as you go. I mean, there's definitely a lot of

different traits that you see come up again and

again. I do, though, think that Amanda has a

point. I think that if you did watch this after

Callie Ostro, that it might flow better for you

because you'd kind of get the ramp up to what

we got, and then it still keeps kind of, you

know, the kiki. Totoro aspect at the end. I don't

know what's to come next. So I guess I don't

know I can't speak until we watch the other five

films because I think there's 11 total but I

could see this one definitely if you were trying

to like show someone Miyazaki films and Suggest

an order that I could see this being the second

film you show them Makes sense to me All right

Matt any thoughts or anything else you wanted

to mention regarding pocarissa No, I think we

mostly covered it. There are still some things

that like I don't know, I'm just thinking about

other things you'll see. You'll see those old

ladies all the way to the end of his movies.

You'll see a lot of very reliant, hard -working

females in the rest of his movies. You'll see

a lot of children who have a nice level of competency

that are not annoying to watch. This movie does

hit a lot of the Miyazaki notes. He does do...

for the most part younger individuals much less

annoying in a much less annoying way than we

get in a lot of western animation because it's

hard it seems like it's hard especially like

in cartoons for kids not to come across super

annoying from like the cartoons that we watch

growing up i'm not necessarily saying in comparison

to maybe like disney films or that type of stuff

but he does he does do all different ages very

well Yeah, I got you don't get that really like

forced in like I'm putting this in for the kids

character like everything Fills and he doesn't

dumb it down for you. Like oh, this is a This

is this parts for the kids. So I got to make

it super obvious and super dumb down Very much

so like I I don't know how much kids would enjoy

this maybe like the action and stuff like that

But I got it does feel like a little bit deeper

than I would maybe for kids like younger but

I think you know seven eight or nine would really

enjoy it like it feels like a drama that you

could you could take a lot of this movie and

just do a live action and I mean obviously yeah

and which is not necessarily a bad thing which

I feel like it's a lot we could we could have

we said with Lupin it's just like he just takes

these ideas that that we won't necessarily see

with animation because I feel like When it comes

to American or Western or Eastern, no, Western

animation, usually something is animated because

it can't happen in real life. But I think with

Miyazaki, his idea is just like, I just want

to tell a good story. That's what it's about.

And the fact that it's animated, it's just a

plus. It just gives him more avenues to do a

little bit more things. But the basic premise

of it is really just a good story that can be

told in any medium. I think it has an interesting

filmography so far, because I think depending

on your purpose, you can have a lot of different

orders for how you would show this, because I

think if you're showing your kids these films,

you definitely show like Totoro first, or you

know what I mean, or kind of go with those two,

that and Kiki's first, and then you kind of build

up to some of these adventures, and obviously

you get to probably end with Callie Ostro, because

I mean, I haven't seen all the rest, but there's

definitely a lot of mature aspects to that film.

So I mean, you would have one version for if

you're showing your child, but I think there's

a completely different version if you're showing

an adult that you're trying to expose to Miyazaki

for the first time, or Studio Jibli, or different

things like that. So I think it's interesting.

He has a filmography that can be manipulated

for different purposes. Yeah, we'll be getting

the Princess Mananoke next, and that's very much,

that's not one you'd want to show kids, I don't

think. All right, interesting. All right, well,

it's time for final thoughts and grades. So Matt,

overall final thoughts and your overall grade

from one to ten for Pokoroso. Well, um, I do

think it's it's maybe not the strongest movie

in his catalog it maybe not even like Maybe even

the weakest studio Ghibli movie he does But it's

still enjoyable It's still got a lot of things

that I really love and it's still very steeped

in and what it is to be a Miyazaki movie Um,

so I think I'm gonna say porco Rosso's eight

All right. Very nice. I'm in the final thoughts

and overall grade for I think despite some of

his seems to be questionable motivations at times,

I think that I did find him like a good guy with

like a good heart. I'm gonna just kind of ignore

the end because I felt like he should have ended

up with somebody, should have told us if he's

really a pig or not, like, give me something

besides the fact that like, oh, all these relationships

that we built up over this whole movie, I don't

care about anymore, I'm gone. I think that I

had a couple problems with it, but overall I

think that it wasn't something that I had to

super think about. It wasn't something that like

super made me sad or anything like that. So I'm

gonna give it, I'm gonna give it a five. All

right, five out of ten for Amanda. Kevin, final

thoughts and overall grade? Well, I guess a slight

spoiler alert. If you haven't seen this film,

don't listen to the next 15 seconds or so. But

just bouncing off of what Amanda was saying,

I do think that the ending might have benefited

from a different choice. I'm not necessarily

one that is all about ambiguous endings. But

in this situation, I would have rather had just

an ambiguous ending where the guy is commenting

about his face. And then we kind of go off into

the distance. or something like that. I didn't

necessarily want, I don't think it was, I don't

think it served much of a purpose to let us know

that after all of that he has no contact with

any of these people for the most part. It just

seemed kind of a little bit jarring. I'm gonna

guess maybe for some people that adds a lot of

realism to the film. But I was kind of, my initial

reaction was negative towards it. I mean, maybe

it's something that'll grow on me, but overall.

I don't think it was a bad film. I just don't

think it necessarily got into the lane that I

don't think it ever committed one way or the

other onto what type of Film it wanted to be

so I'm left a little bit in the middle. I'll

probably be in the five six range Alrighty, so

overall like I think there's a lot I did like

I do think it said really have infamated in action

sequences are well done when I'm watching it

scene by scene I do feel like okay. I'm enjoying

what I'm seeing I like what's on screen, but

I guess as a whole, it just didn't necessarily

come together for me similar. And I guess it

could just be a style thing, like Matt was mentioning.

It's just a different way of telling stories.

We're used to things fitting into a certain bucket

or certain expectations, and that's not what

this is. So maybe it's not necessarily, you know,

it's not him, it's me, you know, type of thing.

leave me a little uneven and I did like Pokerosa

as a character and I think that was telling when

we were talking about great characters and side

characters I think were could have used a little

bit more overall and like I said it's probably

the least out of the movies we talked about so

far with its effect on me. It didn't necessarily

have as many memorable moments, but still a good

movie. It's still something I would recommend.

I think if you're a fan of animation, it's something

to watch for sure. So I am a six out of ten,

which is very much a passing grade for me. But

when it comes to these films, it's Miyazaki's

filmography so far. I just think it's, you know,

it's not a misstep because it's not a bad movie,

but it's just, you know, perhaps it's just a

failure of expectations compared to what came

before. So. But looking at what's coming ahead

when we talk about Miyazaki again, we'll be discussing

Princess Mononoke and spoiler alert. I love the

movie. So. Amanda, is this one of the ones that

you've seen? No, I've never seen this one. I've

only I think I've heard bad stuff about this

one, actually. Man, is this one that you've seen,

obviously? This was actually the first one I

ever saw of Miyazaki's. Me too. All right. So

we split two people that have seen it, two people

that have. So I'm looking forward to seeing it.

The gauntlet has been thrown. We'll see if Amanda

and Kevin... their overall thoughts of it next

time. But for now, there's a lot of ways to get

in contact with us. You can tell us how wrong

we are or how right we are regarding this movie.

You can do so by emailing us at feedback at geekcastradio

.com or going to the episode post at geekcastradio

.com. We're also on Facebook and Twitter. You

can check us on Facebook at Geek Cast Radio,

on Twitter. You can go to Cinema Geek Cast and

follow us there. But you guys are also on Twitter.

Matt, what is your Twitter name? Amanda at hard

candy Mandy eyes no wise and Kevin I'm at optimus

solo and I'd love for anybody out there to Tweet

at me and let me know what you guys think of

the spotlight so far and if you agree on our

choices and Very much so And I'm at I'm at super

lame on Twitter But anyways, we do thank you

for joining us for this week. Like I said, if

you have not listened to the past episodes, go

back and do that. But for now, thanks for listening

and we'll catch you next time as we continue

our look into the career of Haya Miyazaki. Thanks

for listening.