Porco Rosso (1992)

Title: Porco Rosso
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Anime
Highs: Exquisite attention to detail.
Lows: None
RhynoBot Grade: A

Another Miyazaki film and for the first time before I watched the movie I thought I wasn't going to like one of his films based on what I knew of the story, but I was wrong. Once again I found myself fully engaged in this movie and completely amazed by Miyazaki's attention to the smallest of details to bring realism to this animated film.

The plot of this film is a little strange and sounds absurd at first which is why I thought I wasn't going to like this movie. Basically, an ace seaplane fighter pilot for the Italian Air Force finds work as a mercenary taking down sea pirates in post WWI era, oh and he happens to be a pig (literally not metaphorically). We learn later that he wasn't always a pig but was in fact once human and was transformed after an emotional experience following a dogfight with the German's where he witnessed his best friend and fellow fighter pilots get shot out of the sky. He was the only survivor on both sides of the fight and from that point on he was transformed. Regardless, you soon forget about him being a pig as the action in the movie steps up almost immediately.

This being one of Miyazaki's later films you can see the influence of his earlier work in this movie. The Sea Pirates are very similar looking and in character to the pirates in "Castle in the Sky". The 17 year old girl engineer that re-builds Porco Rosso's seaplane has a very similar look and character to Nausicca from "Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind". And the little school girls Porco rescues from the Sea Pirates in the beginning of the movie are all 100% just like Mei from "My Neighbor Totoro". Normally it would bother me to see such strong resemblance of look and character from other movies but Miyazaki really makes it work. He obviously in a man that know how to please an audience and he proves it by taking some of the best elements of his previous films and using them again here, but changed enough to not make it unbearable.

Aside from great character development and a fantastic story, one thing Miyazaki always brings to the table is exquisite attention to even the smallest detail. For example, Porco flies a metallic skin seaplane painted a shiny crimson color, in certain scenes and angles you can glimpse Porco's reflection on the metallic structure just like you would in real life. Most animators would not bother to add such fine detail that most people would not even notice. In addition, all of the environmental scenes, Porco flying over the ocean, small islands in the Mediterranean, Seagulls flying, etc., all have such a rich level of detail and realism that you easily forget you are watching animation.

So Miyazaki does it again. Of all his films I would rank this movie behind Totoro, Nausicca, Castle, Spirited Away, and Mononoke but still far exceeds my expectations and far surpasses anything out there right now (barring Pixar) in animation.

This is another great Miyazaki film, you should see it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Director: Garth Jennings
Genre: Sci-Fi/Comedy
Highs: None
Lows: For as memorable as the novel is this film is very forgettable.
RhynoBot Grade: D

Oh lordy, lordy, lordy. How could this movie be so bad when the source material is soooo good??? Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has an interesting history. It started as a radio serial in Britain, was then written as a bestselling novel, then was made into a British mini-series, and now finally has made it's way to Hollywood as a feature film. I actually, finally read the novel last summer while I was on vacation. I actually had low expectations, I had heard of the book for several years before but avoided it since I had always regarded it as some nerdy owner's manual or something. Well for the most part I was right but me being a nerd myself I loved the book and found myself laughing out loud several times a chapter (again with the British humor). Not so with this new movie adaptation of the book, I don't think I actually laughed once. It was like watching a shadow of what the book was all about. Certain elements were there like the Earth being blown up and Ford explaining about his field research for new editions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the galaxies bestselling guide book, but there was no soul. Everything looked pretty but everything that made the book so fun and hilarious was white washed turning a very memorable book into a very forgetful movie. To me that's just a shame since this had the potential of being really great if someone cared enough to do it right.

My suggestion would be to forget this movie exists (which I have already done), pick-up a copy for the book, put on your thinking cap, flip on the improbability drive, and let the nerdiness flow because it's a great ride.

This movie is crap, don't waste your time.

Wallace and Grommet in Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Title: Wallace and Grommet in Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Director: Steve Box & Nick Park
Genre: Children & Family
Highs: The rabbits floating in the vacuum system.
Lows: None.
RhynoBot Grade: A

I have been a big fan of Wallace, Grommet, and Nick Park for several years now. My first experience with Wallace and Grommet was a short called "A Grand Day Out" back about ten years ago on a PBS special about Nick Park. Since then I have come to love everything Wallace and Grommet have starred in from "The Wrong Trousers" to "A Close Shave" and now their first feature length film Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Maybe it's my love of British comedy or the fact that the claymation process takes five years to produce a feature length film but I am always amazed at the quality of the animation and the fullness of the story that Nick Park is able to produce. Five years is a long time to commit to a project. You can't spend that much time doing something and not infuse your love and passion for your work into the film. I think this is why Wallace and Grommet films are so easily accepted and enjoyed by such a wide range of people because the people that create the film put so much of themselves into it that it is just a warm and comfortable experience.

This is a great story. Wallace is up to his old inventor tricks again and through a string of events inadvertently creates a monster - the Were-Rabbit - that is terrorizing the town right before the annual large vegetable contest. Wallace and Grommet set out hot on the tail of the Were-Rabbit (get it, hot on the tail, ha, ha) to solve the case and undo the damage that Wallace has created. Of course Grommet being Wallace's trusty hound companion once again saves Wallace from most certain death with his unique ability to use common sense, of which Wallace seems to have none. This is such a fun and hilarious adventure, it cannot be missed.

This is a great movie, you should see it and all the Wallace and Grommet shorts.

Pom Poko (1994)

Title: Pom Poko
Director: Isao Takahata
Genre: Anime
Highs: A little nut sack transformation action.
Lows: Really need an understanding of Japanese culture to appreciate the movie.
RhynoBot Grade: C+

Well here's another Japanese anime movie but this time not a Hayao Miyazaki film, although he is credited as a producer for Pom Poko. This story centers around the post-WWII expansion and modernization of Japan, specifically the housing development boom and consequently the consumption of the forest area surrounding Tokyo. The story is told from the perspective of the forest creatures, in this case a clan of raccoons. I guess in Japanese mythology raccoons and foxes have a unique ability to transform into any shape they choose, even human form. This myth is the central focus of the movie as a particular clan of raccoons try to permanently stop the humans from destroying their forest and building housing structures and shopping malls.

The raccoons start off small, transforming themselves into pots and statues but as their skills improve they start taking human form to do reconnaissance and find food in the metropolitan areas of Tokyo. The raccoon clan is depicted as an old samurai clan representing the old ways fighting against the new era and not having much success. They have a few victories here and there but success is short lived since the workers that they manage to scare off eventually get replaced with new workers and construction continues. They send out messenger to recruit the help of the ancient shape-shifting masters. The masters finally arrive and the raccoons put on what they think is the final battle to drive back the humans in the form of a goblin parade down the streets of Tokyo. (This was by far the coolest part of the movie.) But their efforts were wasted since the humans enjoyed the "traditional" show never really being scared off at all. Inevitably the raccoons give way to modernization. Those that could shape shift transformed into humans and worked and lived among them in Tokyo. The others found other means of survival within the confines of the now sprawling city.

This story is very much infused with Japanese culture and mythology which was enjoyable to observe but I felt as though the meaning and significance was lost on me. However, having watched so many samurai movies I was able to appreciate the clash of the old ways (being the samurai way) verses the new era. There are some very entertaining elements to this movie, like the raccoon's fixation with transforming their nut sacks (testicles) into different things. But for the most part I think you need to have studied Japanese history and culture or be Japanese yourself in order to truly appreciate this movie. Me not being Japanese, the significance was mostly lost on me.

This is an entertaining movie but not for everyone, you can skip it.

Broken Flowers (2005)

Title: Broken Flowers
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Genre: Comedy? I guess???
Highs: None really.
Lows: More depressing then funny.
RhynoBot Grade: D+

Netflix list this movie as a comedy but I didn't find any part of the movie funny at all, not a single laugh. I don't really know how to categorize this movie. It's not a drama, nothing dramatic happens. It's not an action/adventure, in fact it is the antithesis of action since Bill Murray's character sits around depressed through 98% of the movie. I think this movie has strived to achieve such great lows that it is in a genre all alone, we'll call it a hang-man because that is exactly what you feel like doing to yourself as you watch this movie.

The premise of is Bill Murray's character in his younger days was a love'em and leave'em kind of guy with the ladies. We see him later in life as a vacant shell of a man with yet another failed relationship. He receives an unmarked letter in the mail from a former lover claiming that 20 years ago she bore his son and he is now on his way to come find him. Murray's neighbor who fancies himself an amateur private detective convinces Murray to go on a road trip to seek out the potential author of the letter by visiting five women he was know to have been involved with at the time. Hilarity ensues right, wrong! This turns out to be one calamity after another and never comes to any conclusion, just speculation. The movie closes with us not knowing any more information then when we started. Does he really have a son? Was the letter really written by one of the women he visited? Will he continue to look for his potential son? Well we'll never know since the movie ends abruptly with no resolution.

OK, we know Bill Murray excels at the blank faced melancholy emotionless stick but there has to be a payoff at some point. Utilize his sharp wit and hilarious sense of humor at some point to make it worth watching for the viewer. That payoff never came in Broken Flowers. This movie has a similar feel to it as "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" but by comparison Aquatic may as well have been "Animal House" on the hilarity scale (if you have not seen Life Aquatic it is not very funny).

This movie is depressing and pointless, avoid it.