Lesser-known, fabulously entertaining Hayao Miyazaki anime channels the spirit of late ‘30s Howard Hawks (especially ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS/’39) to fine effect. Porco, lone surviving pilot of a spectacular WWI dogfight, has become a famous pig-faced independent seaplane operator, tracking down pirates & rescuing hostages. Right now, he needs to sneak into Italy, where’s he’s a wanted man (er . . . pig) for a big repair job. And the crack engineer on hand is a 17-yr-old girl. No romance, though, Porco still pines for the widow of a lost flying bud who runs a café on a secluded island (where morals are duty-free). There’s unexpected emotional pull in Miyazaki’s original story (something about the pig’s solitary life, more Humphrey Bogart than Cary Grant), and the film still boasts the clean narrative lines of early Studio Ghibli while hitting new technical peaks. (What a palette!) Exciting, gorgeous, unafraid to take a breather when needed, and a big plus in its English-language cast, starting with Michael Keaton’s pitch-perfect Porco.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS; with Hawk’s TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT/’44 or Michael Curtiz’s CASABLANCA for the Bogie angle.
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