Kurenai no buta (Porco Rosso) (1992)

Today's animated feature is Porco Rosso, not as magical or romantic as most Miyazaki films, but still fun.  It's about an Italian pilot living on an island in the Adriatic Sea who spends his time flying and bounty hunting for sea plane pirates.  He's cursed to have the face of a pig because he's so pigheaded.  Azalea really enjoyed watching this because of all of the seaplanes flying and because it's funny.

At times Porco reveals his pigginess, for example not wanting Fio to design his plane because she's a girl.  But other times he acts like a gentleman, and we can see glimpses of his real human face.  Azalea was most excited to hear Gina sing.  She recognized her voice right away.  She's Susan Egan, the same actress that plays Meg in Hercules.  And Azalea absolutely loves Hercules.  So, thinking Gina was Meg made the movie even better for her.

The seaplane pirates hire an American named Curtis (played by Cary Elwes) to defeat Porco.  Everything culumintates in a race between the two.  If Curtis wins, he gets to marry Fio.  If Porco wins, Curtis will have to pay the bill for Porco's new plane.

It's obvious who wins, but not how we expect them to.  It's a simple story; in fact the most simple Miyazaki film I have ever seen.  But there's still the magical element, fun characters, and lots of flying (flying always figures heavily into these films).  Even though it wasn't the best, I will still rate it a 6/10.