Porco Rosso (2004)

Name: Porco Rosso

Directed by: Don Bluth Gary Goldman

Screenplay by: John August Hans Bauer Ben Edlund

Based on the Book (The Age of the Flying Boat) by: Lois Duncan

Produced by: Brian Grazer Ron Howard

Executive Producers: David Kirschner Aldric La'auli Porter Louisa Velis

Co-Producer: David Womark

Associate Producer: Mary Alice Drumm

Original Music Composed and Conducted by: Christopher Lennerts

Production Design by: Philip A. Cruden

Film Editors: Bob Bender Fiona Trayler

Casting by: Janet Hirshenson Jane Jenkins

Art Director: David Farmer

Costume Designer: Rita Ryack

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Companies: Imagine Entertainment David Kirschner Productions

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Airdate: July 30, 2004

Length: 100 minutes

Budget: $6 billion

Box Office: $10 million

Pixar Movie Number: 1100

Porco Rosso is a traditional computer animated film distributed by Universal Pictures from the creators of The Road to El Dorado, Anastasia and Titan A.E.

The plot revolves around an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig".

Synopsis
Porco Rosso, a veteran World War I fighter ace and freelance bounty hunter, fends off an attack on a ferry liner by airborne pirates. Porco treats himself to dinner at the Hotel Adriano, which is run by his friend Gina.

At the hotel, the heads of the pirate gangs are contracting Curtis, an arrogant and ambitious American ace, to assist them in their next attacks. Curtis falls in love with Gina on the spot, but is frustrated to see his declarations rebuffed and her affection for Porco. After successfully executing a pirating mission, Curtis tracks down Porco, who is flying to Milan to have his plane serviced, and shoots him down as he experiences an engine outage, claiming to have killed him. Porco survives, though his plane is heavily damaged. Porco continues the trip by train with the remains of the plane, much to the irritation of Gina, who reminds him that there is a warrant for his arrest in Italy.

Porco arrives discreetly in Turin to meet Piccolo, his mechanic. He learns that Piccolo's sons have emigrated to find work elsewhere due to the great depression, and much of the engineering will have to be carried on by his young granddaughter Fio. Porco is initially skeptical of Fio's abilities as a mechanic, but after seeing her dedication in the repair project he accepts her as a competent engineer. Once Porco's plane is finished, Fio joins him on his flight home, with the justification that if the secret police arrest the team, they can say that Porco forced them to help and took Fio as a hostage. Stopping off to refuel on the way, Porco discovers that the new fascist government is beginning to hire seaplane pirates for their own use, thus putting him out of business.

Back at the Hotel Adriano, Curtis proposes to Gina but she turns him down, saying that she is waiting for Porco Rosso. Upon returning home, Porco and Fio are ambushed by the pirates, who threaten to kill Porco and destroy his plane. Fio talks them out of it, but Curtis appears and challenges Porco to a final duel. Fio makes a deal with him declaring that if Porco wins, Curtis must pay off his debts owed to Piccolo's company, and if Curtis wins, he may marry her.

That night, Porco tells a story from World War I. His entire squadron apart from himself was shot down in a dogfight with Austro-Hungarian aircraft. He recalls blacking out and awakening to find himself in complete stillness, with a white band hovering in the distant sky. Allied and enemy aircraft, flown by the airmen who died in the dogfight, fly past towards the band but ignore him. Porco soon sees that the band is in fact thousands of planes flying together. He blacks out again, and when he awakes he discovers that he has been turned into a pig. He believes this to be a divine punishment for fleeing from the fight.

The next day, the duel is arranged and a large crowd gathers to observe. The indecisive and long dogfight between Porco and Curtis soon dissolves into a bare-knuckle boxing match when both planes' machine guns jam. Gina appears and warns the crowd that the Italian air force has been alerted and are on their way. Porco barely wins the fight upon her arrival, and hands Fio over to Gina, requesting that she look after Fio. Before the plane takes off, Fio gives Porco a kiss. With the crowd gone, Porco and Curtis agree to delay the air force together. When Curtis sees Porco's face, he reacts with surprise (implying that the pig curse has been lifted). Fio narrates that in the end Porco outflies the Italian air force and is never hunted by them again; Fio herself became president of the Piccolo company, which is now an aircraft manufacturer; Curtis became a famous actor; and the pirates continued to attend the Hotel Adriano in their old age. She does not divulge whether Gina's hope about Porco Rosso was ever realized.

Voice Talent

 * Val Kilmer - Porco Rosso / Marco Pagot
 * Nathan Lane - Donald Curtis
 * Tina Fey - Madame Gina
 * David Koechner - Mamma Aiuto Gang Boss
 * William Shatner - Mr. Piccolo
 * Fairuza Balk - Fio Piccolo
 * Noel MacNeal - Mamma Aiuto Member #1
 * Andrew Adamson - Mamma Aiuto Member #2
 * Hank Azaria - Mamma Aiuto Member #3

Home Media Release
Porco Rosso released on VHS and DVD December 14, 2004.

DVD Menu

 * Play
 * Scenes
 * Languages
 * Spoken Languages: English Dolby Digital, English DTS, French Dolby Digital, Spanish Dolby Digital, Portuguese Dolby Digital, German Dolby Digital and Japanese Dolby Digital
 * Captions: English (for the Hearing Impaired), French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Japanese
 * Bonus Materials

Previews

 * Man of the House Trailer (In Theaters February 2005)
 * Derailed Teaser Trailer (In Theaters November 2005)
 * Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Trailer (Now in Theaters)

Language Dubs

 * Porco Rosso (2004) Language Dubs

Other Languages

 * Porco Rosso (2004) Other Languages

Quotes

 * Porco Rosso (2004) Quotes

Credits

 * Porco Rosso (2004) Credits