Movie · 1992 · Animation, Adventure, Fantasy · 1h 33m · PG · Japanese
Curator score: 8.7/10 (614.3K ratings)
Can a pig really fly?
Overview
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.7/10
IMDb: 7.7/10
Letterboxd: 4.03/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Hayao Miyazaki
Production
Studio Ghibli, TOHO, Tokuma Shoten, Nibariki, Mitsubishi, Nippon Television Network Corporation
A charming, wistful adventure that blends airborne swashbuckling with mature reflections on war, regret, and self-invention. It’s one of Miyazaki’s most relaxed and romantic films, but it still carries a sharp anti-fascist edge and a surprising emotional weight.
Best for
fans of hand-drawn animation and classic adventure storytelling
viewers who like bittersweet, grown-up fantasy
people drawn to anti-war themes without heavy-handed preaching
audiences who enjoy elegant worldbuilding and old-school aviation romance
Skip if
you want nonstop plot escalation or high-stakes fantasy lore
you dislike mellow, reflective pacing
you prefer comedy that stays purely light and goofy
you’re looking for a straightforward children’s adventure with no melancholy
Overview
Porco Rosso looks like a breezy pulp adventure, but it keeps revealing deeper layers: a melancholy veteran, a Europe drifting toward fascism, and a hero who has chosen distance over heroics. The pig premise is whimsical, yet the film treats it as a poetic expression of shame, trauma, and stubborn independence rather than a joke to be explained away.
Worth noting
The aerial sequences are gorgeous, tactile, and easy to love, with biplanes drawn like treasured machines from another era. Miyazaki also gives the film a warm human scale through Fio and Gina, who bring intelligence, tenderness, and a little mischief to a story that could otherwise feel solitary.
Bottom line
What makes it linger is the tone: relaxed but not weightless, romantic but not sentimental, funny but never frivolous. It’s a film about refusing to become what the world expects of you, even when that refusal comes at a cost.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Brian (4.5★) · 13004 likes
me: lmao a pig who's a pilot
Miyazaki: sending people off to war either kills them or creates a chasm between them and society they can never fully get over
me: lol *oink oink*
Adrian (4.5★) · 12248 likes
'I'd much rather be a pig than a fascist.'
Me too.
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 5608 likes
The only movie that captures the sheer intensity of the Dogfight mode from Wii Sports Resort
karen h. (5★) · 4690 likes
i’d 👏🏻 rather 👏🏻 be 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 pig 👏🏻 than 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 fascist 👏🏻
Joe A (4★) · 3135 likes
I have officially joined the “I overlooked Porco Rosso because it had a pig in an airplane on the cover but it turns out it’s a charming film that is also a scathing critique on war” Club