Official Synopsis
Studio Ghibli presents a film about the clash between modern civilization and the natural world from acclaimed director Isao Takahata. The raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans. In often hilarious ways, the raccoons use their powers to try to scare off the advance of civilization. But will it be enough? Or will the raccoons learn how to live in balance with the modern world?
There are few storytellers out in the world that could make raccoon life as exciting and vivid as the magicians at Studio Ghibli. Led by director Isao Takahata, the man who emotionally scarred us all with Grave of the Fireflies (fantastic piece, but sad as hell), he makes sure to take the cute creatures of Pom Poko and humanize them to the point where you’re getting a mixture of beautiful humor and a dash of Animal Farm to keep you focused.
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Pom Poko starts out with telling information about how the raccoons of Tama Hills are forcefully driven from their homes by rapid development of human homes and buildings. The lack of land is pretty much starving the poor raccoons into desperate measures and leads them to fight each other for the lone scraps of food to survive. Their civil war eventually comes to a halt, as they realize that killing each other isn’t the way to ensure survival — rather killing humans would be the best plan of action.
Pom Poko’s first act is lighthearted. First, the narration throughout the entire film keeps everything light, while still telling a serious story. The actions of the raccoons move the same way as the narration — light, but with a shade of seriousness attached to it. The first fight between two raccoon factions is hilarious, mildly violent and unfolds in a subtle manner. When the raccoons decide to end their civil war and help each other out, their bleak situation is laid out well for the viewer to become emotionally attached. Honestly speaking, I was expecting a wacky comedy that had a sprinkle of seriousness here and there, but not an even balance that kept each other in check. When something funny happened in the first act, it was met by something serious. It is amazing storytelling and a better setup than you would expect from a film of this type.
As act two begins, the raccoons find themselves doing nasty deeds to the poor humans. They torture them through blatant death and destruction of their construction (and sometimes their lives). The raccoons also start to learn and perfect the art of changing shapes, so they can disguise themselves as humans, objects and even ghosts. The shapeshifting plays a huge role in the story, as act two concludes with a massive shapeshifting spectacular that drives some humans batty, but also creates some fantastic humor. The best of the humor is when two humans are talking at a bar and behind them raccoons are torturing other humans — absolutely priceless.
Act two is where this movie shifts into gear. We learn that the raccoons have magical powers, as well as learn the hierarchy of their society and their beliefs. And you thought this was a film about raccoons doing ridiculous things, right? You wouldn’t be wrong, but that’s only a portion of the film. This act alone makes the entire movie valid. It shows you more thought put into the backstory about raccoon society than most multi-million dollar blockbusters contain through out all of their acts. Director Isao Takahata and writers Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Seiichiro Ujiie and Ritsuo Isobe put a heavy amount of effort and thought into this society and overall story. They make these characters bloom and flourish in the second act, as well as make the audience give a raccoon’s behind about the society’s future and what impact construction has on nature.
The second act is nothing short of brilliant.
I could tell you what happens in the third act, but I would rather you find out yourself. Pom Poko is not a typical film from Ghibli, but it’s one of the better ones to come from the studio. It has humor, lovable (and relatable) characters, as well as one of the best stories. It does have that touch of dark and depressive nature about it that we’ve come to love/hate from director Isao Takahata, but it’s warranted for the subject at hand.
Add this one to your collection, dear readers, as it’s worth your time and money.
On the Blu-ray side of things, Pom Poko is a decent transfer. While I loved what Disney and Ghibli did with the likes of Kiki and Tortoro, the clean up work they did with this 1994 film was decent to good at best. The colors seem a bit faded in some scenes, and there were artifacts here and there in the transfer (subtle, but nonetheless there). I have seen older animated films with better transfer, so I know a better job could have been done. In the end, the transfer to HD is still better than DVD quality, but not quite the best that Disney and Ghibli are known for having.
On the audio side, you get both English and Japanese in 2.0 and an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
In the special features department here’s what you’re getting:
– Original Japanese Storyboards
– Original Japanese Trailers
Commentary would have been nice and maybe some interviews with the actors would have been great, but it is what it is. Not terrible, but not terribly impressive.