lonflexx Suspiciously lame political message from the overrated Ghibli. The narcissistic writers prove what a moral cesspool their city of Tokyo is by trying to convince the audience that all Life on planet earth must adapt to the sadistic whims of idiot bipeds. I'm sure Tokyo's construction contractors showed their gratitude to Takahati and his cringing assimilationist rhetoric. At least one character pulls through this blatant environmentalisn't propaganda with his soul intact - Gonta: a hero with balls big enough to take on dump trucks. Go Gonta! If he could pull off a few more Fukushimas, Japan might be suitable for life again in another 2000 years.

Akiki Mitaka After watching almost all Ghibli movies (many times over) I finally got round to this one. Although I expected a more childish cartoon after reading other reviews, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only I enjoyed the animation and beautiful artistic work of this picture, it made me laugh and tear up as well as I couldn't help myself as to get touched from time to time. Overall a brilliant piece and people who love animals and animations would most certainly enjoy it as it makes even death seem to as gruesome as we, humans, take it. We have a few things to learn from raccoons. As other Ghibli movies, this one has the same charm about it - from the way it is drawn to the plot, which is witty, insightful and always has a moral to it. A great way to educate kids (and adult beans) to respect nature and all living creatures.

hr-boege-546-170392 well, for an European this movie is very interesting for me. why? there is lots of Japanese culture in it.at first i had some question for example why the raccoons got balls. so after watching it, i did a little research on Japanese folklore, and i must say that it is very interesting and, my new knowledge about it, made the movie even better. so sadly as an adult, you probably will have to make a little research, to get all of the context. but children (who probably just watch it without thinking), will enjoy it. the story is well written, and you soon begin to care about the characters. i would also like to praise the animation. they did a really great job, its beautiful. especially the sequences where the raccoons are drawn realistic. its a delight seeing that in a time, where all is CGI. i also like the idea that it is an environmental movie. they don't, like other environmental movies, portray the humans as pure evil. that makes it more realistic, that they show the construction workers, as humans that just do their job, without thinking about it. not only that, but also that some characters are killed of in various ways, give it a more realistic approach. with other words its not the sugar sweet happy ending, like in most child movies. at least but not last, the whole thing with the raccoons having big balls, is hilarious. you wouldn't see this in the west, especially not in these times, where all have to bee politically correct and sugar sweet. the Japanese (at least in 1994), didn't care. and why should they even, its part of their culture. the conclusion is 9/10, and i will definitely recommend it, to both adults and children. its something different, interesting, and way better than many western animated movies. in other words, even if you have to research a little, this movie also works outside japan.

Rectangular_businessman Most anime fans remember Isao Takahata best for his wonderful tearjerker, "Grave of the Fireflies", will find interesting this title as well. This lavishly animated tale about raccoons battling for their homeland isn't so dramatic as "Grave of the Fireflies" but is an interesting amalgam of humor, drama, and action delivered instead. At times, the viewer gets treated to scenes which recall the tragic elements , but even though the tone of the movie is somber, a handful of lighthearted moments elevate the overall production out of depression. As this is a Studio Ghibli film, production values are spectacular. Backgrounds are painted with a tasteful mixture of simplicity and art, and the raccoons are as cuddle-some as you would expect. (If you're scratching your head while reading this, don't be alarmed--according to Japanese folklore, raccoons have the power to transform into anything--including human beings) The actual animation is as colorful and imaginative as you might expect from a Ghibli movie(and there is one scene where we are treated to cameo appearances by Porco Rosso, Kiki, and Totoro.) While Pom Poko has a story to tell and a meaningful message for one to think about, its character and plot aspects may come across as a bit off-putting to viewers expecting a typical animated feature. Indeed, while some raccoons identify themselves with distinguishable names and/or personalities (for example, Gonta is a burly, rough-and-ready raccoon who is always looking for a fight, while Oroku is the "wise woman" of the tribe), the story offers little in the way of character development. In fact, most of the action in the story is narrated (by Maurice LaMarche in English, Kokondei Shinchou in Japanese), which elevates the overall effect of the movie to that of a semi-documentary. For the most part, this approach works to a very interesting degree and is a refreshing change of pace. However, there were some scenes in the movie where I wished the narration could have been reduced a little bit, as it sometimes gets in the way of appreciating the beauty of the visuals on screen. Unfortunately, most of the attention that this movie received were some silly controversies about the fact that the movie shows the testicles of the male raccoons, but that was a minor detail if you compare with the charm and the originality of the story. Even when it is not perfect (Some consider this movie a inferior work of Ghibli )this movie was funny enough for me, and is one of the my favorite animes.