VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Tymon Sutton
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
CinemaClown
From the director of Grave of the Fireflies & Only Yesterday, Pom Poko is a pro-environment fable that attempts to showcase the disruption brought in the ecological balance by human society and hopes to make its viewers reflect on their actions by exposing the selfishness & utter disregard we have for other habitats.The story of Pom Poko focuses on a community of raccoon dogs who find themselves on the verge of extinction, thanks to human city development projects that continue to encroach & destroy their forests. Faced with limited options, the raccoon dogs employ their magical, shape-shifting abilities in a desperate attempt to preserve their home.Written & directed by Isao Takahata, Pom Poko has a playful vibe to it and is a fascinating blend of Japanese folklore, ecological concern, ghosts, magic & testicles and while it addresses its themes with its imaginative sketches, colourful animation & childlike demeanour, it lacks a certain level of transparency that would've made it more accessible to broader audience.Its commentary on mankind's diminishing respect for nature is thought-provoking to a considerable extent but it also comprises of moments that overstay their welcome, become repetitive or run out of fuel after a while. Its overindulgent narrative makes its 2 hours runtime feel a lot longer than it is while its lack of clarity further hurts its chances as many will be frustrated by its oblique structure.On an overall scale, Pom Poko is arguably the most divisive entry in Studio Ghibli's filmography and is definitely the most underwhelming of all Ghibli films that I've seen to date. Takahata's films have never managed to strike the same magical cord with me the way Hayao Miyazaki's features do with remarkable effortlessness, yet this trippy, bizarre & culture-specific tale comes recommended to Ghibli loyalists & admirers.
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.
ghoolsby
I enjoyed Pom Poko very much, and I think Disney will find a way to make money on it as soon as they can convince the American audience that Raccoons are marsupials.During the monster parade, they show the standard scene of a drunk who is amazing by amazing stuff. Where did this begin? Was it Japan, America or somewhere else? I think an early Gamara movie has a similar scene.In American toons, the drunk who sees amazing stuff usually produces a pint bottle and drops it on the ground.Just like fruit carts will always be pushed over in the chase scene of every movie, every movie with amazing things will have a drunk to see it.
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.
