PomPoko: A Grande Batalha dos Guaxinins

Unlike Miyazaki, who can leave us guessing sometimes, Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) has a knack of hitting us over the head with a sledgehammer message, leaving us only with the desire to be hit again and again. We are given a view from the Tanuki (a kind of badger) perspective of human encroachment on their environment. Takahata gives the Tanuki all the powers that Japanese folklore ascribe to them, including the power to change their appearance at a molecular level, a full awareness of Japanese political geography, the ability to speak and write Japanese, and apparently their own Emperor (as they refer to the years of Pompoko). He also gives them limitations, such as the inability to remain serious for any length of time and the general tendency toward sloth and partying. Many Japanese even today believe Tanuki can transform.

In this story, the ability to transform is not universal nor is it a task they can undertake without stress. These capabilities and limitations work for and against the Tanuki throughout the film in humorous, touching, and tragic ways.

The principle characters lived in the western outskirts of Tokyo in the late '60s, when a massive suburban bedtown, called "Tama New Town" was being built (This is a real place). They want to stop or reverse the progress of the construction, but are divided in how to accomplish this fact. One of the more extreme members favors killing the humans and driving them all out--until he is reminded that he won't be able to eat certain foods, such as hamburgers, potato chips, or Tempura. The story is focused on their efforts to stop the project and the events leading to the conclusion of the characters' situation.

This film will have a bit of difficulty with US distribution for a number of reasons--the biggest being the fact that you can tell the genders of the Tanuki by looking at the males. The DVD of this film will be released shortly in Japan and will include English subtitles. Unfortunately, Japan uses Region 2 encoding and their DVDs won't play on American Region 1 sets. Unless you're willing to wait forever for Disney to figure out how to distribute this masterpiece, it's worth buying an all-region DVD player just to see it. I give this film a 10 out of 10 rating.

While Tokyo swells and expands, clearing forest to accommodate its housing needs, a nearby tribe of free-spirited tanuki (Japanese raccoon-dog) hatches plans to defend its turf. That's the intention anyway, if everyone would just sit still and pay attention long enough to chart a course of action. Fortunately, they do have one ace up their sleeve: the long-fabled (and nearly forgotten) ability to shape-shift. Once unlocked and understood, this plays heavily into the tanuki's efforts to subvert construction crews - destructive pranks, mostly - but also their day-to-day appearance.

Effective animation is essential here, and Studio Ghibli is up to the task. Depending upon the critters' moods, they'll slide from super-realistic to ultra-expressive, often several times over the course of a single scene. Ghibli makes it all feel smooth and natural, enhancing the important bits with their usual assortment of small details and charming body language.

There isn't much to the story - all the fun is in the light spirit, zany transformations and oafish nature of the animals - and that's a problem as the duration grows and the climax remains elusive. It holds on for way too long, repeating the same beats three or four times too often. The first hour is a wonderful blast of unbridled creativity and innocent attitude, peaking in a wild parade scene that rivals the one in Paprika, but I was ready for it to end at least half an hour before it did.

I find it hard to summarize this film, since it is sort of all over the place. The main plot of the film involves the tanuki (raccoon-dogs) of the Tama hills near Tokyo and their struggle against the encroaching development that is destroying their woods. As the tanuki attempt to defend their home through the use of their shape-shifting abilities, they are also challenged by an inability to agree on the best course of action and a growing sense that their efforts may be inevitably doomed to failure.

The film, like its tanuki characters, seemed a bit unfocused at times, especially towards the end. Indeed, the plot mainly served as a set-up for showing a succession tanuki antics. Admittedly, said antics were very entertaining, but at 2 hours of runtime I'd prefer a little more narrative support.

Some have referred to this movie as environmentalist in nature, but viewed from that standpoint, it is actually somewhat weak. I was especially disappointed by the ending, which I thought failed to make any meaningful comment on the sequence of events depicted in the movie. Without giving too much away, it seemed like the movie was saying, "Development and urban sprawl are inevitable, but oh well. At least there are still golf courses and parks!" It was as if the people making the film didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I have nothing against ambiguity, especially with such a broad theme as the conflict between humans and nature, but I thought the overall effect of the film was wishy-washy, avoiding more serious questions for the sake of preserving a lighthearted tone.

The best aspects of this film in my opinion were its unrestrained playfulness, wacky sense of humor, and use of Japanese culture and folklore, much of which was largely unfamiliar to me as a Western viewer. The art and animation were also quite well done, with realistic natural elements rendered quite convincingly and an overall visual harmony between the static backgrounds and animated figures. Despite the shortcomings mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, I enjoyed this film quite a bit. 7 / 10.

This movie is one of my all time favorite Studio Ghibli movies (although I loved every single one I've seen). The way that Takahata portrayed the raccoons as how they acted when humans weren't around was great. It completely changed my view of raccoons.

The plot was very strong and also made you aware of modern day construction and how our forests are being destroyed. It also had great characters with many differences. There were smart ones, rough ones, calm ones, and ones that could pull through in times of hardship. Many showed compassion, and many didn't think anything through.

I also loved the human reactions to the raccoons. The raccoons made many very funny attempts to scare the humans and.. well I'll just leave it at VERY funny.

If you didn't like this movie, it may have been from the lack of understanding the portrayal of the raccoons, or because the humor isn't just your type of humor. I do believe that anyone, especially a Studio Ghibli fan (like me) would love this movie. It is great for the family, kids, or just adults.. There is definitely humor for all of them.

This a very different, more dynamic film than a lot of other Ghibli works. Although it bears some thematic resemblance to "Mononoke" and "Naussica" in its nature vs. man plot, it plays out much differently through its use of humorous protagonists. Though on the surface the tanuki may look like cuddly teddy bears, they are fierce in their war with the humans. The animation of the transformation scenes and the action shots make this a very appealing film and the characterization is first rate (especially the three old masters)!

It may be helpful for non-japanese audiences to do a little reading on japanese folklore. I caught a lot of the references but much of it went over my head.