Pom Poko: Viewer Comments

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Pom Poko
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    by Fred Cabral

One of my favorites from Ghibli

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.

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    by Timothy Damon




Not as nuanced as other Studio Ghibli works.

Of the dozen or so films Studio Ghibli has put out in the past 15 years or so (NAUSICCA, LAPUTA, TOTORO, KIKI, ONLY YESTERDAY, PORCO ROSSO, WHISPER OF THE HEART and PRINCESS MONONOKE) I think POM POKO is my least favorite. The others all seem to work on multiple levels but, try as I might, I found it hard to find much of anything beyond a pre-teen level. Not that that's *bad* per se - I just must have been spoiled by the higher quality films and had higher expectations for this. Whether Takahata's direction instead of Miyazaki's is partially the reason I do not know. I did like Takahata's ONLY YESTERDAY quite a bit. I felt POM POKO fell into 3 areas - when the raccoons were portrayed as:

  1. They were in real life.

  2. Transformed (people, objects, special effects to scare (spook) humans).

  3. Anytime other than 1 or 2, in which they seemed to be anthropomorphic "Care Bears"
I enjoyed areas 1 & 2 - the 3rd was bothersome for me although I admit others might find it cute. Perhaps I don't know enough about the myth of raccoons in Japan to really appreciate/enjoy the several "ball" jokes and a few other situations - perhaps Japanese raccoons have characteristics like Adam Sandler? I don't know. While many other of the Studio Ghibli films have an environmental viewpoint, this film seemed the least complex and nuanced of them all. Not that it's not fun - but if you plan on seeing other films from Studio Ghibli, you might want to see this sooner rather than later.

On another level, I now have an inkling of the reason for the ubiquitous energy drink vending machines within Tokyo and throughout Japan. You'll have to see the film to get that insight, probably!

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