Pom Poko

If you love raccoon ball sacks and the many magical things they can do with them, then this is right up your alley.

Two hours is a bit much for its 'life would be best if we live in harmony with nature' message, but the Tanuki society is cute and interesting (even though they become eco-terrorists for a bit) and the shapeshifting is a great way to keep things visually interesting. The story will probably make you feel guilty for living in a city and being a human consumerist monster. And hooray, I made it through this review without once typing 'balls' and... AW DANGIT

Takahata is my favorite director from Ghibli. In Pom Poko there are three layers of character representation. Each is determined by the style of animation which changes from scene to scene. Apart from the didactic statement the movie's trying to push across, this one is a complex example of storytelling only made possible by animation. In fables human traits are projected onto animals, which leaves the question if the reverse is possible. One wonders, racoons don't.

when you get into the ghibli stuff that's less popular in the West, thats when the giant raccoon balls start coming out

Any movie with giant racoon balls is great. Good, quirky battle between humans and nature type movie.

I found it a little too heavy in its moralism and it's a good 20 to 25 minutes too long. Even so, it's good fun, very unique, and just a little bit mental! The problem is that its length means that some of its novelty and charm start to wear pretty thin towards the end. The animation is supurb however, the original Japanese voice acting great and there is more than enough originality and surreal lunacy to entertain.

No other animated movie is packed with more fun and testicles for the whole family.

Um... I'm sure this makes sense if you're intimately familiar with Japanese culture and folklore. But I'm not, so it left me largely perplexed. It's certainly not anything like other talking animal cartoons, I'll give it that.

While Pom Poko is a strange little piece of Ghibli history, it is still worthwhile. With the constant narration it plays out more like a history book than a story but it still portrays the Ghibli messages we have all come to love in a way that really hits you in the heart. Despite its storytelling flaws, Pom Poko is charming and still good Ghibli.

A hilarious and heartbreaking surrealist masterpiece on the eternal clash between modern society and nature.

The bad parts of Ferngully, Captain Planet, and Over the Hedge all wrapped up into one - I found this painful to sit through. The two-dimensional, cookie-cutter "MAN BAD, ENVIRONMENT GOOD" message got insufferably one-note after awhile, and quite apart from the movie being pretty much inaccessible to those unfamiliar with Japanese folklore, the only part where anything interesting seems to be going on is a nightmare-fuel demon parade sequence that turns out to be utterly pointless by the end.

The ultimate in animal awareness! Raccoon testicles in all their magical might! My wife can't stand this movie because it's so ridiculous and the animals do magic with their male parts. But that's one of the reasons I like it. Seriously, these raccoons shape-shift from realistic looking animals to a bizarre animated warrior clan that's fighting against urban development--and they use their scrotum to get past various obstacles! It's definitely a message film, but a creative (mildly insane) one.

Not only can these raccoon dogs (an animal not actually related to the raccoon) shapeshift, they also use their testicles for parachutes and then beat people up with them in what a soundtrack song refers to as an "honorable battle". In short, this seems the craziest movie ever released by Ghibli, while much of it is based on Japanese folklore. The plot is repetitive and lame, but hardly the point. I guess the point is to see how many times you will go "wtf?!" before your senses are dulled.

Charming to a point and a decent tale of environmentalism, but why in the hell is it two hours long? It runs out of steam - or, more accurately, strains the viewer's interest - well before then.

I don't understand the reviews here proclaiming confusion about Japanese culture. You are all tip-toeing around the fact that giant raccoon testicles are making you rethink every facet of your life.

Raccoon testicles certainly stand out, but it wasn't as distracting as I expected. On the other hand, the entire narrative was more than a bit disturbing and messy. Neither the raccoons nor the humans, in this tale of civilization encroaching on nature, are particularly sympathetic and while one could attribute that to the complexity of competing needs, the film's focus leads me to think that shallowness is the problem. Still, while I find many faults with the approach, it's certainly memorable.

A children's parable about indigenous land rights that features a scene where a 1000-year old raccoon stretches his scrotum into a giant celestial boat made of gold and silver and sails off into the afterlife with his friends (and that's not even the strangest thing that happens in this) This movie is bizarrely weird, and I guarantee is unlike any film you've seen before.

It's funny and is the beautiful animation we're used to from Ghibli, but with that parade scene being some of the best work the studio has done. As an NDN person I heavily resonate with the raccoon struggle here, where your choices are, dying to protect your land, assimilating into society to survive, or trying your best to live a life on the tiny speck of YOUR LAND the oppressors carve out for you. Hell, they have sellouts willing to stab their own kind in back for profit(I was convinced then).

A more whimsical take on Ghibli's signature environmentalist themes. The animation is immensely charming (no surprise there) and so's the humor! But the inevitability of humanity's dominance over the natural world casts a melancholic tone on our plucky tanuki protagonists' noble efforts to defend their old way of life. In the end, adaptation is the only viable choice, holding onto a few resilient sparks of the old magic as consolation. It's either depressing or realistic, depending on your mood.

One of the more mental animes I've seen, and a little heavy handed with the mother Earth moralising, but rather good fun.

Good, but a little disappointing. The 'transforming' is handled magnificently well to create both surreal visual and character layers; the comedy is well positioned and enjoyable; the didactic aspects are handled in a sensible manner; but, ultimately, it's just not in the same league as other Ghibli films (particularly Nausicaa and Mononoke from Miyazaki) tackling the same thematic concern.

A cute raccoon-dog (tanuki) vs human movie, that has one really awesome extended sequence with the obake/yokai (mythical Japanese beings) parade. Perfect for anyone who enjoyed the weirdness of Spirited Away.

A sentimental movie with a great message. fine and lovely animation.

This film covers a lot of plot in its two-hour run time and has a constant narration to keep the viewer up to date. I almost think this would have played better as an 8 episode anime series. That said, it has a lot of interesting ideas, funny scenes, and even genuinely sad moments.

I have now seen more of tanuki testicles than I have ever wanted to.

Ballsy.

The environmental message is pretty much in your face, but the development of the community is excellent.

A few genuinely funny moments of visual comedy are not nearly enough to make these long two hours worth sitting through. The film flounders without pace or character, relying on constant expository narration to make up for a shallow plot that could have been wrapped up in a ten minute short. Also, so many raccoon testicles . . .

I don’t normally give in to films with these obvious messages. I almost always hate animation styles blending. For the sheer artistry and creativity on display, specifically the parade scene, my appreciation knows no bounds. Certainly had to grow on me and my children’s enthusiasm throughout surely also helps.

An interesting story told in a more childish way, I would say. I liked it, but it didn't captivate me.

Magical! Funny! Smart, poignant and thought provoking. Culturally rich and visually stunning.

The pace is not very consistent and the story is long, it felt like watching a whole series instead of a movie. It shows unusual things and tell a message plain, how urbanisation kills animals, but it was basically the story of a lost fight.

I watched this in 2015ish, I think, but forgot to log it. It was alright, but definitely the weakest Ghibli-related thing I've seen.

Interesting film, but it's alway necessary to point out the characters aren't raccoons, but Raccoon Dogs or Tanookis

Cute at parts, imaginative, but it drags out the plot too long and there's not a whole lot of coherency to what the 'raccoons' or tanukis want, so much so that wanting to save the forest gets met with a kind of betrayal as some assimilate to human culture. The assimilation and conservation themes are good but they drag on. Just a little unsatisfying.

Raccoon balls.

This is absolutely bizarre, especially if you're unaware of Japanese tanuki mythology as I was. It's actually quite funny with an engaging environment premise, but that premise is stretched transparent in thinness as the raccoons' come up with maybe ten or twelve different plans. I don't often like to criticize based on length but this definitely should've left a half hour on the cutting room floor.

Wildly imaginative, extremely Japanese, and more than a little bit nuts.

Rvw

Favourite bit about this film was the multi-purpose raccoon testicles. Other than that, fairly average when compared to Miyazaki's work

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Its preservationist themes are noble, but laid on thick and obvious. Oh well. This movie is terribly cute, and completely bewildering and surreal in ways only Japanese folklore can be. The "Operation Goblin" sequence is among the greatest things Ghibli has ever done, an extended procession of grotesque and ghostly phenomena invading urban streets.

A tribe of raccoon-things with powers of tranformation fights to keep their forest from being eradicated by the humans. Despite all the business with testicles (oh, those Japanese...) it's quite a charming story. The last 15 minutes in particular are very moving. However, I don't think I'd watch it again.

Walks a fine line between honest sentiment and preachiness.

Raising my score from 70 to 80 after rewatching it 10 years later. It's possible that spending 9 of those years in Japan has made me more able to appreciate this film steeped in Japaneseness.

Nice

One of my favourite Ghibli films, another masterpiece. So many incredible moments whether it be artistic/emotional/animation/humour/wtf. Not the film I was expecting at all, it's fairly dense, serious, and stunningly beautiful and stunningly coloured and drawn. Not sure why people are moaning about the length (why do you want *less" Ghibli?) or the "preachy" environmental-aware theme - HUH? (it's an environmentally conscious film - it's not "preachy - it's true!)

Among Gibli films, when it comes to presenting a "message" I much prefer this more direct approach over a Miyazaki-style half-baked allegory. The shifting between different art styles is effective, and the realistic-style animal animations are particularly impressive. The premise is good, but the story & narrative are not among the studio's best.

I think this movie is really underrated and one of my favorite Japanese animations of all time. The story is phenomenal.

Beautiful, endearing movie with an all-too-relevant environmental message. Really gives a complete story