Anime Review: Pom Poko

Review Pom Poko Written by Warpshadow Rating good

Many anime fans instantly associate Ghibli with the best anime movies ever made. In the case of Pom Poko, going in with heightened expectations is probably a bad thing.

In the hills of Tama live a clan of Tanuki (called raccoons in the English version of the movie). They are threatened by a development project on the lands that they live on. The raccoons try to come with various different ways of driving the humans from their lands. Most of these plans involve their special power to transform into various shapes.

While it is rare to get anything but the best from Studio Ghibli but this movie falls short. While the animation is good the movie itself is lacking. The first reason is that there is no compelling characters. This movie is propelled more by narration or by outside events than the actions of a central character. Also the characters just aren't that sympathetic. The other reason is that this is an environmental film and a particularly heavy handed one at that. On the plus side Pom Poko is a decent comedy when it tries to be. It's just that the humor sometimes clashes with the subject material. Also the testicles of the Tanuki get mentioned fairly often, enough to warrant a parental lock on the DVD. Overall Pom Poko isn't a bad movie, it just feels off in a way you can't really put your finger on.