Pom Poko (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko) is a 1994 Japanese animated fantasy
film, the eighth written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio
Ghibli.
POM POKO is a tale of the clash between modern civilization and the natural
world. The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the
rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find
food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons
practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able
to appear as humans. In often hilarious ways, the Raccoons use their powers to
try to scare off the advancement of civilization. But will it be enough? Or will
the Raccoons learn how to live in balance with the modern world?
Celebrate the magic of the forest and the beauty of the creatures who live
among us in POM POKO – on DVD for the first time ever. From the Studio Ghibli
Collection.
Special Features
- Feature Length Storyboards
- Original Trailers
- Studio Ghibli Trailer Reel
Awards
- Won Mainichi Film Concours Award, Best Animated Film (1995)
- Won Japanese Academy Award, Special Award (1995)
Pom Poko Movie Reviews
“Director of the powerful animated film Grave of the Fireflies,
Takahata Isao, went in a different direction for his 1994 Studio Ghibli outing
with Pom Poko. The fantastical story with its roots in Japanese mythology and
hints of Orwell’s Animal Farm, is set in the booming suburbs of Tokyo in the
1960s. Following a group of magical, shapeshifting raccoons who come together to
fight of the encroachment of human expansion into their habitat, the film is
comedic, sentimental, and environmentally driven at the same time. The story,
hitting at a time when Japan’s economy was in slump, the film used the 1960s
urban boom to turn a mirror on he unabated greed and unrestricted environmental
destruction of Japan’s corporate world…Pom Poko won the award for Best
Animated Feature Film at the 1995 Annecy International Animated Film
Festival.” 4 out of 5 stars Blu-rayDefinition.com
“A posse of shape-shifting raccoons wage war on humanity to protect
their land in Studio Ghibli’s strangest adventure. While elements of
environmental fable and Japanese folklore share kinship with Hayao
Miyazaki’s work, the subversive humour and anarchic animation are writer/
director Isao Takahata’s own. Whether staging freakish parades or attacking
foes with their voluminous testicles, these raccoons are truly wild. So is the
film; while its undisciplined story is stitched together by voiceover, the
ambition is bracing as Takahata fires off potent asides about societal progress
and revolutionary movements en route to a deeply moving conclusion.”
4 out of 5 Stars, Total Film
