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In the woods near a rapidly growing city, a group of racoons
live in relative peace, until the development of the town
begins to intrude on their land. The racoons are faced with
a dilemma regarding the human beings, for their homes are
being destroyed, but the racoons also rely on the human community
for scavenged food and goods. They decide to try using their
powers of illusion and shapeshifting to scare the humans back
to the central city and sabotage further building, but will
their efforts come too little, too late?...
If,
like me, you've been waiting patiently for the release of
a good old-fashioned feature film about magical shape-shifting
racoons (an often overlooked genre in the telefantasy field),
then I have some good news at last. The long wait is over,
my friends. Pom Poko has finally arrived on DVD and
it fits the bill perfectly.
Originally
released in 1994 (and subsequently offered as Japan's entry
for the 1995 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film category - it
didn't make the shortlist), Pom Poko is the story of
a group of tanukis (literally translated as Racoon Dogs, an
animal native to Asia, actually a member of the canine family
but they look more like cute and cuddly racoons) who discover
that their natural habitat is under threat from the development
plans of the humans. The colossal Tokyo Residential Project
is now expanding into Tama Hills, home of the poor tanukis,
who are now fighting for their survival as the forests are
razed to the ground to make way for cheap Tokyo housing. The
tanukis resort to their almost forgotten ancient art of shape-shifting,
in a bid to convince the human developers that Tama Hills
is haunted by angry spirits, and drive them all away from
the forest to leave the tanukis in peace and safety.
At
first glance, Pom Poko might appear to be a semi-educational
moralistic tale aimed at children. The gentle and informative
narration, the plight of the cute little animals and the rather
heavy-handed 'green' message that pervades the film, help
give the impression that this is a nice, harmless cartoon
for the kiddies. That soon goes right out of the window though,
when we first see the tanukis using their enormous testicles
as weapons of mass destruction, swelling them up to breathtaking
proportions and using them against the humans, some of whom
are are killed as a direct result of these shocking testicle
tactics. This, coupled with some of the genuinely spooky and
disturbing scenes in the film (faceless humans roaming the
forest, a lengthy and quite trippy 'Ghost Parade' sequence
in which the tanukis transform into all manner of devilish
abominations to scare off the humans) result in a rather oddly-balanced
film - a bit too mature and oddball for the kids, and perhaps
just a bit too immature and preachy for the adults.
Having said that, if you have acquired a taste for oddball
material, then Pom Poko delivers in droves. The tanukis'
struggle for their own survival becomes strangely engrossing,
as we watch them shape-shift into humans, infiltrate our own
society, fall in love and bicker amongst themselves in their
desperate quest for life. The regular authoritative narration
often makes you feel as if you're watching a genuine wildlife
documentary instead of a surreal animation on shape-shifting
and occasionally murderous creatures, and there are healthy
dollops of real humour and real sadness. In fact, the whole
thing comes across as a weird hybrid of Wildlife On One,
Animal Farm, Watership Down and the darkest episode of
Harry Hill you have ever seen. It's strange and it's
completely nutty, but at the same time it manages to be engaging,
thoughtful and, if you're in the right frame of mind, thoroughly
enjoyable.
This
DVD release arrives courtesy of Disney, and as you might expect,
there are a couple of Disney-style 'alterations' in the new
English dub, deemed necessary for a more palatable Western
release. The different types of tanukis are all simply referred
to as racoons throughout the English dub - a little misleading
perhaps and very possibly a sign of dumbing-down for us Westerners,
but I have to admit it makes for a more accessible film, and
avoids any potentially baffling dialogue.
Meanwhile,
the infamous tanukis testicles are now referred to as, erm,
'pouches'. Again, we're being fed slightly watered-down material
here, but perhaps the western kids are more likely to identify
with this, and less likely to spend the entire duration of
the film sniggering into their popcorn every time a human
is smothered by a giant testicle.
Besides, purists will be relieved to have the option of choosing
between the English dub and the original subtitled Japanese
soundtrack - in fact, you can even choose between 'literal'
and 'interpreted' subtitles of the dialogue, which almost
makes up for the otherwise bare minimum extras featured on
the discs - storyboards, trailers and a showcase for other
Studio Ghibli films.
This might not be everybody's cup of tea - in fact a couple
of cans of light ale could well be the ideal viewing companion
here - but Pom Poko is certainly an unusual and often
entertaining curiosity, and it will almost definitely fill
a big void until the next 'feature film with magical shape-shifting
racoons' comes along to try and steal its crown.
Danny
Salter
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