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Pom Poko 30th Anniversary - Studio Ghibli Fest 2024

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Movie Info & Cast

Synopsis

From the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award®-nominated director Isao Takahata, comes an action-packed ecological fable about the clash between nature and human civilization.

The tanuki (raccoon dogs) of Tama Hills find their fun-loving community under attack when their quiet woodlands are threatened by encroaching developers looking to create still more houses and shopping malls. Desperate to survive, the tanuki band together and learn the ancient art of transformation, shape-shifting into a comical variety of humans and spirits as they undertake a last-ditch plan to scare away the humans and save their home, in this deeply affecting, funny and heartfelt look at what it means to live in the modern world.

Cast

  • Shinchô Kokontei
  • Makoto Nonomura
  • Yuriko Ishida
  • Norihei Miki
  • Nijiko Kiyokawa
  • Shigeru Izumiya
  • Gannosuke Ashiya
  • Takehiro Murata
  • Beichô Katsura
  • Bunshi Katsura VI

Atom User Reviews

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Metacritic

91

For all its goodhearted cheer, Pom Poko is a glum indictment of modern Japan's disjunction from the natural and spiritual world. But it strikes a positive final note by implying that those worlds still exist, just out of sight, waiting and flourishing.

Metacritic review by Tasha Robinson
Tasha Robinson
The A.V. Club
67

At its best, there's an undoubted thrill and wonder to Pom Poko, like the massive parade of phantoms the tanuki conjure up as one of their harebrained schemes. Takahata's misfire at least provides some wonderful sparkles.

Metacritic review by Richard Whittaker
Richard Whittaker
Austin Chronicle
60

Its ecological concerns, nuance and occasional lyricism place it squarely within the Ghibli oeuvre but not among its masterpieces.

Metacritic review by Andy Webster
Andy Webster
The New York Times