Pom Poko: environmentalism and magical raccoon testicles

Veresae · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:00 am Post subject:

I hope this doesn't belong in the adult forum.

I just watched one of the strangest films I've ever seen--"Pom Poko." It's an anime about these racoons (technically they're not but the English version of the film refers to them as such) who have the power to transform. These powers of transformation come in handy when evil construction workers start destroying their land to make way for more homes.

Apparently Disney signed on before seeing the film ("Anime racoons? Awesome, we'll distribute it in the US!"), then decided to postpone the film's release for years or so before finally releasing it.

You see...in the film, the male raccoons' testicles are ALWAYS shown. ALWAYS. It doesn't matter how far away they are; it seems that to the animators, the raccoons' balls were as important to draw as their arms and legs.

And that's not all. Some of their favorite transformation scenes involve making their testicles grow and morph in...fascinating ways. The testicles can become mats, they can become sails, they can become hang gliders, they can cover up the windshields of trucks. There's even a bit where some raccoons make their balls larger than their entire bodies and use them to pummel the living crap out of some humans.

And yet, it's clearly a kid's movie. Though, I don't think any kid would be the least bit disturbed by the presence of the raccoon balls...some uptight parents would feel disturbed while their kids watched though. XD "HOMG my little girl's going to become corrupted by this!" But it's done in such an innocent fashion. Meanwhile you've got the naughty boobie-jiggling of Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"--compare that to the silly, unattractive, completely ridiculous testicle action of "Pom Poko."

The weirdest thing: it is a very depressing movie. The first half hour is incredibly hilarious (especially with the cheesy-as-pie musical choices and some great transformation scenes--"I HAVE NO FAAAACE!"), but after that it gets strangely sad, and reaches a point where, despite all the cheese and despite the hilarity of the giant testicle-morphing magic, it ends up feeling pretty bleak.

Anyway, I recommend the film, because even without the raccoon balls it's pretty funny, and damn depressing at the same time.