Pom Poko

I take back what I said about "The Cat Returns" being the weirdest Ghibli movie. "Pom Poko" gets that award instead.

If you watch this movie, you should know beforehand that it is heavily based in old Japanese folklore about the Tanuki, magical raccoon/dogs capable of transforming themselves and other things who like to do mischief to humans (and yeah, they use their nutsacks). So if you don't know that before watching this film (like me), you'll have a really weird time.

This movie's message is completely about deforestation and how animal life gets affected by that matter. They handle it well, but it's really on-the-nose throughout the whole movie, and if it wasn't evident enough, they break the fourth wall to say it themselves. Anyway, they don't portray humans as some devilish, selfish creatures who want to destroy the raccoon's... eh, sorry... the Tanuki's home. Actually, the Tanukis are way eviler when it comes to attacking humans.

As I said before, I had a really weird time watching this, and I was wondering if it was actually a kid's movie. Yes, it's entertaining, fun, and deep, but there are a lot of bizarre moments.

Overall, for Ghibli fans, this is a movie worth checking out, due to its ecologic theme, entertaining story, and charming animation, but too bizarre for casual anime watchers (even though most anime nowadays are way more bizarre than this one).