Pom Poko (1994)

Japan 119m, Colour
Director: Isao Takahata; Cast: Kokontei Shinchou, Makoto Nonomura, Yuriko Ishida, Norihei Miki, Nijiko Kiyokawa

Pom Poko is an imaginative cautionary tale about the perils of urban sprawl in late 1960s Japan seen through the eyes of group of displaced raccoon dogs who band together with the hope of saving their forest in the Tama Hills. As animals with special powers, the raccoon dogs use their shape shifting abilities in various ways to sabotage the development. Somewhat sadly, they are eventually forced to live among the humans, and make a final plea to the audience to respect the homes of animals that cannot transform, in the hope that they too will survive (Klaus Ming February 2015).

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