Miyazaki-sensei pulls a new trick out of his hat: A seemingly very beautiful children's tale about a Goldfish-Princess who wants to become human. Anyone else looking forward to this? To me "Ponyo on a Cliff" looks pleasantly oldschool, like a back-to-the roots to the days of "Kiki", where Fantasy still came from the heart and wasn't necessarily supposed to be pretentiously epic. "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Tales from Earthsea" both turned out to be such huge disappointments, it made me sad.
I always thought that "Spirited Away" was one of the most overrated Ghiblis of all times. I fairly enjoyed it, though, but at the core it suffers from the same problem as "Howl's Moving Castle", and that is too much random fantasy-elements as an end-in-itself. But just look at "The Cat Returns", which came shortly after. It's such a great, heartwearming story with funny characters and a decent "Alice in Wonderland" feel. I absolutely loved it. "Princess Mononoke" is great, too, or "Only yesterday", one of the most underrated animated films ever, for once featuring a realistic context. My favorites are "Nausicaä" (not the fucked up US-release, though), "Laputa: The Castle in the Sky" and, of course, "Kiki's Delivery Service", which, in my opinion, is Studio Ghibli at their peak of perfection. "Ocean Waves", "Whisper of the Heart" and "Totoro" I've yet to see.
And "Panda Kopanda" anyone? An early TV-feature from the 70s, actually quite simple, but hugely charming, nonetheless:
Shingster wrote:What about Grave of the Fireflies dice, seen that yet?
Of course.
I didn't mention it, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. In fact it kinda broke my heart the first time so I haven't dared watching it a second time since, but it's definetely one of the most emotionally involving animes I've ever seen.
Has anyone seen "The little Norse Prince" from the late 60s? Not really a Studio Ghibli movie yet, but Isao Takahata and Miyazaki were already involved. In fact it's directed by Takahata himself, though I didn't like it very much. The plot didn't have a clear focus, the animation has often been reduced to a series of still frames, plus way too much Deus ex Machina and a couple of surprisingly annoying twists here and there. Never got close to the characters, either.
Takahata's feature debut, I enjoyed it but certain elements are archaic by today's standards. It is an extremely significant film in the history of Japanese anime though, so for that reason it tends to get hyped up beyond it's rather more simplistic nature.
Disney are 'tweaking' its story for the US release:
An A-list cast—including Liam Neeson, Matt Damon and Tina Fey—will voice the masterful, otherwordly animation of Japanese virtuoso Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea for its North American release, with a bit of help from E.T. writer Melissa Matheson, producer Frank Marshall told reporters this week.
Marshall and his producing partner Kathleen Kennedy are deeply involved in bringing the movie to mainstream western audiences this summer. "Kathy and I came on to produce the North American, English-speaking version of Ponyo," Marshall said on Tuesday. "It's been a fantastic experience."
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," Ponyo tells the story of a goldfish and her quest to become human.
Marshall and Kennedy said that they've been longtime fans of Miyazaki ever since Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. "What we are trying to do is introduce his world to a lot more people, because I think his films get put in the art-house section or the specialized section," Marshall said. "But every time we introduce our friends and their kids to the movies, they want all the movies. It's a world that I think everyone should see and understand and experience. It's hopefully what we will be able to do with this new release."
Marshall and Kennedy are working with Toho and Walt Disney Pictures to release a "tweaked," A-list-voiced version of Ponyo in the United States on Aug. 14.
"We have a fantastic cast, ... from Tina Fey to Liam Neeson to Cloris Leachman to Matt Damon," Marshall said. "There will be a subtitled version on the DVD, but we are trying to say this is a new animated movie. It's not Japanese. It's just a fantastic story, so go see it so that we can try and expand it out of the specialized film world."
Marshall also revealed that the changes are in conjunction with the master animator to ensure his blessing. "We worked closely with Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki-san and [Toshio] Suzuki-san, who is the producer. We speak daily, and they have been very involved in everything. It's not a direct translation. We have tweaked the story so it is an understandable story for our audience. Melissa Matheson, who wrote E.T., came in and helped us shape the story. We are bringing all our resources and friends into this who have responded, as we have, to how wonderful these movies are."
Marshall added, "Hopefully this will trigger people to go and look at Miyazaki-san's other movies, because they are fantastic, too."
