(L) Gake no ue no Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki's 2008 Movie)

[Sakuya]

I agree, after watching the second trailer, it makes me want to watch the film. But dang, the Ponyo song is now stuck in my head!

[Siegel Clyne]

I own all of the Miyazaki Hayao animated theatrical features that are available on DVD. I plan to add this one to my shopping list when it comes out on DVD/BD.

[Ja-Y-Ce]

hmmm... has anyone managed to catch it? is it good?

[Srin Tuar]

I can review it now:

Ponyo is quite cute. She looks a bit freakish when she goes into chicken-girl mode, but otherwise quite cute.

Family addressing strangeness: why does sousuke call risa "risa", and kouichi "kouichi", but never "mom" and "dad". J wiki page indicates that they are his parents. I dont get it...

Risa is hot. Its not the kind of anime where they try to exaggerate female proportions and whatnot, but her animation and realistic attitude, crazy driving, cooking, and getting drunk were all more effective at potraying her as hot than the usual techniques anime employ for that effect.

Spoiler for plot:

Plot is the little mermaid respun: Willy Water Wonka and Water Elemental Deva have jelly-fish children. One of which falls in love with sousuke, so they grant her the ability to stay in human permantently. (unless souske falls out of love with her, then she'll turn into bubbles) also, she cannot use magic while she's human.

Yes, Sousuke has entered into a life or death permanent romantic bond at the age of 5. When he says he likes her, I would expect a 5 year old is thinking: she's interesting, much like a frog or new toy would be. Not that he wants to marry her... but that all gets glossed over with ambiguity.

Risa/Kouichi seem surprisingly okay with having their son bound to a jellyfish girl for life.

This show was aimed at a younger audience than even other miyazaki stuff: i didnt even see a fish eat another fish once. IRL Fish are hungry monsters of death, especially big ones.

Biggest gripe: Why the hell did DNA have to enter the plot ?!?!?! Is DNA that preeminent of a concept in the japanese psyche that it has to enter into the little mermaid story ??? Perhaps I wouldnt mind the fixation on DNA quite so much if they UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT IS...rant over

Overall: I liked it alot. Its amazing both how long it is, how little actually happened, but how quickly it goes by. Just seeing people walk around/drive do things is only this hypnotizing in very well done animation. Music was good, I like classical stuff.

[SneakerPimp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj9ssHYzrNI

[Ja-Y-Ce]

@ Srin Tuar,

yea, agree with what you have said. Ponyo is cute - if she stays as that goldfish (at least to me)... hmmm, pretty fast pace but overall it's a good classical stuff with great BGM.

and yes, definitely it will appeal more to the kids (maybe because i am old , i can no longer feel those excitement n stuff... ) Lolz.

Arhz! the ending is pretty expected too. So much so for the Little Mermaid influence...

the theme song will just be stuck in my head for a while now....

[Edgewalker]

I was worried at first but after seeing the trailers it looks like this will be another good film fronm ghibli.

And a note to those who have neglected to watch gedo senki because of the bad rep and controversy - you should watch it. Gedo senki is actually a decent film, the problem is its only good in comparison to most other generic anime movies out there. I would compare its quality to the detective conan movies. But because it had the ghibli label people went in to see it with hopes that Goro would be as good as his father - and the film simply didn't meat that expectation. Goro has talent, but not the talent people wanted him to have, and the film fell short of that and IMO made it seem worse to its viewers then what it actually was.

[Guardian Enzo]

Spectacular, if anyone is wondering. Definitely the brightest and most upbeat of Miyazaki's recent oeuvre'. Relentlessly, manically energetic and action-filled. A film that really looks at the world through a child's perspective, but filled with interesting and layered adult characters.

[Ottocycle]

For all Singaporeans reading this, Ponyo will be arriving on our shores come New Year's Day.

Source

[Theowne]

Family addressing strangeness: why does sousuke call risa "risa", and kouichi "kouichi", but never "mom" and "dad". J wiki page indicates that they are his parents. I dont get it...

I cant confirm this, but according to a poster on another forum who was in Japan, the Japanese audience will see it as "charming and progressive".

[shomazta]

@mods or w/e ~ This movie has already aired and even has English subtitles out for it already.

That aside this was a really great movie.

Originally Posted by Srin Tuar

Risa is hot. Its not the kind of anime where they try to exaggerate female proportions and whatnot, but her animation and realistic attitude, crazy driving, cooking, and getting drunk were all more effective at potraying her as hot than the usual techniques anime employ for that effect.

I agree with this... and that's what definitely makes this production so much more interesting. Too much "moe" crap can get annoying... also if they did attempt to get people's interests with fanservice I don't think this would've been received as well by it's target audience... kids...

[xris]

Originally Posted by shomazta

@mods or w/e ~ This movie has already aired and even has English subtitles out for it already.

Ta, normally best to PM a Mod (or even use the Report button ) to let us know

Since there are U.S. release plans, thread moved to Licensed.
Time Mag Confirms Disney's U.S. Ponyo Plans for 2009

[TinyRedLeaf]

Well, the movie finally opened in Singapore and I naturally went to watch it the first chance I got.

First the good news: I liked Ponyo by the Cliff better than Howl's Moving Castle but less than Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. And, as Srin Tuar mentioned, it's most definitely targeted at younger audiences, very much more so than all of Miyazaki's previous films, including My Neighbour Totoro. It lacks the layered nuances of Spirited Away, the epic scale of Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa, but like Laputa, it will delight young children and those who are young at heart.

That's mainly because Miyazaki has gone back to what he does best: seeing the world through the eyes of a curious, playful child. Ponyo's antics are convincingly childlike, such as the way she pursues her wishes without caring about their potentially catastrophic consequences. Through the scenes where Sousuke and Ponyo interact and play, Miyazaki once again shows loving understanding of how children think and behave. Nary a harsh word was uttered throughout the movie; the adults are all kind, and very indulging of Sousuke in particular, never once sushing him when he says he's found a magical goldfish by the sea.

And the adult who stands out the most is undoubtedly Sousuke's mother, Risa. And she is indeed quite hot, as Srin Tuar said. She's a young, pretty and fiesty woman married to a ship captain, and she loves Sousuke very openly, but without being saccharine sweet like your typical Disney princess. Risa fits very much in the mould of typical Miyazaki heroines: fiercely independent individuals who aren't afraid to speak their minds (I chuckled at the good-natured tantrum she threw when her husband didn't come home from sea as he had promised). Of all the characters from Miyazaki's pantheon, she most reminds me of Fio from Porco Rosso.

Finally, the most important reason why Ponyo by the Cliff works extremely well as a children's movie is its animation. Its aesthetic style is very different from Miyazaki's usual technique. As Sonhex pointed out, the entire movie has a watercolour look, drawn in a naturalistic, flowing style to convey the drama of surging seas and the natural splendour of underwater life.

And yes, no CGI was used, but the level of animation is incredibly smooth, especially whenever walking and climbing motion is being shown. Miyazaki's legendary attention to painstaking detail is once again at play in several scenes, yet again raising the bar for generations of aspiring animators to emulate.

======

So, with so many positives, why didn't I like the movie as much as Miyazaki's older movies?

It's not because it is a kids' movie. After all, I did enjoy My Neighbour Totoro, and like its predecessor, Ponyo by the Cliff is most definitely a delightful film, even though it's not specifically targeted at adults.

No, the main reason I'm disappointed is that while Ponyo by the Cliff is indeed very delightful, it's also by far the most Disney-esque of all Miyazaki films. Unlike Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, which portrayed both good and bad aspects of humanity without passing judgement, Ponyo by the Cliff is surprisingly one-sided with its social commentary.

All of Miyazaki's usual contempt for industrialisation and human degradation of natural beauty is again on display in this film, but unlike in Princess Mononoke, he didn't attempt to balance the destruction of nature with his previous recognition of its inevitability. It's as though he went all out to create a children's movie, and thus dumbed it down for the lowest common denominator. Gone are the previous shades of grey, replaced instead with a blinding shade of pure white goodness, not unlike your usual, morally bland Disney or Pixar movie.

In hindsight, perhaps Miyazaki ought to have retired for good after Spirited Away, because he really does seem to have run out of original stories to tell. I do suspect he has passed his creative peak, and while Ponyo by the Cliff is a welcome sign of experimentation in old age, let's face it: he doesn't have that many years left to perfect a new angle of story-telling.

But then again, even an average Miyazaki film still manages to outshine most of what Hollywood has to offer, so I guess as long as he stays a workaholic, Miyazaki will continue to make movies, whether or not he's "retired".

======

Postscript:
I find it mildly interesting, because of their well-documented rivalry, that both Mamoru Oshii and Hayao Miyazaki decided to veer from their usual styles at roughly the same time. Oshii's The Sky Crawlers, arguably his most effective movie to date, departs from his typical penchant of heavy, self-indulgent philosophising, while Miyazaki's Ponyo by the Cliff is a departure from his usual aesthetic and a return to his earlier preference for child-like storytelling.

And, if reports are to be believed, both crusty old men were inspired by their children to attempt their latest works. Oshii talked about his recent reunion with his estranged daughter during interviews for The Sky Crawlers, while Ponyo by the Cliff was allegedly influenced by the spat between the elder and younger Miyazakis.

Perhaps both Oshii and Miyazaki have seen a new light? If so, I hope it'll lead them to more fruitful creations in the future.

[Dop]

I bought the Japanese DVD release (Ghibli put English subtitles on their releases, and this is the third movie I've bought the Japanese release of after The Ocean Waves and Only Yesterday).

I loved it. It's Miyazaki going back to basics. It might not have the epic grandeur of films like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle but it has a nice story with some of Miyazaki's reverence of nature (the trawling sequence, for example), some great humour (the aldis lamp sequence had me in stitches), good characters, and a lot of the feel of his earlier movies, reminiscent in some ways of Totoro.

It's a film for all ages.

And by the way, Ponyo's mum is gorgeous....

[Tommy]

I guess I've been living under a cave for the last year or so, because I just found out about this movie through apple's movie trailer website.

Can't wait to see it!

[Guardian Enzo]

Only 10 more days till the US release of this spectacular film. I was very struck by Miyazaki-dono's comment in a recent interview here in the Bay Area:

Actually, in this film, the person who is most like a main character is the little boy, Sosuke. And, it’s because he says he will protect Ponyo and works hard to do that…that the world doesn’t collapse, basically. And, he has many difficulties that are thrown at him, and he overcomes these difficulties, even though, as a boy, he doesn’t have a job yet. And, he’s not strong. But, he’s able to do what he promised to do. And, that’s the person who’s closest to the main character in the film.

It’s very hard to make this kind of anonymous boy be a main character. It’s a hundred times easier to make a girl be the main character. But, I think now is the time that I can finally make a movie that has a boy as a main character. So, I started thinking of that with this movie. But, I think it’s going to go further, maybe, in the future.

An interesting observation, which I would have loved to have had a chance to ask a few follow-up questions about.

[SneakerPimp]

Walt Disney's version of the Ponyo title song...
http://blog.affenheimtheater.de/en/2...ayao-miyazaki/

[typhonsentra]

Come on guys, go out and support this thing!

Disney didn't botch it the way some worried, it's quite good actually. Even the obnoxious remix of the song is cut short and only appears briefly at the very end of the end credits. They even include a proper adaptation of the song which I appreciated although didn't necessarily enjoy.

[zzeroparticle]

I definitely enjoyed this movie. There's just a sense of charm and wonder that permeates this movie, making it such a beautiful experience. It also helps that Ponyo's soundtrack is probably my favorite Hisashi work since Spirited Away!

But yeah, watched the dub and thought that it was fine. I'm not aware of any real issues that jumped out at me as I watched it. Definitely a nice way to relax all in all.

[Guardian Enzo]

The dub is fine - not nearly as good as the original, of course, but decent. Lasseter really wants to do right by his friend Miyazaki, even if I don't always agree with his choices. Go out and support this magical film - it deserves to be recognized.