Ponyo

[Mysterious F.]

So, good news, Hayao Miyazaki fans! The newest film by the great Japanese animator (who brought you Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle, recently) will be released this Friday. To quote Wikipedia, the plot of the new film, released in the US as Ponyo, is:

"The plot centers on a juvenile fish named Ponyo who wants to become a human girl. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sosuke."

Now, do to how well-recieved his previous three films were by critics and on the video/DVD front, but how lackluster they performed at the box office, Disney, which distributes Studio Ghibli's films in North America, has opened up Ponyo to even more advertisement than any of his previous films, and will be released in more theaters, too. To add further publicity, Noah Cyrus, you-know-who's younger brother, plays the voice of Ponyo, and the Joans Bros.'s youngest brother, Frankie, is voicing Sosuke.

[TP Zelda]

Didn't he also make Kiki's Delivery Service, too?


I want to see it, though.
It looks good!

[Mysterious F.]

He did.

All the movies he directed:

• The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
  
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
  
• Castle in the Sky (1986) (a.k.a. Laputa)
  
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
  
• Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
  
• Porco Rosso (1992)
  
• Princess Monoke (1997)
  
• Spirited Away (2001)
  
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
  
• Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008) (aka Ponyo)
  
  Additionally, all the other (great) films from Studio Ghibli, the company he founded, are:
  
  
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
  
• Only Yesterday (1991) (Not released in the US due to some iffy material, particularily a scene where a father slaps his daughter, and talk and physical references to female menstruation)
  
• Pom Poko (1994)
  
• Whisper of the Heart (1995)
  
• My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
  
• The Cat Returns (2002)
  
• Tales from Earthsea (2006) (Won't be released in the US until a copyright over the source material is lifted later this year)

[Hi no Seijin]

I heard Cyrus and Jonas, and I was like, "Crap.  I hope they don't screw this up.  I'll watch it since it's Hayao Miyazaki."  But now that I know it's not Miley or the older brothers, I'm hoping they won't turn out to be hams.

[Mysterious F.]

Well, John Lasseter (the Pixar dude who directed the Toy Story movies, A Bug's Life, and Cars) is supervising the project, and since he loves Miyazaki, I doubt he'd let them suck.

[darkphantomime]

So what's up with a little boy doing a girl's voice? Couldn't they have picked an actual girl, or god forbid, a full grown woman?

[Gamefreak]

Women do the voices for young boys often.

What's the difference?

[Mysterious F.]

Women typically do the voices of children because they don't have deeper voices like men.

They only added him to up the publicity, though. Normally I would be angry, but since Miyazaki, and Studio Ghibli as a whole, is deserving of more publicity among western audiences, I'm kinda glad.

[Hi no Seijin]

So what's up with a little boy doing a girl's voice? Couldn't they have picked an actual girl, or god forbid, a full grown woman?

What's wrong with that?  And who really cares?  It's an animated movie; we don't actually see the voice actors.

[alical]

He did.


Additionally, all the other (great) films from Studio Ghibli, the company he founded, are:

• Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
  
• Only Yesterday (1991) (Not released in the US due to some iffy material, particularily a scene where a father slaps his daughter, and talk and physical references to female menstruation)
  
• Pom Poko (1994)
  
• Whisper of the Heart (1995)
  
• My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
  
• The Cat Returns (2002)
  
• Tales from Earthsea (2006) (Won't be released in the US until a copyright over the source material is lifted later this year)
  

I didn't really like The Cat Returns, I wouldn't call it great. And apparently Earthsea isn't brilliant either, though I haven't seen it so I can't really judge even though it was on TV a while ago.
Ponyo looks very cute, but it wont be released here until next April.

[Twilight Wolf]

I saw the commercial for it last night. It looks interesting - I certainly wouldn't mind going to see it.

To those of you that are worried about the choice of voice actors and whether they were added just for publicity or not, who cares? I'm sure they'll do a perfectly good job of voice acting regardless of whether they're Disney pawns or not. I wouldn't be worried about it at all.

[Mysterious F.]

Well, as of currently, Ponyo is recieving almost solely positive reviews. (See http://rottentomatoes.com/m/ponyo/) Current consensus, however, is that Ponyo isn't Miyazaki's best.

So, if Ponyo isn't the best, then which one is? My choice is his previous effort, Howl's Moving Castle.

Also, AliCal, The Cat Returns was a (loose) prequel to Whisper of the Heart, so you might like it better if you saw the original.

[Pale Dim]

Personally, I thought Monoke was Miyazaki's best work, Spirited Away being a very close second, but my oppinion isn't coming for Ponyo until I see it. It still looks interesting to me, in a way.

[alical]

Yeah, I'd like to see Whisper of The Heart, I've heard it's good.
And out of all the films Miyazaki has directed I haven't seen Ponyo, Nausicaa or Cagliostro so I can't judge those.
But out of the ones I have seen, I think it might have to be My Neighbour Totoro.
Probably THE cutest and sweetest film I have ever seen.
Princess Mononoke was very good as well though but for very different reasons, I think it would be my 2nd favourite.

[Hi no Seijin]

Spirited Away is the only Miyazaki film I've seen, but I'd love to see his other works.