Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea from Miyazaki

[go]

Dear Readers,
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea by Miyazaki will be released in USA theaters this week:
http://www.animationinsider.net/article ... cleID=2161
Best wishes to all!
Go

[Fanfan]

This is my favorite Miyazaki movie. It hasn't been well understood in France... mainly because of the childish art design. There are several ways of understanding both for children and adults.

(hear the soundtrack and notice how Ponyo is once named by his father, perhaps it will make you think about Wagner's walkyrie. There are a lot of symbolics...

Another point that really touched me was how Japanese lived a typhoon, perhaps because i was in Korea in the coast during a typhoon, and my japanese reading, and even Hirata dealt with it. When i read later that this point was very important to Miyazaki, that he wanted to send a message about solidarity, i thought he prettu did well)

[Jet_Jaguar]

I saw this last night. I wouldn't call it my favorite Miyazaki film (I think that that would still be Totoro), but there was still a lot that I liked about it. I think that the opening sequence is one of the most beautiful things Miyazaki has ever directed, and I liked Joe Hisaishi's score a lot. My only major complaints was that I thought that the ending was a little weak. It might be a little more memorable for its images than for its plot, but I don't have a problem with that. I would recommend catching a late-night showing land watching it in a slightly dreamy state of mind like I did.

Some people will probably find the movie to be a little too "childish" for their tastes, but I think that if you look at it this way, the apparent "childishness" makes a little more sense:

http://www.cameracinemas.com/cgi-bin/mo ... -2009-1911

Miyazaki has made what is for any adult — but especially a 67-year-old anime veteran — an extraordinary leap: In "Ponyo" he is not just telling a story to tikes, but imaginatively becoming one himself. I was reminded of the famous opening of James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," with its recital of the hero's earliest memories in the language of infancy ("Once upon a time there was a moocow coming down along the road and . . ."), as if the author were re-inhabiting an earlier self.

I'm looking forward to seeing it in Japanese with subtitles when it comes out on DVD since that's my preferred way of watching anime. Disney's English dub for the movie isn't bad, but I think that having people like Liam Neeson doing voices for it is kind of a distraction. I'd also like to see the movie with the proper theme song during the end credits and not the abomination that Disney replaced it with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sil9nclPe2I

As far as I'm concerned, that's an insult to Joe Hisaishi and his fine work on the film. Also, auto-tune really should be banned unless it's being used for something like this:

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

[Colin Solan]

This is an excellent film and I think it had the best dub of all the English translations. The underwater scene were beautifully animated.

[Maka]

Hello UYDers,

I took my two daughter and two friends (girl age 7 and boy age 4) to see Ponyo today. The boy did say once in the movie, "This is long." But at the end of the movie I asked everyone what if they liked it and everyone said yes.

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The kids said:
"I like it when Ponyo squirted water!" "I like that the girl got what she wanted." "I like when she bumped into the window, lick his finger, and tsunami, tsunami, put the fish back, a tsumami!"

I loved this film. I loved looking a the town under water, especially the Japanese clothes lines. With all Miyazaki films, I love the how old people are treated with deep respect and love. I love how children are always believed even when it is not realistic. I love how magic is not scary. Strong women and children are always present in Miyazaki films. And I love the bits in between the plot, slow like a Yasujiro Ozu film, require that the watcher just breath it all in.

My favorite part was when Ponyo was running on the water chasing the car. That was magic.

It was magical for me and I highly recommend it.

Peace, maka

[Jet_Jaguar]

I watched Ponyo again on Blu-Ray last night. This was the first time I had seen it in Japanese with subtitles, and it almost felt like a different movie. In particular, I found Sosuke's mom a lot more likeable in this version than the English version for some reason. Also, I found that having Liam Neeson doing the voice for Fujimoto to be a bit of a distraction, especially since I didn't think the voice really fit the character. If it wasn't the only way to see the movie in a theater, I don't think I would ever bother with the English dubbed version.

The Blu-Ray version of this movie is beautiful. The picture quality of some BR discs that I've watched has been a little disappointing, but not this one.

I've had this part of the wonderful score by Joe Hisaishi running through my head after rewatching the movie last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axKK9nz5Vng

I wonder if Debussy's La Mer was an influence on the Ponyo score:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66hX8Ms0FwE