Ponyo

Originally Posted by Spearhead

He does that a lot in his movies. I remember Princess Mononoke having CG effects, but only once in the beginning and very little near the end. The rest was all done by hand and pencil (plus colouring utensils and such).

but really, who ever does that anymore? Myiazaki is god, if you ask me.

Indeed, Miyazaki avoids CGI, which has some pros, but, of course, means that his films often end up behind schedule, due to the massive amounts of hand animation that needs to be done.

I saw Ponyo yesterday in the theater.

First off, don't be fooled by the professional voice talent they have, the dub still sucks.

Second off, this is the worst Studio Ghibli film I've ever seen(I've only seen four of their movies though)

The thing about this movie is that it's just shallow. The animation is 100% beautiful and it's literally worth a watch just for that, but the story is very dull, anticlimactic and very devoid of any excitment, the movie just operates like Up! on painkillers. A lot of them.

Huh, Roger Ebert disagrees strongly with you.

Guess I'll have to go see for meself.

It's a kid's movie, I would not go into it expecting anything deep.
Just enjoy it for what it is. Even then, it's not anything astounding (except for the animation, which is mind-blowing), but it's not a bad movie.

I want to see but I'm afraid that it might not be good. I love Miyazaki's movies, but he failed with Porco Rosso, and he might fail with this one. But it looks cute.

Princess Mononoke was one of the best and so was The Cat Returns.

Spirited Away was the best. It was so cool.

My Neighbor Totoro was good too.

Oh god, I hated Porco Rosso. It was boring.

You didn't like Porco Rosso? Then again, I can't really comment on how good it was because I watched the whole thing.

And so you know, The Cat Returns (which is a great) isn't a Miyazaki film.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be seeing it in theaters, but I'll watch Ponyo eventually.

I liked Porco Rosso.
The Ghibli film I hate the most is easily... er... I can't even remember its name.
...........................
Only Yesterday. Talk about a boring freaking movie.
I also actually didn't like Howl's Moving Castle that much, either.

Just saw it. I wasn't incredibly annoyed with the dub because it was hard to recognize the voices as Matt Damon etc, therefore making them sound like the characters. I didn't think it was the best Miyazaki film by any means, but it was not a bad movie. Part of the experience was detracted from by little kids that felt the need to tell the audience such invaluable life lessons as "when water comes from your eyes thats called crying, stupid!".

Originally Posted by Ignotus Hyrule

You didn't like Porco Rosso? Then again, I can't really comment on how good it was because I watched the whole thing.

And so you know, The Cat Returns (which is a great) isn't a Miyazaki film.

I didn't. I thought it was boring.

It is a Miyazaki film.

The Cat Returns is a Ghibli film, but not a Miyazaki one.

Forgive the double post.


I just saw Ponyo in theatres last night, and quite enjoyed it.

It's clearly a kid's movie, and there is zero tension to speak of past the half-way point or so, but it's still lots of fun.

It's great to just lose yourself in the stuff that's happening on screen, because it all looks gorgeous. It definitely benefits from being shown on a big screen, too, it would be much harder to "lose" myself in it on my home TV.

Originally Posted by John

Forgive the double post.


I just saw Ponyo in theatres last night, and quite enjoyed it.

It's clearly a kid's movie, and there is zero tension to speak of past the half-way point or so, but it's still lots of fun.

It's great to just lose yourself in the stuff that's happening on screen, because it all looks gorgeous. It definitely benefits from being shown on a big screen, too, it would be much harder to "lose" myself in it on my home TV.

I saw it last night as well. My grandma thought it was cute, a bit odd, and something only possible in Japan.

Yes, it was clearly a children's movie, but the animation and artwork was incredibly beautiful. The story was a bit odd...very Japanese...only the Japanese would come up with a story like that!

You may be aware of the story "The Little Mermaid"? That was clearly that basis for Ponyo, albeit with Ponyo having a far, far happier ending than the original.



Anyways, it had all the Miyazaki standards: Old women, ships that fly with giant flapping wings, slime-monsters, strong young girls as characters, transformation, and, of course, gorgeous and detailed animation and beautiful, almost dream-scape like settings.

Originally Posted by John

You may be aware of the story "The Little Mermaid"? That was clearly that basis for Ponyo, albeit with Ponyo having a far, far happier ending than the original.



Anyways, it had all the Miyazaki standards: Old women, ships that fly with giant flapping wings, slime-monsters, strong young girls as characters, transformation, and, of course, gorgeous and detailed animation and beautiful, almost dream-scape like settings.

Yes, yes, I figured that out before seeing the actual movie.

When you put it that way, Spirited Away is a lot stranger than Ponyo. In the words of my friend, Spirited Away is like a dream you'd have when you have the flu. Paprika was a lot weirder and so much more trippy than Ponyo... I guess what I wanted to say is that it would be very weird for the parents watching it. Ponyo was directed at small, young children, and obviously their parents or grandparents are going to accompany them. I'm sure they found it extremely bizarre, in comparison to a kid who has a wild imagination, or someone into anime like me who's been exposed to this kind of stuff.

Originally Posted by John

What?

Disney has done all the translating, subtitling, and dubbing for all current releases of every single Miyazaki film.

This is no different from ADV or Funimation putting their logo at the start of a release that they've translated.

Plus, of course, most parents won't buy animated films unless they've got the Disney name on them, so it greatly helps to increase sales over here.


And what, exactly, is the problem with anime?

I think the main reason that people a freaking out is that they don't want a miyazaki film to be "disneyfied." I mean, after all, look at their own programing and the way that they have eviscerated the source material in their own films? I've been worried about this since disney has started distributing his films. At least Ghibli has taken the stance of no cuts to any one of their films.

BTW, Is the Earthsea film ever going to be released stateside?

Disney signed a contract with Ghibli stating that the only changes they'd make would be to re-dub the films.

A total of two times now they've also altered the soundtrack. Both times with full approval of Miyazaki and, the first time, hiring the same composer that Miyazaki used.


Plus, of course, Disney "altering" the films would cost a huge amount of money (animation is not cheap or fast.) and lots of very, very senior Disney animators are huge fans of Miyazaki and couldn't be forced to alter his work even if you put a gun to their head.

Dudes, do you know who oversaw the dubbing? John ♥♥♥♥ing Lasseter, chief creative officer at PIXAR. Working for Disney, he probably didn't have much of a choice but to include Disney names, but he's a huge fan of Miyazaki, and I doubt he would halfass the dubbing. I mean, you're lucky it's in English at all.

Also, read this.

EDIT: I should also add that this may be the first movie since the Dark Knight that I actually watch in theaters. (I'm not a movie person all that much.)
I was gonna say that about Up, too, but I never got around to seeing it, which I completely regret.

Saw it a few days ago with Brandon. I loved it. The animation is gooorgeos. Loved the music. There were a few things I was a bit =/ with, but I still very much enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Tonchiki

Dudes, do you know who oversaw the dubbing? John ♥♥♥♥ing Lasseter, chief creative officer at PIXAR. Working for Disney, he probably didn't have much of a choice but to include Disney names, but he's a huge fan of Miyazaki, and I doubt he would halfass the dubbing. I mean, you're lucky it's in English at all.

John Lasseter clearly worships Miyazaki as a God of animation. He seems to have been the driving force behind a lot of the Ghibli imports.

Originally Posted by John

The Cat Returns is a Ghibli film, but not a Miyazaki one.

Actually, it is.
So is Nausicaa: Of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso. That's why, it says, "From the director...." or something like that "...of Spirited Away..."

I saw Ponyo a few days ago with my sisters (I have two. One is older and one is my twin) I thought it was okay. I thought it was for younger kids. It was cute though.