Gake no ue no Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki's latest)

[Amzi Live]

This is Hayao Miyazaki's latest film up to now I believe.
Just thought it good to post this here.
Forgive me if the topic was already brought up.
There isn't much info about the film since It seams to have been released in Japan only.
Guess Disney will begin their DUB on it anytime soon.Since they have a contract with Studio Ghibli.
Here are some links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponyo_on_the_Cliff_by_the_Sea
http://www.ghibli.jp/ponyo/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/
http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html

[Kintaro]

Errr, theres a lot of info out actually, it's been out for a week now...
Plot:

The plot is centered on a girl fish who runs away from her home in the sea. She ends up stranded on the shore and is rescued by Sōsuke, a five year old boy who lives on a cliff. Sōsuke names her Ponyo after taking a great liking to her, and promises to protect her forever. Meanwhile, her father, Fujimoto, is looking for his daughter, upset that she ran away. He calls his wave demons and has them take Ponyo back to him, since it seems he has an aversion to land. Sōsuke is heartbroken by this, and goes home crying to his mother, Risa. Risa tries to cheer him up, but to no avail.

Ponyo and her father have a confrontation, where Ponyo voices her want to become human, because she has started to fall in love with Sōsuke. Her father silences her with difficulty and goes to summon Ponyo's mother. Meanwhile, Ponyo, with the help of her sisters, breaks away from her father's barriers, and mixes herself in with his magic, becoming a human girl. This causes an inbalance in the world, which in turn results in a tsunami. Riding on the waves of the tsunami, Ponyo goes back to visit Sōsuke. Risa, Sōsuke, and Ponyo stay the night at Sōsuke's house, hoping the tsunami will be over, whereupon Risa leaves the house to check up on the residents of the nursing home she works at. Sōsuke and Ponyo wake up to find that the most of the land has submerged. Risa has not come home yet, so, with the help of Ponyo's magic, they turn Sosuke`s toy boat to life size and set out to find Risa.

Meanwhile, Risa is talking with Granmammare, Ponyo's mother. Fujimoto notices the moon is deorbited and the satellites falling like shooting stars. Granmammare declares that if Sōsuke and Ponyo succeed a test, Ponyo will be allowed to live as a human, and the world order will be restored.

[ShiroiHikari]

Sounds...convoluted.

[Radical Dreamer]

Sounds...convoluted.

Seriously. XD; I'll most likely pass on this one.

[Sheenar]

Sounds similar to The Little Mermaid...XD

[ADXC]

@ Sheenar-Yeah it sorta does!

[Puguni]

Convoluted? Really?

Girl fish runs away from home. Girl fish gets rescued by a boy. Fish father takes girl fish back. Girl fish falls in love with boy and wants to become human. Dad says no. Girl does anyway. Girl goes back. World balance thrown off. Causes world disaster. Boy and girl have to pass test to restore world balance.

About as convoluted as the Little Mermaid.

[Radical Dreamer]

Convoluted? Really?

Girl fish runs away from home. Girl fish gets rescued by a boy. Fish father takes girl fish back. Girl fish falls in love with [SIZE="4"]five year-old[/SIZE] boy and wants to become human. Dad says no. Girl does anyway. Girl goes back. World balance thrown off. Causes world disaster. Boy and girl have to pass test to restore world balance.

Fixed. XDD

[Puguni]

Fixed. XDD

Doesn't change much about comprehension. It does raise the awkwardness a little - not really, little kids can have small romances too. I feel like this movie is for a smaller audience anyway. I just watched the trailer and it's all fluffy-like.

[sapphire_shine]

To me,it sounds like a mix of Finding Nemo meets Little Mermaid XD wonder how it will be....

[Amzi Live]

I actually hoped that his next film would be somewhat like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle.
Guess what he's aiming for is a young audience.

[ilikegir33]

Guess what he's aiming for is a young audience.

He DID do My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, though, so this is probably pretty good.

[AsianBlossom]

But there are even adults out there like me who find My Neighbor Totoro a cute movie. XD

But I'll say I'm a little skeptical about this one as well. I know my brother says that the art style isn't exactly what he's used to with Ghibli, so he doesn't really have a desire to see this one. I might join him on the grounds that the story just isn't catching my interest.

[Roy Mustang]

Reviewers love 'Ponyo'

[quote="ICv2"]The screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea at the Venice Film Festival has provided reviewers from Hollywood’s top trade publications, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as well as from Time Magazine with a chance to preview the anime maestro’s latest work and they were not disappointed. The Reporter’s Deborah Young found the film “a work of great fantasy and charm that will delight children ages 3 to 100,â€

[Kairi]

I can't wait to see this one. I think it looks rather cute! I've always been a huge sucker for mermaid stories, and the fact that Hayao Miyazaki is directing this one only makes me more optimistic. XD

Of course, I was also hoping his next film would be something more along the lines of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle... but I won't complain. I trust that he put just as much heart into Ponyo as all of his previous works.

[ChristianKitsune]

I think this movie looks cute...but also will probably have a very "Miyazaki" feel. A lot of times his movies don't make much sense but they are a fun ride anyways. ^^;

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are awesome, so you can't go wrong with this movie. I haven't seen My Neighbors the Yamadas yet either (though it's been around awhile).

[termyt]

So far, this one has not jumped out at me, but I will give Ghibli, and especially Miyazaki, the benefit of the doubt.

You can't hit a home run everytime but even when the plot's a little off, Miyazaki tends to tell a story worth seeing.

What's the worst it can be? Anotehr Pom Poko?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Ha, ha.
Pom Poko was the only Ghibli movie I've seen that I didn't like. Too many tanuki 'pouches' (lol) for me. They were so distracting.

[Kaori]

A friend and I went to see this movie in the theater a few weeks ago. It was absolutely the most bizarre thing I've seen in recent memory--long after the movie ended, my friend and I kept laughing over how strange it was. I think part of it is the fact that the girl is not a mermaid but a little fish (just big enough to fill the boy's two hands) with a human face. She also has a whole swarm of sisters that are even tinier and less human than she was. There were also tsunami waves that were turning into giant fish, and the wizard-father, Fujimoto, is also a pretty strange guy. Oh, and there's the whole two five-year-old kids falling in love thing.

The plot was a bit hard to follow--although my friend and I both speak some Japanese and could understand significant portions of what people were saying, neither of us were able to follow anything that Fujimoto said. However, going off of the explanation that Kintaro posted, I think I can give some insight into the resolution:

[spoiler]At the end of the movie, the mother asks Sousuke a question to which he responds very easily that he likes Ponyo equally well as a human and as a fish. I think this is the test that he had to pass in order to restore world order. This maybe also explains five-year-old love bit: an older boy might not have been able to say "I like Ponyo as a fish" quite as easily.[/spoiler]

Even having read the English synopsis, though, the cause-effect relationships within the plot seem extremely arbitrary, and the ending is rather Deus ex Machina. Given how strange the movie is, I have doubts about how well it will go over with an American audience. I really enjoyed seeing it with a friend and laughing over its humor and strangeness, but I wouldn't particularly want to own it.