*Edit- A review of ‘PONYO’ from our fellow Babbler: http://babbleon5.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/ponyo-an-anime-delight/
Ponyo
From the Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki comes PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid.” Already a box-office success in Japan, the story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by NOAH CYRUS) and her quest to become human features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including CATE BLANCHETT, MATT DAMON, TINA FEY, FRANKIE JONAS, CLORIS LEACHMAN, LIAM NEESON, LILY TOMLIN and BETTY WHITE.
I’m really excited that Disney is bringing this film to the states. I originally was going to ‘pirate’ a japanese version to watch since anime films rarely make it to the states. Hayao Miyazaki, famed director in japan has a brilliant track record with anime films. I’ve listed a few below.
Also, watch the new trailer of ‘Ponyo’ and leave your comments below as always.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/ponyo/hd/
Princess Mononoke
(Perhaps my favorite Miyazaki film)
Spirited Away
My Neighbor Totoro
Tony
Jeff
Johnny
Scott
Rick
Sweet! Now you can pirate a good ‘ole fashioned American version instead!
I can’t say that I’m a fan of anime. Ghost in the Shell was a decent exception, with quality story telling and engaging characters. The other one that I absolutely loved was AKIRA. It saddens me that the live action two part movie adaptation will never see the light of day. Maybe it was meant to be that way, who knows? Perhaps the books are utterly unadaptable, much like the DUNE novel… but at least they keep trying with DUNE. Akira just gets tossed aside like yesterdays garbage.
I’m not sure if I’m going to give Ponyo a chance at all, and with Disney’s name tagged onto the credits… well, it doesn’t give me much hope.
Miyazaki does the best anime films. Classic. I’d recommend renting ‘Princess Mononoke’.
I can’t wait for this one! Will definitely check this one out.
Princess Mononoke is good, I actually own that one. And Metropolis as well. I had nearly forgotten about them. So I guess that makes about a handful of Anime films that I enjoyed. Otomo made Steamboy, but I just couldn’t get into that one. Akira seemed to be his best work.
Actually, Akira was made by Katsuhiro Otomo. It was his only good work, at least that I have seen. There is a live-action film in development. Here’s the link to the IMDB page of it. (Not much info unless you have a Pro account. A guy named Ruairi Robinson is “slated” to take the helm on it. (He did an Academy Award Winning Short Film titled: Fifty Percent Grey. Which is great, and another short film with Cillian Murphy.) From what I’ve heard Leonardo Dicaprio’s company; Appian Way, has the rights to both Ninja Scroll and Akira. He’s going to produce the film.