Comments on: Hayao Miyazaki, “Ponyo” (2008).

By: krangsquared

krangsquared — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:16:29 +0000

Speaking of celebrity voices, I got quite a buzz when I was watching the dubbed version of Kiki’s Delivery Service and realised that Kiki’s black cat was Phil Hartman. (cue Lionel Hutz voiceover)

Looking forward to Ponyo when it opens here next week, August 27!

By: Benito Vergara

Benito Vergara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:14:09 +0000

Gladys, I forgot you were totally obsessed about Howl for a while there!

By: Benito Vergara

Benito Vergara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:13:31 +0000

Haven’t seen Spirited Away in ages, and I clearly should… On the other hand, I saw bits and pieces of My Neighbor Totoro, both in Japanese and English, about three times in the last two days — I’m picking up new things every time!

Yes on Ponyo’s dad being an ugly (older?) Howl!

By: Benito Vergara

Benito Vergara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:52:04 +0000

I was going to make some totally unfounded argument about the voices being B- and C-listers because John Lasseter (who directed the dubbing for Spirited Away and Ponyo, at least) deliberately wanted to avoid the way in which the voice actors in Disney / Dreamworks movies (Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin, Eddie Murphy as that dragon in Mulan) tend to overwhelm the characters, but -- yeah, unfounded.

By: gladys

gladys — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:39:59 +0000

i’ve been so out of the loop that i hadn’t even heard of this film!! i am going to try to line up some babysitting as soon as it comes out next month. thanks for this review — got me excited! i love me some miyazaki.

By: bjr

bjr — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Good post! You know, this thing about the five year old boy’s love for Ponyo reminds me of Spirited Away and Chihiro’s love for Haku, not the boy, but the river spirit. So it’s these otherwise normal human children and their magical and transformative true loves. Oh, Miyazaki.

BTW Billy Bob Thornton wasn’t so bad in Princess Mononoke. Nor was the Cyrus and Jonas in this film.

I think I’m still most confused about Ponyo’s father’s appearance, but Oscar tells me he is like the ugly version of Howl?

By: Ver

Ver — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:38:12 +0000

So looking forward to seeing this.

I would love to know who decides on the voices. Who said, “Get James Van Der Beek on the phone! We need him for CASTLE IN THE SKY!” Or Suzanne Pleshette in SPIRITED AWAY? It’s so hilariously random…