New Hayao Miyazaki movie

[PopTodd]

New movie coming out:

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

LINK

Animation emperor Hayao Miyazaki's fans will not be disappointed with his latest release, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,” roughly a Japanese adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's “Little Mermaid." And no, it has nothing to do with Disney's own “Little Mermaid” version, although one should point out that most of Miyazaki's films have been released under Disney's distribution with a celebrity-sprinkled dubbed English version.

 

It is rather clear that the film's narrative and animation style is intended for an incredibly young audience, surely for that of an age under 10. However, Miyazaki's dreamlike fudge-flavored innocence is something that will also address adults who yearn for that forsaken naiveté and sometimes wish for an uninhibited universe where all is picture perfect: The skies are always blue, the sea is pristine, the food is sumptuous, the parents love their kids, nothing truly evil can happen and the world is nothing but a green playground. If anyone can create that long-lost coziness and awe particular to childhood without ruining its nostalgic roots, it is Miyazaki.

[jakobnicholas]

I'm really looking forward to this.

 

Below is an interesting Variety article. I'm stunned that a Miyazaki movie has never made more that $10 millon in the U.S. Disney, who is putting out his movie, looks to be making a more concerted effort at making this movie more appealing to a wide audience...

 

 

 

Miyazaki hopes to break U.S. spell

'Ponyo' aims at wider audience

By ELLEN WOLFF

 

Animation fans know Hayao Miyazaki as the living legend behind four decades of hand-drawn classics, including "My Neighbor Totoro" (a film originally released in the U.S. by low-budget label Troma) and Oscar winner "Spirited Away," and yet the visionary Japanese director remains largely unknown to American auds.

His biggest Stateside hit, 2002's "Spirited Away," made just $10 million of its $275 million worldwide haul in the U.S. And his much-publicized follow-up, "Howl's Moving Castle," earned less than $5 million, compared with $230 million abroad, in 2005.

 

That's a situation the director's champions -- including Disney/Pixar guru John Lasseter and power producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall -- hope to correct with his latest film, "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea," when they release the English-language version in North America on Aug. 14.

 

Whereas Miyazaki's past few pics have been seen as more adult-oriented, this family-friendly, G-rated entry evokes Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid" fable and features dialogue dubbed by Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Matt Damon and Noah Cyrus (kid sister of Disney superstar Miley). The film is expected to open on more than 800 screens.

 

According to Kennedy, who has known the director for eight years, "One of the frustrations we've shared is this conundrum of how to distribute his movies in North America in a way that people realize these pictures can appeal to a wide range of audiences and not just be relegated to arthouses.

 

"That's why (Miyazaki and his associates at Tokyo-based Studio Ghibli) asked us to get involved and see if we could come up with ideas to expand on the release."

 

Kennedy-Marshall set about bringing both A-list acting and writing talent to the English-language version of "Ponyo," including Oscar-nominated "E.T." screenwriter Melissa Mathison. "We felt a responsibility to subtly reinterpret Miyazaki's storytelling," Kennedy recalls. "Miyazaki-san was quite intrigued with Melissa getting involved, and she found a subtle adjustment to the language so that you understand you're watching a Japanese movie but, at the same time, you're not getting confused by a literal translation."

 

No cuts were made to Miyazaki's animation, so the challenge in directing the voice actors was to make their English dialogue fit the existing picture. "It's different than the way we usually work, where we animate after recording the voices," explains Brad Lewis, who, like fellow Pixar directors Lasseter and Peter Sohn, helmed individual recording sessions for "Ponyo." "With this, the actors watched the animation, and then we'd record several versions and see what worked. The only liberties we could take were a few words of pre-lapping dialogue."

 

Lewis, who's currently directing Pixar's "Cars 2," says the actors brought fresh perspectives to Miyazaki's material. "Tina Fey, who plays Ponyo's very modern mother, gave a really natural performance. We were recording her during afternoons, and at night she was playing Sarah Palin on 'Saturday Night Live.' "

 

The producers have taken their time getting the U.S. release right since "Ponyo" premiered at the Venice Film Fest last fall. They booked "Ponyo" into a high-profile closing slot at the Los Angeles Film Festival last month and have even coordinated a rare personal appearance, in which the reclusive director will address his American fans at the San Diego Comic-Con this Friday.

 

Though Miyazaki merchandise represents a big market overseas, Disney has prepared little more than companion publications for the director's past U.S. releases. Rather than diluting the brand, savvy tie-ins could actually cement his cultural standing and make Miyazaki as familiar a household name as Walt himself.

 

"If Disney gets the audience they're hoping for with the increased theaters ... I think they'll definitely take advantage," Kennedy says. "They're going to have to see if, in fact, audiences do show up. I believe that once people see his movie, they'll be hooked."

[renic]

i love his movies. spirited away is one of my favorites & i'm glad i was able to see it in the theater. howl's moving castle was also really good. princess roanoke while excellent as well, creeped the hell out of me!

[Beltmann]

I always look forward to a new Miyazaki movie, but I'm extra eager for Ponyo because it will be the first Miyazaki that I see with my daughter at my side. I showed her the trailer earlier today, and she's pretty excited to catch it in the theater. Disney is notorious for botching the marketing and distribution for US releases of Miyazaki films; I'm skeptical but hopeful that this one will finally capture the imagination of mainstream audiences.

[caliber66]

I'm sure I can find porno on a cliff by a sea without paying to watch it in a theater with other people.

[jakobnicholas]

I always look forward to a new Miyazaki movie, but I'm extra eager for Ponyo because it will be the first Miyazaki that I see with my daughter at my side. I showed her the trailer earlier today, and she's pretty excited to catch it in the theater. Disney is notorious for botching the marketing and distribution for US releases of Miyazaki films; I'm skeptical but hopeful that this one will finally capture the imagination of mainstream audiences.

 

 

I'm not sure Disney is to blame. In fact, John Lassiter is a HUGE fan of Miyazaki's films and seems to be doing all he can at Disney to get as many people seeing the films....whether at theatres or DVD.

 

I just think it's a cultural thing. Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, as great as they are, are like art-house films when compared to Madagascar or Kung Fu Panda. I think visually his films are a little too mature or creepy for the typical parent who's used to taking their kids to see cute and funny characters. I think Ponyo could be different, as it sounds to be very much geared for kids. And it sounds like Disney is really gonna try to make its translations sound more natural to Americans, rather than making always-literal translations.

 

I found this question/answer to John Lassiter from a comic-con interview:

 

 

 

Q: John, what is it like bringing foreign animated films to the US market?

 

 

 

Lasseter: “If you’ve seen ‘Spirited Away’, Spirited Away’ is set in a very, very Japanese sensibility. And so, to Japanese audiences when Sen would walk up, the main character, and look at this big building with a flag on it with Japanese writing on it, everyone in Japan would know what that is. No one in this country would know what that building is.

 

So these are the kind of things that we look at and go, in order to be on the same level of understanding, we have to, we have to add a line off stage where a character goes, ‘oh it’s a bathhouse!’ so, it’s small little things.

 

I absolutely don’t want to, I strive very hard not to change Miyazaki’s vision because his movies are, you know, so deep and so unique, and you know, sometimes some of the stuff we don’t quite understand, but that’s how he intended it. So I’m not gonna sit there and clarify and add story to his stuff. I’m gonna leave it to where he wants things explained or wants to leave things ambiguous. And you know, he’s that way, and then just get out of the way.

 

And, you know, just try to cast the actors and do the performances so it sounds natural for our ears, you know. Even though we don’t change the characters names, you know. I have a funny story; when we were doing ‘Spirited Away’ the, it’s a very clever thing. The name, if you know the story they go into this world, and, uh, the witch kind of changes peoples, takes peoples names. And the names she gives them are sort of the tasks they do at the bathhouse. And it’s very clever, right? And so, we’re sitting there going, ‘What do we do?” Do we change the name or keep the Japanese name and do something. So I sent a message over to Miyazaki-san, ‘What would you like us to do with this?’ And he says, “I think that for people to understand, the audiences to truly understand my movies is that they should all learn Japanese.’ And I go, ‘Miyazaki-san, that won’t do.’ And he said, ‘John I trust you so do what you want to do.’ So what we did is we kept the Japanese name, but as soon as you introduce a character, say, ‘Oh, the boiler man!’ or whatever like that. And we tried to achieve sort of the same thing, but keeping the name.

 

I like to keep his original name. Like, the boy in Ponyo’s name is Soskai, and it took me a long time to learn how to pronounce properly.

 

 

Q: Why hasn’t Miyazaki had a crossover hit here in the US? Is it perhaps because American fans are more interested in deconstructing their heroes versus heroes who tend to be more noble and try to overcome their flaws like many of Miyazaki’s heroes?

 

Lasseter: That’s a very good question. I haven’t ever really thought of it quite that way, though it’s an interesting observation. Frankly, it’s a simple fact too, also that the box office equals the number of theaters it was in. I mean, [spirited Away] was in 100 theaters nationwide. So now we’re going to be in 800 theaters. It’s a nice medium sized release, so we’re excited about that.

 

I believe in this one thing. I’ve been a big advocate within the Disney company of trying to get Miyazaki’s films out there for the DVD releases as well as for the theatrical releases because I believe that once you see a Miyazaki film once, you get hooked. You keep thinking about it well after you’ve seen it and you want to see it again. My sons, I have five sons, and I came back in 1987 with his films on Japanese Laserdiscs and we would sit and watch them in Japanese! Like, ‘Totoro’ and all those films. And they just communicate. It’s unbelievable!

 

Chuck Jones always said with great animation you should be able to turn the sound off and still tell what’s going on. and by and large his films, you can watch and just sort of feel what’s going on. and, um, there’s some subtly and depth to the language, but one of the things you’ve tapped into with your question is the messages in all his films. He gets into pretty deep issues of the environment, of growing up, of, you know, of moving on, of all these things. And he handles it so beautifully. It’s almost like this thing you don’t quite realize that he’s getting to you in some ways.

 

And my sons just, it’s their favorite movies. They’re constantly taking the DVD’s over to friends houses to introduce them to ‘Princess Mononoke’ and ‘Totoro’ you know, ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and all of them. So they’re great.

 

Those films have been one of the things that have been tremendously influential to me as a filmmaker. And one of the things that Miyazaki has done that has been so inspirational is, actually Hollywood movies I think keep going the opposite direction. He celebrates the quiet moments of a film. if you watch his films, there is always a lull before the action that makes the action just that much more and if you watch ‘Up’ it’s really really influenced by that. And, I think it’s really, really great.

[jakobnicholas]

This is a very sweet and fun and beautiful film. Most of Miyazaki's films are darker and more mature than "Ponyo". But for me that didn't lessen the enjoyment of the film. The animation is so great....especially knowing it's all hand-drawn. Much of the focus of the film is on the ocean, and Miyazaki supposedly spent a lot of his time on making the ocean look as wonderful as it does. It's got Miyazaki's typical quirkiness throughout, but it's scaled-back more.

 

The American voices (directed mainly by John Lassiter) sounded really good and the words and phrases sounded natural. I didn't notice any awkward lines because of translaltion issues.

 

 

I thought Pixar's "Up" might be a lock for best animated movie of 2009, but now I'm not so sure.

[explodo]

This was good, but I think, for me, a little something was lost from his previous works. I still liked it quite a bit, but I felt it lacked the usual sense of magic. Still beautiful and well-worth seeing. And I noticed only one awkward line of dialogue, so that's a win as far as I'm concerned. I was mortified when I saw the voice-acting lineup.

[PopTodd]

Wife and kids are going to see this today while I'm at work. Looking forward to hearing what they think of it.

[PopTodd]

The verdict from the family is that it is not one of his best films, but that it's still Miyazaki... which means that it's still pretty great.

Apparently the family ranking goes something like:

1. Spirited Away

2. Howl's Moving Castle

3. Castle in the Sky

4. Princess Monoke

5. Ponyo

6. Naussica

.

.

.

.

My Neighbor Totoro

[jakobnicholas]

This was good, but I think, for me, a little something was lost from his previous works. I still liked it quite a bit, but I felt it lacked the usual sense of magic. Still beautiful and well-worth seeing. And I noticed only one awkward line of dialogue, so that's a win as far as I'm concerned. I was mortified when I saw the voice-acting lineup.

 

 

I pretty much agree.

 

To make a music comparison, for me Ponyo is kind of like a really great pop record....maybe like R.E.M.'s "Out of Time" or Fountains of Wayne's "Utopia Parkway". But I'm used to his movies being more like "Kid A" or "Sgt. Pepper's".

 

I think it was Miyazaki's INTENT to make a more easily-understood movie that more kids could get enjoyment out of. But the magic for me was how, though aimed at a younger audience, I was still able to get wrapped up in the movie visually and emotionally. I might prefer his darker and quirkier films, but really enjoyed this one.

[ZenLunatic]

The verdict from the family is that it is not one of his best films, but that it's still Miyazaki... which means that it's still pretty great.

Apparently the family ranking goes something like:

1. Spirited Away

2. Howl's Moving Castle

3. Castle in the Sky

4. Princess Monoke

5. Ponyo

6. Naussica

.

.

.

.

My Neighbor Totoro

 

 

Is this hinting that "My Neigbor Totoro" is not good. I just saw Howl's Moving Castle last night, cool movie.

[PopTodd]

Is this hinting that "My Neigbor Totoro" is not good. I just saw Howl's Moving Castle last night, cool movie.

 

It was the only one that we didn't get through. Kids got bored.