Miyazaki's latest doing well at box office

Even the Dark Knight can’t beat Studio Ghili…
For those Miyazaki fans out there (and this is somewhat on-topic actually, since Pixar staff has been handling the US video releases of the Ghibli library), I just found this online:

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (pictured at right), Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film in nearly four years, is about to complete its first month at #1 at the Japanese box office after the August 9–10 weekend. Despite the recent start of Beijing 2008 Olympics, Ponyo’s latest weekend box office take was still 760 million yen (about US$7 million), or 96.8% of the previous weekend’s take. A total of 6 million people have now seen the film, and it has garnered over 7.2 billion yen (US$66 million) as of Monday. Even Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which is poised to take the #2 spot in the all-time international box office chart from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, settled for #2 in its Japanese opening this past weekend.

animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 … th-at-no.1

What a coincidence. I was recently wondering whatever happened to Studio Ghibli. I wnder when we’ll get it.

Ponyo! That’s my favorite movie.
I am glad that it’s doing so well, it just passed the 10-billion-yen mark! However I hope it is not Miyazaki’s last film, just the thought of him making a “last film” is sad.
It’s supposed to come out in the US in '09 :neutral_face:

I read that Miyazaki will still be making shorts, but that this is his last full-length film.

I also read that he’s said that before, so nobody really knows.

For those who have seen Ponyo - what has the better shot at the Oscar? Ponyo or Wall-E?

Ponyo was very good but i’d still have to say Wall*E.

It’s not going to be released in the US this year as far as I can remember, so it would no chance to compete with Wall-E.

Miyazaki has another movie that hasn’t been released in the US yet, called “Tales of Earthsea.” I happened to stumble upon it on Veoh TV early this year, and it was amazing. I wonder if they still plan on releasing it here.

I think Wall-E definitely has the Oscar. Ponyo is equally great, but in a very different way if that makes sense :laughing:

I heard “Earthsea” comes out next year…something about legal stuff. But it’s coming, I believe.

Not Hayao Miyazaki. His son, Goro Miyazaki (no affiliation with Mortal Kombat), directed it. I thought it paled in comparison to other Ghibli films myself.

I was going to create a new thread, but found that someone already posted this for the trailer. Could the original poster or one of the mods/admins change the title to “Ponyo Cliff by the Sea”? That aside, here I go with my review! :slight_smile: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

Anyway, I caught it today alone, since none of my friends or family were interested in watching. Crowd report: It was in a small theatre with only 8 rows and only about the three back rows were occupied. I was aware of a large family in front of me, a kid and his mum to my left and a snogging couple to my right. The kid on the left in particular was pretty restless during the slower scenes.

Anyway, they showed the Ice Age 3 trailer featuring Scrat and his lady friend, which brought a lot of laughs at the twist ending, then they showed Monsters Vs Aliens, which funnily resulted in only one or two kids laughing. I think they showed Hotel for Dogs in the middle (what’s with all the dog movies? BHC, Bolt, Marley and Me?) which brought about no discernible laughs.

But on to the show. Ponyo, in case you didn’t watch the trailer or read the plot description, is basically Miyazaki’s take on “The Little Mermaid”, but set in Japan. Sosuke, a five-year-old boy, discovers what he thinks is a goldfish, and takes care of it, naming it Ponyo. Ponyo falls in love with Sosuke, and wishes to become a girl so she could spend more time with him on land. Unknown to him, she is really the daughter of an evil undersea sorcerer, and his actions will have repercussions for his entire seaside town, and very possibly, the entire ocean world.

Miyazaki delivers another home-run for what is apparently is his last movie, and it succeeds mainly because of its 1) awe-inspiring set-pieces, and 2) detailed secondary character animations.

With regards to the first kudos, the colour palette reminds me of a children’s storybook or a crayon drawing. It’s very juvenille (but not childish), and suits its cheerful theme. The coastal setting is beautiful and the ocean action sequences are wonderfully rendered. There were a lot of memorable scenes, the Ponyo’s jellyfish rise-to-the-surface in the opening sequence, the tsunami waves chasing the car while Ponyo runs on the surface, Sosuke and Ponyo’s boat journey to search for his mum, etc.

As for the second comment, most people would be familiar with this observation. Miyazaki’s animators did a fine job of making characters who behave and act in a very believable manner. While other studios go for larger-than-life, zany and exaggerated actions ahemDreamworkscough, Ghibli (and to a certain extent, Pixar) animates its characters with understated subtlety. There are many examples, like how the mum balances her shopping bags and kicks one on the floor past the doorway, or how Sosuke licks his spoon after stirring honey into his tea, or how Ponyo tries to (unsuccessfully) break her instant noodle cake.

With regards to the characters, they all are fairly well-developed and have intriguing stories and histories. The mother, in particular, was intriguing as a zany parent who doesn’t ‘speak down’ to her son, and harbours a longing for her husband’s absence on his frequent sea voyages. As for the romance aspect, in many respects, Ponyo is similar to Wall-E’s love story. The more ‘matured’ male protagonist has to teach the more impulsive force-of-nature female a few social graces, as well as his endearing efforts to search for her when she goes missing. Both are alike also in the sense that both loves are honest and true in their childlike-chastity.

The only criticisms I have is that the story isn’t as particularly thought-provoking or ground-breaking as Miyazaki’s previous efforts like Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. Certain story elements reminded me of other films like Free Willy or The Perfect Storm, and some scenes (like the mysterious tunnel in the hill-side and the infinite sea of a world underwater) are reminiscent of Spirited Away. There was an unnecessary scene involving a family on a boat with a very grumpy-looking baby, the final ‘test’ was kinda anti-climatic (not to mention that it didn’t make much sense), and the ending entirely predictable. Even the credits was the shortest I’ve seen for a film, period (probably about two minutes in length). But they never really promised anything in the trailers beyond a sweet love tale between a boy and the fish who wanted to be the girl, so these shortcoming are somewhat forgivable.

So, all in all, you’ve got the standard Miyazaki formula of weird fantastical looking creatures, a huge action set-piece or two, a tender romance, and a deep-rooted environmental message to the audience. Not that I’m complaining. Ponyo is a quiet triumph, mainly because of its adorably kawaii protagonists, beautiful secondary animation that reveal a great deal about the characters, pretty scenery and breathtaking visuals. If the plot was tightened a bit, and a more arduous climax included, then this would be a much more compelling movie. But as it is, it’s a very optimistic and cheerful film, one that should leave you with an enormous goofy grin as you leave the theatre.

“Ponyo! Sosuke! Suki!” :smiley:

Tales of EarthSea… was an ok animated movie, but it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights achieved by the other Studio Ghibli films.

Hayao Miyazaki has also been… surprisingly dismissive of his son’s work.

Nice review, driveintheater!

Though, the baby scene (as I fondly call him/her “Sandwich Baby”) was said to have been included at the last moment to demonstrate that Ponyo could be kind to others, as in not selfish.
I love that Sandwich Baby. Gosh. Did they mention if it was boy or girl? It’s been killing me since July! The SB is wearing pink AND blue…

Nice news: U.S. release for this movie is August 14, 2009

Kyr - Yeah, I was disappointed with EarthSea too… it surprisingly got the Japan Raspberry Award for Worst Movie and Worst Director for Goro Miyazaki.
But according to the Wiki, his dad acknowledges that he (Goro) had good intentions, and their previous rift seems to be healing. :slight_smile:

Kolya - Thanks! Ahahah, Sandwich Baby! Nice nickname! I can’t really remember, but I always thought of it as a boy…
August! :open_mouth: That’s more than a year after the Japanese release and months after the promised first quarter target! Man, that is slow.

Aw… how come there’s so few comments on my review? Are people excited for this movie? I know it’s not just about me, but that piece didn’t exactly take minutes to do… :confused:

I saw it this weekend and actually didn’t like it. The characters and story were just not at all interesting. I’ve only seen it once but this will likely end up on the bottom rung of my personal Ghibli rankings.

Wow! :astonished: I did’nt know Ghibli could go so low. I just have one question. Is Ponyo just playing in select theaters. I can’t find it anywhere. When I see this I’ll see if it’s really as bad as it’s said to be. I really hope it’s not. :cry: :laughing:

news-briefs.ew.com/2009/03/miyazaki-ponyo.html

It’ll be in US theaters August 14th with a shudder english dub. No word on the number of theaters though.

It’s not so much bad as underwhelming. If you have high expectations, then it won’t meet them, but if you go in with an clear head (if you’re like me, you can remove your brain from your head cavity at the door :laughing:), then you should find this pretty enjoyable.

I’m not implying that the viewer has to be dumb or anything to appreciate it. It’s just not as thought-provoking or eyeball-searing as Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away or any of the greats, but more of the whimsical fun and childish wonder of My Neighbour Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service.