Ponyo?

[tanyaandallie]

This movie opened today and I'd love some feedback. Honestly, I had never heard of it until I got an email from Disney today. I've been to a few movies recently and have never even seen the preview. The online preview looks good, though, and my kids both seemed interested. Would love some reviews if anyone sees it this weekend!

 

[mom2val]

My dd 8 has had Ponyo written on the calendar for a few weeks. She was so excited to go see it today. We went to the first showing here. She loved it. She loves Japanese cartoons. As soon as it was over she wanted to know when we could come watch it again.

I have a movie scale that I use to judge all kids movies. In my opinion the worst movie I have ever had to sit through was Doogal. In my opinion Ponyo was Doogal bad. That being said I'm sure we'll have to go see it again next week and when it comes out on DVD I'll buy it for her.

 

[DISNEYNV]

It can't be any worse than seeing Hotel for Dogs...twice!!! I do want to see Ponyo, but when I mentioned it yesterday to my DD5 she was like,"what it that! They didn't do a very good job of marketing this one!

 

[tanyaandallie]

OK, I never saw Doogal and have honestly not watched many Japanese cartoons. What made it so bad? I don't want to waste $$ on it!! Can't take the fam to a movie for less than $50 these days!!!

I agree on the marketing. Weird that I truly had never heard of it! The Frog and the Princess I'm all over!

 

[LWatson]

I just started seeing advertisement last week for it on Disney w/ the Little Cyrus sister and Little Jonas brother. My 3.5yr old looks at the commercial (or whatever they call that) for it and goes "Mommy thats weird." I dont know if this is going to be a hit for them.

 

[wvdislover]

My dd 8 has had Ponyo written on the calendar for a few weeks. She was so excited to go see it today. We went to the first showing here. She loved it. She loves Japanese cartoons. As soon as it was over she wanted to know when we could come watch it again.

I have a movie scale that I use to judge all kids movies. In my opinion the worst movie I have ever had to sit through was Doogal. In my opinion Ponyo was Doogal bad. That being said I'm sure we'll have to go see it again next week and when it comes out on DVD I'll buy it for her.

If it were me, I'd be telling DD that b/c movies are so expensive, we couldn't go see it again, and we'll just have to wait for it to come out on DVD to see it again, especially if it's one of the worst movies YOU'VE seen! There aren't ANY movies we go see twice these days. In fact, we've very picky about which movies we DO go see in the theater, since it's gotten so expensive. Most of the time, we can just wait for movies to come out on DVD, and then rent it for $1 through RedBox

 

[mom2val]

Info about Ponyo from Slashfilm.com......

Legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea will finally be getting a domestic release. The film was released last July in Japan, and has since grossed over ¥15.0 billion ($153.1 million). Disney’s John Lasseter has been working with Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy to make the American release of the movie, Miyazaki’s “biggest hit ever Stateside.” Spirited Away earned a little more than $10 million stateside on 714 screens, and the plan is to give Ponyo an even wider release. The movie, retitled just Ponyo, hits theaters on August 14th 2009, and Disney has announced the English-language voice cast.

Noah Cyrus provides the voice of a baby goldfish named Ponyo who desires to be a human, and gets her wish. She runs away from her home in the sea and befriends a five-year-old human boy named S?suke (voiced by Frankie Jonas). Other cast members include Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin and Betty White.



I would hope that /Film readers have seen some of Miyazaki’s films, but for those of you who haven’t, here are the cliff notes: Miyazaki is considered not only the Walt Disney, but also in some ways the Steven Spielberg of Japan. To give you an example of his success, Spirited Away overtook Titanic to become the highest grossing film in Japanese history. His films aren’t just commercial successes but also critically acclaimed both in Japan and in America.

Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke have won Picture of the Year at the Japan Academy Prize (basically the equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards). Spirited Away also holds the honor of being the only anime film to ever win an American Academy Award. If you haven’t seen any of his movies, I recommend that you run (not walk) to the store right now and buy (not rent) Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Tororo and Howl’s Moving Castle.

 

[Tosie]

Spirited Away is by far one of my most favorite movies. Howl's Moving Castle is not far behind.

They are "odd" stories but they are absolutely wonderful and the animation is beautiful.

I can't wait to see Ponyo.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Spirited Away is by far one of my most favorite movies. Howl's Moving Castle is not far behind.

They are "odd" stories but they are absolutely wonderful and the animation is beautiful.

I can't wait to see Ponyo.

I couldn't agree more. My daughters both LOVE japanese anime movies and manga books. We own both of the movies you mentioned. We were planning to see Ponyo yesterday, but it isn't playing anywhere near our house! We have 3 movie theaters within a 25 mile radius, and it just isn't showing! What a disappointment to them.

 

[carj]

My 6 year old wants to see this and we probably will since we see just about every kid movie that comes out. We love going to the movies.

While I didn't think that Doogal was the worst movie I have ever seen, it was definitely in the top 10! That doesn't give me much hope! I am going with Happily Never After and Despereaux being the worst movies for kids. I know some people loved it but I thought it was sooooo gloomy.

It was strange to me that we didn't see any advertisements for Ponyo until the last month. Like I said, we go to see just about every kid movie that comes out. I think that the first preview that we saw was in the last few weeks.

 

[epriepke]

My kids both loved Ponyo. After having watched about 5 diff. Miyazaki movies, this one was by far the most 'simplistic', easy to follow for me. My 10 year old is a big fan on his, and she was super excited to see this one. My 4 year old loved the commercials, and they both were searching online for more clips. They both enjoyed seeing this movie. There's a few bits that moved a bit slower for the 4 year old, but she sat really well for the whole thing.
My husband and I both enjoyed just being able to watch the movie without trying to figure out what was going on...

 

[mmounsey]

We love Miyazaki films...I think have seen most...my favorites are Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Kiki's Delivery Service.

We were actually supposed to see Ponyo today, but our plans were changed. I'd like to try and see it in the theatre, but if not, the DVD is certainly in our future.

To me, he is like the Japan version of Walt Disney. His movies are amazing! Go see it! A matinee if you don't want to to fork out full price for something you're not sure about...

 

[Tiffany_PartyOf7]

Yeah, uhh, we won't be seeing Ponyo - the previews just looked strange LOL - we will Redbox it when it comes out.

 

[Scurvy]

My kids both loved Ponyo. After having watched about 5 diff. Miyazaki movies, this one was by far the most 'simplistic', easy to follow for me.

I've heard something similar in the reviews I've read. Some people are calling this Miyazaki's take on a kid's movie, since it is the most kid friendly of his movies. Supposedly it is most similar to "My Neighbor Totoro", though even more kid friendly than that one. (For those who have not seen his movies, they are not really just aimed at kids even though they are animated. Some of them are quite complex.) All the reviews I've seen have been very good, though.

I'm torn about whether or not to see this one in a theater - I prefer to watch his movies in Japanese with English subtitles. One of the only criticisms I've read about Ponyo is that the recognizable American voices can detract from the movie. I have found that to be the case with the previous movies, but I doubt that kids would be bothered by this at all. (And I imagine it probably doesn't bother most other adults, either.)

If you aren't familiar with Japanese animation (and Miyazaki in particular) you might find his movies odd. I would recommend watching "My Neighbor Totoro" first. If you don't like that one, you might not like Ponyo.

 

[Sorsha]

My 14 year old LOVES all things Japanese and is a huge Miyazaki fan. She has seen nearly all of his movies and each time we get a new one from Netflix she watches it first, and then if she thinks its kid-friendly enough she watches it again with DD6 and DD9.

Their favorite, by far, has been My Neighbor Totoro... the 6 year old adored it, and they both "understood" the story and grasped the concepts. I thought it was a very sweet story.

They have also seen, and enjoyed, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle... I think they have seen Princess Mononoke too.

Anyway, all three of them are SUPER excited for Ponyo, and its the first time in a long time DD14 has voluntarily asked if she could take her sisters out in public with her.

 

[jlindemer]

We're lucky----we have a Kerasotes theater 20 miles away that shows movies (after the first month of the release date) for $3 before 6 and $5 after! Plus, they give you free popcorn!

So, I'll probably wait until Ponyo is at that theatre before I take the kids. They said it looks more like a Cartoon Network show than a Disney movie. They want to see it, but they aren't 100% sure they are going to like it.

And, I will agree, I only heard about it this week---not a very good job marketing it.

 

[dwfanatic]

Haven't seen it yet but both DS's (6 and 13) are eager to. I agree with the other posters- Miyazaki is an aquired taste...it took me many months to sit through Spirited Away, but then I got it !! We love Japanese anime in our house. We actually stay at a vacation home near where Splended China is and everytime we go there I think of Spirited Away- it's our family's inside joke (yeah I know it's actually CHINA, but it's an abandonded theme park...) It looks simplistic on the commercials (in comparison to other Miyazaki films) but the animation is to be appreciated.

 

[lemonsours]

After seeing the commercials on the Disney channel for the past month (nowhere else, though) DD4 (almost 5) wanted to see it, so I took her and she loved it. However, she spent the whole movie in my lap and cried several times. The animation is beautiful, but several parts of the story are very dark (Soske gets separated from his Mom in a big storm, evil looking sea creatures trying to capture Ponyo), and I got the impression that something was lost in the translation. And the american actors voices are annoying, to say the least.
Marce

 

[DISNEYNV]

Saw Ponyo today with DD5 and I thought it was a very creative story that had a moral to it as well...not sure if my five year old "got" it though, but she did think it was a bit long I liked it!!!

 

[laceemouse]

Haven't seen it yet but both DS's (6 and 13) are eager to. I agree with the other posters- Miyazaki is an aquired taste...it took me many months to sit through Spirited Away, but then I got it !! We love Japanese anime in or house. We actually stay at a vacation home near where Splended China is and everytime we go there I think of Spirited Away- it's our family's inside joke (yeah I know it's actually CHINA, but it's an abandonded theme park...) It looks simplistic on the commercials (in comparison to other Miyazaki films) but the animation is to be appreciated.

Agree, we are huge Miyazaki fans too. We are in good company, John Lasseter LOVES him too