Tag: Ponyo

The Secret of Kells

Don had a short post linking to a tantalizing new animated film called Secret of Kells which seems to only be released in Irish theaters at present, but would be a prime candidate for torrenting (assuming Pirate Bay can get back online; I don’t torrent enough nowadays to be able to sustain a BakaBT account like Steven does).

The animation has an exotic brushstroke painting feel to it, and there’s a gaggle of reviews online that are praising the storyline, with plenty of references to Miyazaki. I’m a little hesitant, since everyone universally praised Ponyo as the awesomest thing ever, but was a disappointment to me. Still, if this appears in local theaters then its a natural target for me and my 8yr old.

Finding Ponyo

The trailers for Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo on a Cliff are out, and the influence of Disney/Pixar animation honcho John Lassiter is rather apparent from the poster art:

PonyoPosterSm.jpg

Check out that font, complete with little ocean wave! 🙂 Plus here’s a bonus image still from the movie, which makes me suspect that Ponyo is going to have a very Mai-from-Totoro personality:

Here’s some more info on the film from AICN Anime:

The film hits theatres August 14th.

Noah Cyrus will voice the goldfish who wants to be a human and Frankie Jonas will be her human friend Sosuke while other cast members include Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin and Betty White.

[…]

For hints on how Disney has handled the film, check out producer producer Frank Marshall’s recent conversation with Sci-Fi Wire.

In January, Variety reported that John Pixar’s Lasseter was working with Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy to make Hayao Miyazaki/Ghibli’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea “the studio’s biggest hit ever Stateside.” According to the piece, Ghibli has been frustrated that their films have only found a niche audience about anime fans and arthouse goers.

From the Variety piece:

The goal is to boost both the number of screens and the box office take beyond Ghibli’s record for a U.S. release set by “Spirited Away,” the Miyazaki toon that earned a little more than $10 million on 714 screens in 2002 and 2003.

Ponyo is coming

Good news – Ponyo on a Cliff will have much wider distribution than most previous Miyazaki films have had thus far in the US market. The voice line-up for the english dub is suitably all-star, including Matt Damon and Tina Fey.

In other news, there’s a lot of interesting anime coming out soon – including Eden of the East:

and Cat Sh%t One, a retelling of the Iran hostage crisis, with animated bunnies:

There’s also a new Fullmetal Alchemist (which other otakusphere stalwarts have been mentioning of late), a sequel to Battleship Yamato, Evangelion 2.0, and a bunch of original stuff that looks pretty interesting. More details at ANN.