| My Little Ponyo (BR) review. |       |
I wasn't sure when I was going to see this, I could have possibly watched it, when I was in Japan, but I decided not to due to language issues.
I had planned to get the JPN DVD on release, but as soon as I heard of a later Blu Ray release I steeled myself to wait a few more months or so in order to get the High Def version, so the title was placed on my Christmas list and I crossed my fingers and kept my finger off the 'buy' trigger at Yesasia.
Fortunately the months sailed by and I was gifted one of the first run Blu Rays and someone also got me the Ponyo storybook, which was a nice tough, pics at the bottom, excuse the quality mind.
I certainly enjoyed Ponyo and was particularly touched with the cute moments between Ponyo and Sosuke, although I believe that Totoro is still the better film (Miyazaki wanted to 1UP Totoro).
I think that with the last Miyazaki film he seemed to loose focus during the final quarter of the film. Howl's at first viewing it was jarring and abrupt, (although I have grown to really like Howl's regardless), so if you are first dipping into a Ghibli film, then something like Howls can be viewed as rushed.
Ponyo was certainly much better paced, although I believe that there was some convulsion. That said, it must have been very difficult to produce this film as we have to bear in mind that the foremost target was young children, so there had to be enough to engage the younger viewers all the way through and I believe that this was largely a success.
The story was straightforward but not contrived, there was a little over indulgence towards the end and a lack of focus on one of the supporting characters as the story developed, but it was nonetheless sound and understandable and at times very engaging.
I think the relationship between Ponyo and Sosuke was very well presented and certainly there behaviour was what you would expect of them and as charming and cute as you could make them. If Miyazaki wanted to portray innocent love that you reach out and connect with, then this was a success.
I thought the animation was very good, although there were some parts in the very beginning that were a little spartan and out of place - even expecting that the style was to be simplified a little. But in the overwhelming majority, it was to the usual exquisite Ghibli standards and in places where it did get all detailed and moving it was absolutely fabulous.
This is the first Ghibli title on Blu Ray and the PQ was very much up to what I had expected and comparable to the other anime titles that I currently have, although I have to confess that as pristine and clear as it was, a more busily animated film benefits more from the change for format from DVD to Blu Ray.
The musical score was great (lets face it Hisaishi is a master), I already have had the OST for some time though, so I knew the pieces, although was still impressed with the synergy of music with scenes.
The Blu Ray (and I think DVD too) has the version with the American audio track, albeit with non removable Japanese subtitles and this was hidden in the special features section - second option on the left.
The audio quality is not meant to be of the same quality of the rest of the audio tracks, but I did not notice this as I do not have a pimped up home audio system.
It's a little strange as you can select almost half a dozen languages when playing the film except English, this might be to do with the last minute inclusion of this language option, although I'm not sure why they didn't choose to include this in the first place.
I have tried watching with the American dub, but it really grates and is another typical cock up (why can't they keep things simple and not add extra dialogue to a scene).
Usual Disney rubbish basically with the dub, including that God Awful remixed song at the end that makes me want to punch Lasseter in the fun bits and strangle those awful brats.
I really thought that with him at the helm, that, at last Disney would treat Ghibli titles with respect, but yet again they poorly manage promote, produce and distribute a Ghibli title ... wishful thinking I guess.
Anyway enough of slagging of Disney, I watched this on Boxing Day (26th of Dec), with my sister's family - husband and 2 girls of 13 and 8, at the time I could not find the area to change the audio to English because it is not immediately obvious where it is - as mentioned previously.
My initial preference was due to my youngest niece who has trouble with subtitles. Nonetheless she seemed to just about cope with the subtitles - although she was not as engaged as she would have been had she been able to understand everything fully, although Ponyo is largely a fairly simply film that I dare say you could watch and enjoy to a degree without any English titles or Dub.
I was most surprised to find that my eldest niece along with my sister and husband seemed transfixed at points, I had thought that my eldest niece was at that age where she would be indifferent to this type of film, nonetheless she definitely enjoyed it along with my sister ... my brother in law unfortunately dozed off towards the end (that might have been helped by alcohol consumed during the day though).
Anyway, one and all pretty much enjoyed it, as did I, it's certainly well produced and engaging quality animated film, although I would hesitate (only very slightly) to put it on par with the majority of Miyazaki's catalogue.
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01.02.2010, 02:19 PM
