Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008)

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writer:

Hayao Miyazaki (written by)

Release Date:

14 August 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Welcome To A World Where Anything Is Possible.

Plot:

An animated adventure centered on a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who longs to become human.

Plot Keywords:

5 Year Old | Sea | Princess | Becoming Human | Magic

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Yuria Nara	...	Ponyo (voice: Japanese Version)
Hiroki Doi	...	Sosuke (voice: Japanese Version)
Jôji Tokoro	...	Fujimoto (voice: Japanese Version)
Tomoko Yamaguchi	...	Risa (voice: Japanese Version)
Yûki Amami	...	Guranmamare (voice: Japanese Version)
Kazushige Nagashima	...	Kôichi (voice: Japanese Version)
Akiko Yano	...	Ponyo no kyôdai (voice: Japanese Version)
Shinichi Hatori	...	Anchorman (voice: Japanese Version)
Tokie Hidari	...	Kayo (voice: Japanese Version)
Eimi Hiraoka	...	Kumiko (voice: Japanese Version)
Rumi Hîragi	...	Young Mother (voice: Japanese Version)
Tomoko Naraoka	...	Yoshie (voice: Japanese Version)
Nozomi Ohashi	...	Karen (voice: Japanese Version)
Kazuko Yoshiyuki	...	Toki (voice: Japanese Version)
Akihiko Ishizumi	...	(voice: Japanese Version)

Also Known As:

Ponyo (USA)
Ponyo on the Cliff (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Australia)
Untitled Hayao Miyazaki Project (International: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES

Certification:

South Korea:All | Hong Kong:I | Singapore:G | Taiwan:GP | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:AL | Belgium:KT | USA:G (certificate #45429) | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (subtitled version) | Canada:G (all jurisdictions) | Australia:G | Mexico:A | New Zealand:G | Sweden:7 | Ireland:G | UK:U | Denmark:7

Company:

Studio Ghibli

Trivia:

The opening 12 seconds, involving vast schools of fish and undersea creatures, required 1613 pages of conceptual sketches to develop.

Quotes:

Sosuke: [after several waves with eyes fail to catch him by the shore] That was weird.

Movie Connections:

References Tonari no Totoro (1988)

Soundtrack:

Umi no o-kaasan

Great movie for kids but something was missing

As a long-time fan of Studio Ghibli and especially Hayao Miyazaki films, I went to the film right on the opening day. When I went out of the theater I had this strange feeling that something was missing, this "magical" feeling I was experiencing in all Miyazaki films before, but I couldn't say why it failed this time. After I thought about the other Ghibli movies, I may know the reason: this film had most of the elements of a great Miyazaki anime: cute characters, wonderful key animation, a great soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi and the warm story telling giving you the feeling of watching a high quality Japanese animation film. However, two elements were lacking: a deep story and dramaturgy. The purpose of this film was obviously to entertain small children with a simple story line as in case of "Totoro", so a complicated story as been told in "Spirited Away" or "Princess Mononoke" is not really necessary, but on the other hand, this story was simply too superficial. I could not connect to the main characters, because there was no character development, dramatic scenes were only limited and did not last very long. I really hate to give only 7 stars for a Miyazaki film, because I would give 10 stars to all previous movies right away, but this time it was simply not this wonderful "ghibli experience".