I noticed that in the Japanese version Sosuke, the little boy, calls his mother by her first name, Lisa. Is this the norm in Japan?
No. Are you sure it was his biological mother?
Just got back from a showing – I took MilliCal. She liked it, but the realities bothered her – “How could a mother leave two five-year-olds alone? Didn’t it bother anyone that two five year olds are out boating by themselves in a flood>” She’s lost a little of the Sense of Magic.
I’d seen the very beginning (in Japanese) at Arisia last January, so I’d been very curious. It didn’t work quite as well for either of us as Miyazaki’s earlier works, which MiliCal is a big fan of.
I couldn’t help thinking that Ponyo looks like a “cute” version of Lovecraft’s Innsmouth people, especially when she’s in her in-between part-human-part-fish-part-frog stage. And Sosuke will go with Ponyo and dwell in the joys of the Deep. Forever.
I think he refers to Lisa as his mother. And the man on the boat who is married to Lisa, he calls his father. But he also refers to him by his first name.
I’m guessing that it will be good. I haven’t seen Ponyo, but I’ve seen almost every other film by Miyazaki. They are definitely not just for little kids (not sure if Ponyo will be a departure from that or not); I was amazed by the complex messages that don’t get obtrusively didactic or complacently dichotomous (unlike Disney films), the deployment of complex female characters who possess almost gender-neutral, at least deeply ambiguous characterization (again, unlike Disney), the destabilizing effect from mixing fact and fiction to challenge our notions of reality and culture, the symbolism, etc. Especially with Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, I couldn’t believe the complexity and sophistication of his films. Genius, that Miyazaki.
Like…so? 
I got my mom into Miyazaki a few years back, so we went to go see *Ponyo *on Monday (FWIW, she’s 52 and I’m 26). It’s definitely a kids’ movie, but it’s still a lot of fun for adults. And, of course, visually stunning.
I loved it. Not as superb as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, but good.
As for the boy calling his parents by name and being left on his own during the storm and the aftermath, that is a typical conceit of fairy tales–children act and are treated as adults.
I don’t believe it was entirely hand drawn. If I remember the commentary on Spirited Away, only the key frames are hand drawn. The inbetweens are computer assisted. Miyazaki complains about this, but it’s a financial necessity these days.
I really liked this movie. I prefer the simpler films like this and Totoro (although Spirited Away was incredible, I must admit). This was a beautiful film, full of the wonder of the sea, and with many unexpected delights. Just as a random aside: I really liked how they did the end credits, which each animator having a little drawing by them (presumably by the animator?) It’s a great way to make what otherwise would be an endless list of names memorable and fun.
I was a bit confused by the ending, though. The father says or at least hints that Ponyo will still belong to the sea in some way, by which I thought she would still be able to change to and from a fish. However, Ponyo’s mother says she will lose her powers, and be just like a normal little girl. So I was a bit confused…
Agreed! I actually stayed to watch the whole end credits. 
My wife and I and a friend and his two 5-year-old twins all enjoyed it, although I don’t think it was anywhere near Spirited Away (or, for that matter, any of the top notch Pixar movies).
Does anyone know if you can actually get a little toy boat in japan which you power with a candle?
Sure. You can buy them most other places too.
Way more about Pop-Pop Boats than you’d probably want can be found here.
It was a good film, but nowhere near Miyazaki’s better films IMO (Spirited Away is simply one of the best films I have ever seen, and Howl’s Moving Castle is great). Perhaps my expectations of him were too high this time… 
I would have rated Ponyo well above Howl’s Moving Castle; part of that is a bit of disappointment that it wasn’t a more faithful adaptation. The rest is that I thought it had some great components that didn’t gel very well and it felt a bit choppy at the end. Ponyo is simpler, but it held together better, I thought, even for being aimed at a younger audience. Neither of them hold a candle to Spirited Away, though.
I took my inner kid to see it yesterday, he enjoyed it very much.
The subtitles (it was in japanese) where a bit hard to follow, what with being both in English and Thai and they had some awful flickering and artifacts going on.
I tend to agree. I came out slightly disappointed. Nowhere near as good as most of his movies (especially Spirited Away). It did elements I liked quite a bit, but It never made a whole lot of sense. The two kids are being tested and if the pass, they save the world, and the test basically consists of “do you love her?” :dubious:
Still, a weak Miyazaki will be quite good.
I think the main problem people are having in comparing *Ponyo *to *Spirited Away *or *Princess Mononoke *is that it’s designed for a younger audience.
I saw it and enjoyed the design, story and acting, but as always with Miyazaki, was disappointed with the technical quality of the animation. I saw the dubbed version because it really doesn’t matter. This “master of animation” still animates first, then dubs. He’s never apparently figured out how to animate to a pre-recorded soundtrack. This has been the standard since Steamboat Willy. Even in the original Japanese, his characters aren’t synced - hell, Robot Chicken has better lip sync!
Long sequences didn’t even appear to have been animated on the twos (12 frames per second) but on even fewer. If he was using computer tweening, he should have saved enough to have at least 12 fps.
It’s possible that I wouldn’t be so critical if his work wasn’t so consistently over-praised. He’s got a great imagination, and is a talented designer. But as an animator? I have a long list of much better animators, most of whom can’t get a project financed.
Finally managed to see this. Not the best Miyazaki but even so, it was pretty good. All we’ve had around here was the dubbed version so I’ve got a question on the pronunciation of Ponyo’s name – I’m figuring it was anglicized in translation. In romanji, Ponyo would be pronounced “pone-yo” with that first syllable like corn pone. In the movie, it was consistently pronounced “pahn-yo” with the first syllable like pond. In romanji, that would be spelled “Panyo.” Can anybody who heard the movie in Japanese confirm the way her name was pronounced originally?
In the Japanese version the characters pronounce it the same way the singers do in the theme song: