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Ponyo
崖の上のポニョ
2008 · Film · 100 min
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.
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29 comments on Hacker News
That documentary is a must-watch for any Miyazaki fan. They recorded the entire creation of Ponyo, from Miyazaki's watercolors to the final released movie.
It also shows why the movie ends as abruptly as it does and why Ghibli was eventually disbanded. With Takahata gone everything was bottlenecked by Miyazaki's himself, and he was simultaneously crumbling under the pressure and refusing to let anyone else have creative input in the studio.
I can't recommend a specific order but...
If looking for "adventure" go with Laputa, Cagliostro, maybe Porco Rosso.
If looking for something "warm" go with Totoro, Kiki, Ponyo.
If looking for something more "fantastical" (probably also more complex) try Howl's, Spirited Away, Nausicaä, Mononoke.
If you are willing to consider a TV show, then Sherlock Hound is really fun and delightful in every possible way. The complete series is IIRC 26 episodes.
Also, there are some non-Miyazaki but still Ghibli films which you may want to consider too. Personally, I absolutely love Mimi wo Sumaseba and I can hear the sea, but these may well be a bit uninteresting for a 10 year old; better for a teen probably over 15 I'd guess. Pompoko is clearly recommended for your age bracket though, and it's fun too.
Finally, there's the question of Grave of the Fireflies. I think 15 is probably fine, 10... maybe. But in any case, be warned that it's a very sad story and I have very rarely met someone who could watch it without crying profusely.
What an fantastic problem to have! A few Ghibli films are a tad too odd or serious in tone for a movie night, but I can heartily recommend Ponyo, M.N. Totoro, and Spirited Away, the first being probably the most light-hearted and simple fun.
> […] but they're too young right now.
Indeed they are. I have a five year old who is now old enough to choose his own films and series from a selection curated by us. A system like this would be fine for children of his age.
But 2 and 3? They are too young to choose their own media at all. Not because they can't, but because they can't judge the impact. For toddlers you really want to be the one in control about what they watch (and that horrible Bing can die in a tragic bunny bonfire).
The Lion King, Wall-E? That's just overloading them at that age (and both are rated 6+ in the Netherlands). You can start with those at 5 or so depending on the child, or later if you've noticed them reacting too intensely to films rated 6+. For now? Stick with shorts suitable for their age, and move on to films (like Ghibli's Ponyo) at 4 or 5 as a special treat.
Autonomy is all fine and well, but screens have an enormous impact on developing children. This is a really cool project, but you might want to reflect on how their brains are developing and what you as a parent can do to guide them.
I've been reading the original brother's grimm to kids for _years_ and the stories are always gripping. I don't love the reinforcing motifs of the world as perpetually experienced as dangerous, however.
I've been LOVING working through the Studio Ghibli anthology with my toddler. Been curating a list (and then finding the right file) of the movies they like with the best audio tracks. (she cannot read, so watching them in the original audio, while engaging, isn't as helpful as good dubs. Some english dubs have been terrible, some quite good.
We most recently watched Ponyo ["poh-noh-fish" as its sometimes called around here], had it playing on the background a few more times. She's been vastly less drawn to things like baby shark and it's ilk, with the availability of Ghibli's works, and we discuss the characters and events and the ups and downs in the movies throughout, and after.
The pacing, the anti-imperial bent, dignifying many oft-de-dignified tropes, the art, the music, the foley, the mystery and the spiritualism and obvious deep love of the harmony of nature. mmm. I've paid Jeff Bezos more than I wish I had in my pursuit of the best/easiest files, but alas. Here's my beta, if you'd like. [0]
I discovered Studio Ghibli only as an adult, more than 30 years old, so for anyone who doesn't know about it, you might be one of today's lucky 10,000. huzzah [1]
[0]: https://josh.works/recommended-reading#studio-ghibli [1]: https://xkcd.com/1053/
> try getting a coherent one out of The Little Mermaid.
It is possible to do just this, and to make a terrific and nurturing film out of it. See Ponyo.
I asked a frAInd what famous actors dubbed miyzazki movies:
"Spirited Away" (2001) - Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, and Susan Egan.
"Princess Mononoke" (1997) - Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton.
"My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) - Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.
"Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) - Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, and Billy Crystal.
"Ponyo" (2008) - Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Liam Neeson.
"The Wind Rises" (2013) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.
"Porco Rosso" (1992) - Michael Keaton and Cary Elwes.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) - Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and Janeane Garofalo.
I have this policy of never watching two different animes on the same day (to gave it time for it to "settle") but I broke this rule after watching Angel's egg. The atmosphere in that movie was so dark I decided I need to watch something colorful and light so I watched Ponyo, but I was still under the influence of the Angel's egg and I came up with alternative explanation of Ponyo where everybody dies (sea fish dies when it is put in a bucket of fresh water, kids dies in flood and go through the "tunnel" to the "other side" where everybody else is already waiting)
My children have found most of the Studio Ghibli films unsettling and slightly scary. They watched them I guess when they were in the 6-10 age range and saw My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle etc. They refuse to watch Studio Ghibli films these days! I'd much rather watch them than Disney but they somehow couldn't cope with them.
Ghibli movies I've found are more like entering a state of mind or emotion than following a plot. I'm not sure if that's a Ghibli thing or a Japanese thing (I haven't watched much other Japanese content). We introduced Totoro when my kid was 3.5 and it was too soon (she'd cry at the end because the cat bus was going away), but that movie along with Kiki's Delivery Service, The Secret World of Arrietty, and Ponyo have since become staples in our home.
As a parent to a daughter, I do really like the strong female leads that most of their movies have.
> movies don't just come out of thin air. A movie studio can only make a few $250m+ movies a year, so we get the movies we get.
New ones, yes, but what about old ones? It's not like they are broken or incompatible or something. Movies don't just disappear the day after box office weekend!
> No one who goes to see the, Avengers: End Game is going to also want to watch, Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie - even on a lark.
So what? Show something else, then. There are thousands of movies out there to choose from, but there are only 19 showing today! Hell, you could pick one at random from IMDB's top 250, and it would probably fill more seats than yet another 4 daily showings of Evil Dead Rise.
Hell, one of the 19 they are actually showing is Ponyo. That came out in 2008! I bet it outsells at least 3 of the 4 Super Mario Bros. Movie showtimes.
Just because Netflix exists doesn't mean theaters are worthless without new content. What else is there to do around town?
A couple weeks ago, my dad was in town for a few hours. We went out for lunch, and tried to think of something else to do together. Our first thought was to go see a movie, but we weren't interested in a single one of the ones that were showing that day. Imagine that: dozens of theater screens all around the city, and nothing to watch. It's absurd how normal that is.
My neighbor Totoro and ponyo are childrens movies for the younger ones.
I recommend "Ponyo". Because it's good :) I think this is possibly the Miyazaki movie for the youngest target audience of all his movies, but I don't know his early movies, only all the later ones that many people know.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/
IMDB parents guide: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/parentalguide
Minimum age recommendations start at 0 (simply meaning no official limit, it's up to the parents) - depending on country - to around 5-7 years old for a minimum age for this movie.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponyo
Spirited away has a shiny fairground visuals but really dark undercurrents. Not my favorite even if technically is great. Mononoke is deliberately gross and confusing in some moments. Not for small children.
Ponyo or Totoro would rank much higher for me. Ponyo is really smart in many aspects. The Tomb of fireflies is a terrible and depressing black hole, but maybe a necessary experience. Porco rosso is the opposite, light and very enjoyable.
In any case this article is related clearly with the fact that Mononoke is again broadcasted in the movie theaters just this week.
yes, spirited away is hands down the best ghibli film, for that ability to grab your spirit and transform it alongside chihiro's (the young protagonist). it's probably one of my top 5 or top 10 films of all time.
i liked mononoke, but it felt heavy-handed in comparison, so it doesn't rate as highly in my book. it would have rated way worse had disney gotten its way with it.
edit: totoro would be #2, kaguya and grave of the fireflies would be tied for #3/4, then howl's moving castle at #5, then ponyo, mononoke, and kiki's delivery service would be among the remaining top 10 spots for me.
I prefer some of the others:
Spirited Away, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
I don’t know that I view movies as “best”, since those are all quite different stories.
interesting, these are more 'western' than the ghibli catalog as a whole, which does have some western stories. it almost seems like they were looking for less familiar material, much like i've been doing for the past number of years by watching more 'eastern' (chinese/japanese/korean) content. still, looks like i have some watching to do!
as a sidenote, i'm happy vulture put "spirited away" and "my neighbor totoro" at the top of their ghibli rankings[0]. these two films are amazing. i wouldn't have ranked "castle in the sky" at 3, but do agree that "grave of the fireflies" and "princess kaguya" should rank highly. "howl's movie castle" or "ponyo" would probably be #5 for me. "arrietty" would be last, despite me not having seen 5 of the films yet.
[0]: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-studio-ghibli-films-ranked.html
Ponyo is still the best film about this theme by a nautical mile. Much more subversive and deep.
You can bulk download these with wget like so;
wget http://www.ghibli.jp/gallery/{ged,chihiro,karigurashi,ponyo,kokurikozaka,marnie,kaguyahime,kazetachinu}{001..050}.jpg
However they're low quality 1080p jpegs, so you're better off splitting out the frames of a blu-ray rip of the movie using ffmpeg or something.
Interesting. One of the themes of the classic Japanese film Ponyo is how separating elders from the rest of society is bad for both.
And Japan has strong laws requiring filial care for elders.
Anyway, sequestering elders isn't uniquely Japanese. USA is famous for that.
You don't have to watch Peppa Pig. And if you do, you can (the first time through) curate episodes that are better (like the composting one) and just not repeat the really stupid ones.
Old school Sesame Street is a lot of fun for adults. The early Zelda games are great. Kiki, Ponyo, and Totoru are staples. I mean, like I said, this an incredible wealth of content from the past few decades; don't dwell on Peppa.
And before that, Ponyo was supposed to be his last film. He retires on a regular basis.
I strongly enjoy movies by Studio Ghibli, and they mostly are female-led. Lets look at the latest, exclusively female-led movie from 2014 called When Marnie Was There.
IMDB: Men made 7779 votes with average 7.7, women made 2881 votes with average 7.9
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3398268/ratings-male
That is 0.2 points difference. If we look at ponyo, the difference is even less, with 0.1 points difference. If there is a bias, it is not exactly tanking the rating, and someone would have work hard to identify if its because women rate women-led movies higher than average, or males who rate it lower.
I enjoy watching various anime but am by no means into Japanese culture, nor the American culture that is into Japanese culture. However, when I was first introduced to anime by a friend (minus Spirited Away) which was Naruto, I was introduced to the English-subbed versions even though English dubs were available. After watching a few episodes of listening to Japanese and reading the subs, I thought it would be a good idea to skip the effort of reading and watch the English dubbed version instead.
That was a horrible experience. The English dubbed voices seemed to lack passion or say things in the wrong tones (or just be monotone!). Blue Gender immediately comes to mind as another painful English dub experience.
So, that is how my teenage self wound up pirating a lot of anime: because the fansubbing was extremely good and I could pick up on Japanese vocal intonation. I could actually tell what was a joke, and what was anger, instead of wondering when someone would have feelings at all in their English monotone!
In the case of Ergo Proxy, the additional notes in the fansubbing really helped understand the bigger dialogue. Without it I probably would not have held that particular show in has high of a regard.
The only consistent exception to the poor English dubs has been Miyazaki. Heck, Liam Neeson was a voice in Ponyo!
The scene in Totoro of the children growing seeds into trees during the night is one of my favorite moments of that film. Really captures a kind of childhood wonder.
The comment about how accessible the film is reminds me of watching Ponyo together with my grandmother a few weeks before her passing. It was something she really appreciated, and one of the few positive things she talked about in the following days.
Although not my favorite Ghibli film, and not such a fan of that particular dub there is something delightful and honest about all the studio's films that I find special.
Myself and my children aged 4 and 6 have seen most of the Ghibli movies... they are amazing. Obviously, Totoro is well liked... but Ponyo and Kiki are the favorites here (we have re-watched them many, many times) and that was a surprise for me.
A very poor article on the topic. I saw the movie last week in Japan, and it was alright, but not extremely good either (But since I hated the stupid "Ponyo" movie, it could only be better than the previous one...).
It's very difficult to make a movie about an engineer who does not fly himself (and therefore where there is not much action involved). Conveying his process of thought was near impossible and most of the time you end up seeing him scratching stuff on paper in the movie, or making paper airplanes. Mmm. This could have been better.
The love story felt very pointless (and almost fake), compared to his other movies as well. And since the movie was set in a realistic setting, there was not much of the imaginative fantasy that I like from his previous works.
I liked some other aspects, like how he refers to the cultural exchanges between Germany and Japan before the War, and how Japan felt that they were clearly behind in terms of technology vs Junker. That was insightful and well done.
All in all, an OK movie. I won't go and watch it a second time, however, I don't think it deserves a second viewing. Unlike most of his other movies that I watch from time to time.
Funny trivia, that you may have heard of: the director of Evangelion (Anno Hideki) was chosen to dub the hero's voice in 'Kaze Tachinu'. However you can clearly see he's an amateur and he does not put much passion in his lines. Maybe that was on purpose. You get used to it after a while, but it really feels like he's reading.
My young son loves Studio Ghibli films. Nearly all the main characters Kiki, Chihiro, Ponyo, Arrietty, Satsuke and Mei etc are girls. He is a bit young for Mononoke and hasn't seen Nausicaä. About the only one he doesn't like is Porco Rosso. Role models are important but I don't know that all our kids heroes and game characters have to be same sex.
I never really liked Nausicaä, but I loved Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo.
Which Dune are you referring to? Film, Mini-Series, original or extended?