Ponyo

Anyone enjoy Miyazaki's latest as much as I did? It's now my favorite film of his, and definitely in my top 10 movies.

Yea I thought it was really awesome. I instantly put it into my top 5 animated movies, although a big part of that may simply be that I saw it theatrically and have not re-watched most of the Disney films since the VHS days. I want all of Miyazaki on Blu-Ray NOW.

I watched Ponyo in the very same theater I saw Aladdin and the Lion King as a kid :)

Its been super quiet here. I miss the discussions, but I'm too lazy to find another forum. I might just unload some thoughts I had about Miyazaki films since watching Ponyo:

Even though Miyazaki's films avoid Disney like portrayals of evil, I find their 'darker' elements more confronting. Miyazaki's stories contain dark spooky things, but these elements are not repressed into the status of evil to be vanquished. 'No face' from Spirited Away or the amorphous ocean minions in Ponyo can seem like the bad guys at points, but they're never maligned driven away or destroyed. They bring a shadowy visceral element into the story that is allowed to be present without having to be linked to evil.

I think the Miyazaki approach is very integrative.

Sounds good to me - I think the only Miyazaki film I've seen on DVD is Spirited Away. I've seen a couple of the other ones on VHS and I don't remember ever being particularly impressed - but I was younger and dumber, and of course the visual quality is a big problem. I look forward to being able to see them in HD.

is this out in england?

5 february 2010. wtf, miyazaki

This was wonderful. First off parts of it really remind me of dreams I had when i was a little kid. Secondly it's a Miyazaki movie and in every way it's fantastic and beautiful and amazing. Sam G hits it on the nose about the 'spooky' factor; this is a movie little kids could watch but has images and concepts that are downright weird and you've gotta commend it to the director for including them but not making them 'evil' just because they look strange.

Wasn't this 'The Little Mermaid' done in Miyazaki's fantasy world with little girl's flashing their knickers again?

My favourite of his is 'Howl's Moving Castle'. It conveys the feeling of Joy unlike much passive media lately.