FLIGHT

Wow really awsome links gau dog ^___^ I really love the part where we see Miyazaki at work.

I had the chance to go to Mikata no Mori the Ghibli Museum near Tokyo. And there is a room where every piece of wall is covered by Miyazaki, sketches, design work and watercolors. I think I spent two hours in this one room. I could recognize some of the original watercolors we see in the art books. Gosh every Miyazaki fans should visit this place once.

So I was happy to see the actually work in progress in the video!



I was lucky to be in Japan when the movie was still in theater. I didnt miss that chance!! ^__^ However, I'm really anxious to get a hand on the DVD realese too! There are some important parts of the plot I didnt' understand (like in the very first scene, the reason why the 2 dragons where fighting). I'll need at least a second listening to get everything right I guess.

It's gonna be in summer? I though we couldnt get it until 2009 because of some distribution rights or stuff... ^^ That's a great news!

We'll have to wait until 2009 here in the US because the Sci-Fi Channel currently holds rights to the title. I was referring to the UK release on August 3, 2007. 2 years is a long time to wait...

awww >___< this is sad

Anyway, I think I'll just ended up buying the original dvd from some net places ^^;;;

I've been reading the books lately! It was really hard to get since the first two books from the cycle are not distributed in Canada!!! what the!!! muh >___<

I bought Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, but I haven't got around to reading it yet. Work and school keeps me pretty busy.

Let me know if the Earthsea books are any good.

ohh yes! I haven't started the second one, but the first is very very good. I was surprised that Earthsea was not known that much known around here. It will probably be once the movie reaches theathers over here (or at least, the DVDs).

I still don't know from which book Goro took his movie's story, but I noticed some plot similarities with the first book. Even though the story was totally different. (Ged is young in this bood). But maybe he made a mix of everthing cool in the four books!

Want to hear a treat? The Ponyo theme song, captured from radio ghibli I believe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkiTk7BhuWc
It's upbeat.

I think if you view movies like Howl's and Spirited Away as poetry rather than prose, it makes more sense. The events that occur are dream symbols for emotions that the people are going through. When I watch the films, I watch them as if I'm wearing "dream goggles" where normal people are learning to do things like fall in love/guide their love down the right path (Howl's), or realize their place in the world as a child moving into adulthood (Spirited Away). And like dreams, some of the symbols are mysterious, and remind me of emotions that I can't name but I feel them nonetheless.

I personally really enjoy the waking dream aspect of those Miyazaki films, they remind me of one of my favorite films of all time, Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams". The older I get, the viewing experience changes each time I watch those kinds of films, so in a way they're maliable enough that they grow with me rather than get left behind as relics of my past. Know what I'm sayin'?

But that's prolly just my personal affinity for it. Can't wait for more Miyazaki films!

I think you expressed yourself very well, Amy. I like your way of thinking and the imaginative approach you take to watching films. I also love the idea of "dream goggles." I imagine looking through them would be something like daydreaming, but with far better clarity. You wouldn't happen to have an extra pair lying around, would you?

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams looks really good. I have a predilection for anything dream related. I'm grateful for all the great film suggestions I'm getting from this forum. I just watched Seven Samurai the other day and it was fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJQwhdBmMSw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXI7x6ExPuc

haha, wow, thanks for the link, gau dog! Looks adorable.


But, I thought I heard somewhere that is was going to be in a watercolor animation style similar to the Yamadas?

Guess not, hmm...

Some of you may have already seen me post about this on my blog or Facebook, but the US Trailer is up now.

I caught a fansub of the Japanese release a month or two ago, and really loved the film. I still plan on seeing the dub in theaters if it comes to my town, but I can't help but feel like Disney is at least advertising a completely different feel for the film.

***Super Minor SPOILERS regarding mostly vague feelings from the overall movie may follow!***

Like I said, I loved Ponyo on the Cliff By the Sea, but I could already see folks looking for traditional storytelling being upset by things like a lot of foreshadowing that doesn't amount to much and an overall lack of extreme conflict. Throughout the movie I kept waiting for Sosuke and Ponyo to get into some real, scary danger, and have to make some tough choices, but it never really happens. But perhaps like Amy mentions watching Miyazaki films through "dream goggles," Ponyo is meant to be watched through "child goggles." It really feels like the mind of a 5 year old saying "And then this happens! And then this happens! And then everyone is happy forever at the end!!" You can feel the excitement of this child mind, and I think it had some great emotional impact, even if I was somewhat perplexed the entire time

Anyway, this weird structure may have freaked Disney out, as you can see by the US trailer's focus on this "Ponyo! Only you can save the planet!" that I don't remember being particularly prominent, if even there at all in the original. We shall see.

I just saw it at the LA Film Festival last night. I loved it! It's more like Totoro than any of Miyazaki's more recent movies. The Japanese trailer gives you a much better idea of the feel of the movie than the US trailer.

SPOILER BELOW:
.
.
.
The only thing I took issue with was that "test of love" because they built it up a lot, but then I didn't feel like it was a real test at all. Also, how cool were those shots of the world below the water once it all flooded? I love fish swimming around on roads.

I remain uneasy with Miyazaki's increasingly illogical ("sensual" as Kosaka Kitaro, a Ghibli artist, put it) approach to his post Mononoke movies. As opposed to the "rationality" and "intellect" of Takahata as Kosaka further differentiated the two in simplification. Still even with this dreamy approach, Miyazaki's movies always stay fascinating to watch; the color pencil backgrounds look amazing. One of the things to appreciate about a non traditional story structure is that it doesn't feel manufactured or set-up, which have been qualities often too evident in American animation these days. And Joe Hisaishi's scores are always beautiful.
The French Trailer's my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTrEECZhpL0

ooo, the French trailer is a good one! Well done, every country that isn't the US.

This thing is coming out a week before my birthday, so I think I'm going to speed up my aging for a week for an excuse to see this movie on my 'birthday'...then get Professor Layton on the 22nd! August is finally getting recognition as a month of AWESOME!!