The Conical Glass: Go fish

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Go fish

When it comes to the work of animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, I'll admit it: I'm a snob. I first encountered his work many years ago via a Japanese laser disk of "My Neighbor Totoro." At the time, I was watching a lot of anime -- "Ranma 1/2," "Oh My Goddess!," "Maison Ikkoku" -- but the utterly charming, emotionally resonant "Totoro" was obviously in a class by itself. Eventually, thanks in large part to the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, I was able to catch up on the rest of the Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli oeuvre. I'd skip "Pom Poko" if I were you, but otherwise, lots of brilliant stuff.

Here's where the "snob" part comes in. Until now, I've been able to find a screening of every Ghibli film in the original Japanese, with English subtitles. The latest Miyazaki film, "Ponyo," however, has been marketed a bit more aggressively than his other works. Disney has the American rights and has beefed up "Ponyo" with an all-star voice cast, including Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson and Tina Fey. However, to me, it just doesn't seem right to see a Ghibli picture with American voice talent. Japanese kid voices are more kawaii (cuter) and the often-bizarre, fable-like nature of the stories just seem to go better with a Japanese soundtrack.

Maybe that's why "Ponyo," a beautifully drawn (of course) story about a five-year-old boy and his love for a girl who's part goldfish/part human (reportedly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid") didn't make the same impact on me as Miyazaki's other work. I'm such a big "30 Rock" fan that I found Fey's voice a distraction. It was sort of cool hearing Betty White, though; between this movie and "The Proposal," she's gotten a couple of choice roles this summer.

I hope that the DVD of "Ponyo" includes the original Japanese language track. Take a listen to the original theme song in Japanese and then the godawful American version (sung by a Jonas brother and Miley Cyrus' sister) and maybe you'll understand why I look forward to seeing the non-Disney-ized "Ponyo." Still, if the American dub can turn a few more folks onto Miyazaki's work, that would be a net positive. The DVDs in current release do include the Japanese soundtrack; unless you're watching them with a kid who can't read yet, that's the way to go.

posted by 125records @ 11:12 PM

2 Comments:

At 3:38 AM, Janet ID said…

I'm still looking forward mightily to taking the kids to PONYO, and I'm afraid they will be the inverse of disturbed by the participation of the Jonas and Cyrus babies.
At 8:05 PM, James said…

I saw the Japanese-language PONYO last year and, even though I certainly am not fluent in Japanese by any stretch of the imagination, I was able to follow most of the plot. And the images are amazing and clever. I guess you can always bolt from the theater before the end credits to avoid the awful Americanized theme song (I could only stand about 7 seconds of the YouTube clip).