Ponyo Swimming To English-Speaking Theaters Soon

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea," the wonderful hand-drawn animated masterpiece by Hayao Miyazaki, made waves at the recently-concluded Comic Con. I have a feeling it drew a more sizeable crowd than the other American offerings in the event -- when Miyazaki took the stage to talk about "Ponyo," adoring fans greeted him in the same way they'd greet a rock star -- on their feet.

As I've written in an article several months ago, "Ponyo" is Miyazaki's latest creation. He's also responsible for the wildly popular offerings "Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," and fans are no doubt waiting for the next work of genius to come from his hands.

"Ponyo" is the story of a young boy who finds a special goldfish near their seaside home. He then names the goldfish "Ponyo," who grows such a liking to him that she wills herself to turn into a young girl. What follows is a charming, magical, and heartwarming story about friendship and adventure.

Okay, you know me. I know I'm out to save what remains of the world's masochism, but there's no denying the power of warm-and-fuzzy movies. "Wall-E" was a good example (like I said, you know me...). "Ponyo" delivers that kind of effect -- only this time, everything is hand-drawn (with crayon, no less!) and vibrantly-colorful.

There's something about "Ponyo" that made the American offerings like "Toy Story 3" and "The Princess and the Frog" seem to pale. One look at the new trailer (released just yesterday) gives you the feeling that this really isn't your usual animated movie.

Okay, of course it isn't -- it was made in Japan. There was a lot of worry about how the dubbing would be like if "Ponyo" ever merited an English translation (American dubbers have been known to be some of the world's worst*). Thankfully, names like Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, and Tina Fey lent their talents to bringing this masterpiece to the rest of the world.

Ponyo is set to screen in North America this month, and elsewhere around the world afterwards.


*OK, not really. That award will have to go to Malaysia. If I have to sit and listen to the dubbing made for Doraemon reruns again, I will have to shoot a few voice-over actors.