Ponyo on the Cliff and Summer Wars
“Ponyo on the Cliff” was released in Spain the 24th of April. “Summer Wars” will be released in Japan the 1st of August.
PONYO ON THE CLIFF
I recently watched “Ponyo on the Cliff”, the new Studio Ghibli masterpiece. The cinema was filled with small kids with their parents, and I guess I was the only adult in there under 25. But you know, I didn’t care, because the film was everything I expected and even a bit more.
The plot of “Ponyo on the cliff” resembles loosely that of the Little Mermaid: Ponyo is a small she-fish who after meeting a human boy called Sousuke, wants to become a human herself. This will lead to many adventures and trials, until Ponyo’s wish is finally granted. The animation is simply superb, although some will describe it as just “simple and coulourful”. There are some specific references to japanese culture (like when some sailors pray to the godess of the sea, Kanon), and at certain point in the film, some prehistoric fish make their appereance. I was slightly surprised when Sousuke started saying the names of these animals, with almost scientific accuracy, since he’s supposed to be 5 years old. I wonder hown many kids around that age know this much about prehistoric fish.
My favourite moment of the film was, with no doubt, when Ponyo “emerged” from the sea and started looking for Sousuke while riding the sea waves. The BGM for that part sounded a bit similar to the “Ride of the Valkyries”, as pointed out by my father, who went with me to watch the film, so the outcoming of that scene was wonderful and even epic. And talking about music, the theme song was very cute! Ponyo, Ponyo, es una niña pez…(Yep,I watched the film dubbed into spanish, and they even translated the theme song!) The original japanese says Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo Sakana no ko, which is more or less the same.
A must watch, no matter how old you are.
SUMMER WARS
The team of “Toki wo kakeru shojo” bring us a new animated film. Judging from the trailer, animation quality is similar to that of “Toki wo kakeru shojo”, with character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, of Evangelion fame.
The main character of the film is Kenji Koise, a young student who loves maths and informatics. He’s going to take part in a maths contest, but he’s taken down in the first round and finds himself with nothing to do for the rest of the summer holidays. Then, the most popular girl in his high school, Natsuki Shinohara, invites him to spend some days with her family in the countryside. Actually, Natsuki wants Kenji to pretend that he’s her boyfriend, since Natsuki promised her great-grandma she would meet her boyfriend the day of her 90th birthday. However, things will start getting more and more complicated as the day after Kenji’s arrival in the town the world seems to have completely changed…Natsuki’s family, commanded by Natsuki’s great-grandma, will try to face this new situation.
Source: arahij.net (spanish)
Well, a film I’m definitely watching! Check the trailer here.
