Poster Talk: Ponyo on a Cliff

image source: http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html

More anime posters! This one is from Studio Ghibli's latest fare, Ponyo on a Cliff, directed by the venerable Miyazaki Hayao of Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) and Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) fame. Word has it that he is going back to his roots too, and CGI will take a back seat... wait. this sounds familiar... Anyway, it is true that unlike his last 3 works, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's, Ponyo will feature more hand-drawn water coloured art.
Anyway, what you see up there is most likely the official movie poster for the film as so far, what's released on the net appear to be colour sketches for the film and unlikely as poster material. The guy in the middle is Suzuki Toshio, the publicity guy and producer for many many Miyazaki films, since Miyazaki has a habit of not talking to the press. Nevertheless, back to the topic.

The Ponyo poster is cute. Er. Actually, when I saw this, I got into a sulky mood since this really doesn't say anything more about the film than what fans I suspect, already know (namely, that it is about a 5 year-old boy who rescues a goldfish princess). Well, actually it does. The target audience seems to be about five years old. Darn. The sulky mood as some might have guessed is that the film really seems too kiddy for me to enjoy, which is sad. The theme song is also highly simplistic, almost like a nursery rhyme. Ungh. I'm almost worrying that this will end up something like Panda! Go Panda! which is beyond kiddy. Even young-at-heart adults would have found that painful to watch.

The poster's candy colours are appealing though. After the muted palettes in Spirited Away and Mononoke-hime, there seems to be a move towards pastels and bright pinks and yellows and blues - Howl's coat was...colourful to say the least, though echoes of the intricately decadent design from Spirited Away lingers in some of the scenes. Here, in Ponyo, I think there will be less of that decadence and rich art and that it'll look looser in design. I think the deep red from Mononoke and Spirited Away will also be taking a step back, if not from most of the film, it will be in the advertising. Besides, red is really too strong a colour when advertising for children.

Am I being subjective?
Yes.

At any rate, I am wondering if I will be giving this film a miss. Haha. Who am I kidding?

The Book Post: House of Many Ways preview

image: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/diana-wynne-jones/house-of-many-ways.htm

Hohoho. The sequel to Howl's Moving Castle.
I'd actually heard about this late last year, but didn't want to be too happy till the news was official. And you can't get any more official when the cover's out.

The book will be released in May/June 2008, which is...really soon! I hadn't expected it to be so fast, since the news was still pretty much the kind of "I heard so and so say so" sort of rumour. At any rate, I just want to blabber on about the cover for a bit.

Firstly, I was hoping for a more exciting cover. Or something with curly font, and this cover, with its straightforward vertical lines and realist style just doesn't do for a author who has had a habit of breaking stuffy societal conventions. Secondly, just because she is British, and her characters speak with (I can imagine) a crisp upper-class-ish accent (Chrestomanci) doesn't mean they would like that apalling Victorian era yellow wallpaper print on the bottom half of the cover. In other words, this cover is boring, even if I have to admit that this gradual melting of wallpaper prints into multiple doors is a rather nice concept.

On the other hand, I see what might be an homage to Miyazaki and the animators at Studio Ghibli. If you squint at the top right corner of the cover, you'll see this castle-shaped blot that looks suspiciously like the ramshackle thing Howl puts together in Hauru no Ugoko Shiro, right down to the turrety things rising out of the mist, and which seems to echo the opening scene of the film.

The great thing is, obviously, there is another DWJ book out to read really soon. I can't really be bothered about the cover (yeah right) so long as there is something inside to read, though a nice cover that does justice to the book contents really helps too. Of course, i can't say what the content of this book would be like, but I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be good...

In other news, fans of Mamoru Oshii, long time rival and some time collaborator with Hayao Miyazaki would be pleased to know if you haven't already known, that his new film, Sky Crawlers is due to be released some time this year.

Hauru no Ugoko Shiro (It's Japanese, not gibberish)

Yesterday, I watched Howl's Moving Castle. My DVD player is nuts - yesterday, the disc worked perfectly, even though we decided to skip the beginning, because we had watched it at least 5 times without getting any further due to that mysterious error in the sound.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the show far more than I did the first time watching it, which is rather strange. I really loved Spirited Away, and the film never fails to amaze, despite mine watching it several times already. The funny thing is when you watch a film and find it nicer and nicer with each watching; watching a well cherished film and lovin' it over and over again is well...nothing new.

Perhaps, one reason for this change is that watching the show from the comfort of my own home makes each scene funnier, more real and closer simply because I'm much more willing to laugh at it. It's true - I blame that horrid cinema for totally ruining my movie experience. It doesn't help if the cinema was cold, draughty and too empty, or that the sweepers were standing right next to you before the show had ended properly or that your sister kept shushing you throughout the show dampened the entire affair.
I might have to explain that last reason - since Howl's Moving Castle (the movie) is based on a book of the same title, I found myself automatically comparing novel and film, mostly directed at my sister's benefit. You see how wrong I was.

As you can also see (or might have noticed by now), there are no big capital lettered words shouting "spoiler!" or "read with caution" that usually accompany my movie reviews. That is of course because this isn't a review of the film in the first place. Go watch the show. It's fantastic; I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. Oh by the way...it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. My theory is that to appreciate this film, you'll just have to accept what's given you. Which if I may add, is a lot - everything about it is just right, right down to the perplexing bits.

Note: This would have been a proper review, but my brain has fled in terror after having to review the film in Chinese for someone who still has holiday homework. It was shitty I can tell you. Can you imagine reducing one of your favourite films to broken Chinese? Ugh.

A second Note: My brain has just decided to compromise. The film can thus be described as whimsical, sweet, dark, entirely for romantics at heart (or heartless ;) ) and really...it's quite funny too. Not ha-ha funny, but still funny.