If you’re making out a list of movies you’re hoping to catch this summer, think about adding one more Oscar-winning director to the list.
Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo,” a story about a little boy and a goldfish who wishes to become a human, will be getting a US release starting August 14th. The director, Hayao Miyazaki, has had his last two films nominated for Oscars in the animation category, with the film “Spirited Away” getting the award in 2003. The movie will be distributed by Disney with Pixar’s John Lasseter listed as an executive producer alongside Miyazaki.
I want to highlight Ghibli and Miyazaki in my “rough guide” feature a little later, so I will wait until then to go into a large amount of detail. However, Ghibli has a reputation as one of the premier animation studios in the world, has a massive influence on studios like Pixar and even shows up as an inspiration for movies like Kung Fu Panda. Miyazaki, well into his 60s, still insists on hand-drawn animation, which means it’ll look little like no other animated movies out this year.
My suggestion is to find the largest screen you can when it comes out. A new Ghibli movie on the big screen is usually a reason to celebrate. Here’s an untranslated trailer for you to get an idea of what’s going on:
(HT: ANN)
