Product Details

• Actors: Noah Lindsey Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey
• Directors: Hayao Miyazaki
• Format: Multiple Formats
• Language: English, Japanese, French
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: March 2, 2010
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (185 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002ZTQVBQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,729 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #23 in Movies & TV > Blu-ray > Anime & Manga
  • #99 in Movies & TV > Blu-ray > Kids & Family
• For more information about "Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ponyo confirms Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki's reputation as one of the most imaginative filmmakers working today. Loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid," Ponyo is a magical celebration of innocent love and the fragile beauty of the natural world. The daughter of the sea goddess Gran Mamare (voiced by Cate Blanchett) and the alchemist Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), Ponyo (Noah Cyrus) begins life as an adventurous little goldfish. Chafing at her father's restrictions, she goes in search of adventure and meets Sosuke (Frankie Jonas), a good-natured 5-year-old who lives by the sea. Sosuke adopts Ponyo and quickly wins her heart. Fujimoto uses magic to bring her back, but Ponyo's love for Sosuke proves stronger than his elixirs. She transforms herself into a human girl and returns to him during a spectacular storm at sea, but her metamorphosis upsets the balance of nature, precipitating a crisis only Gran Mamare can resolve. Ponyo contains fantastic moments that suggest dreams-- and reassert the power of hand-drawn animation to create memorable fantasies: No effects-laden Hollywood feature can match the wonder of Ponyo running along the tops of crashing waves on her way back to Sosuke. Ponyo is closer in tone to My Neighbor Totoro than Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, and will appeal to audiences of all ages, including small children. The #1 film in Japan in 2008, Ponyo earned more than ¥14.9 billion (over US$155 million) to become the 8th highest grossing film in Japanese history. (Rated G: A few scary moments, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Welcome to a world where anything is possible! Academy Award® winning director Hayao Miyazaki (2002, Best Animated Feature, Spirited Away) and legendary filmmaker John Lasseter together with Disney bring to life a heartwarming and imaginative telling of Hans Christian Andersen s classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid. A young boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish named Ponyo, and they embark on a fantastic journey of friendship and discovery before Ponyo s father, a powerful sorcerer, forces her to return to her home in the sea. But Ponyo s desire to be human upsets the delicate balance of nature and triggers a gigantic storm. Only Ponyo s mother, a beautiful sea goddess, can restore nature s balance and make Ponyo s dreams come true. Ponyo will delight your family with its magnificent animation and timeless story.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blu-ray: A magnificent Blu-ray release that misses perfection due to the lack of the lossless Japanese audio track, March 2, 2010

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Blu-ray)

In 2008, Studio Ghibli released their latest Hayao Miyazaki film "Ponyo" (aka "Gake no Ue no Ponyo") in Japan and followed with a U.S. release in August 2009. The film which is Miyazaki's eighth film for Studio Ghibli has amassed several awards including the Japanese Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The film which is budgeted around $34 million dollars made over $199 million worldwide. Where his 1988 film "My Neighbor Totoro" was Miyazaki's tale for older children, this time around for "Ponyo" he wanted to create a film for young children and was inspired from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid".

VIDEO:

Magical, beautiful and everything that you can expect from Hayao Miyazaki. I was completely in awe when I watched this film. In this day and age, we tend to put so much into CG animated films and rarely do we see hand drawn quality animation anymore. I'm so glad that Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli continues to show this creative style through this film. The hand painted backgrounds are absolutely beautiful, the character design continues that Miyazaki look and style but looks absolutely fluid during its more action-oriented scenes.

Presented in 1080p High Definition, detail can be seen on the painted backgrounds. Vibrant during the day scenes with trees that are full of detail and water reflecting the trees, cliffs showcasing the detail as shadows and detail showcasing the curvature and the little pieces of grass that are placed within the rocks. The scene with the storm and the crashing features Miyazaki's handiwork as he created the water and his waves all by himself. It's an amazing sight to see.

There are no compression artifacts, edge enhancement, aliasing, banding or any problems in picture quality for "Ponyo" whatsoever. "Ponyo" achieves perfection!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Ponyo" is presented in English 5.1 DTS Master Audio (48 kHz/24-bit) and in Japanese and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. First the good. The English dub track is fantastic. You want an immersive soundscape, "Ponyo" delivers. From the sound of the ocean, bubbles popping, the rush of the waves, the sounds of trees rustling, the sound of rain, sea animals swimming in the water and most of all, a beautiful musical score by Joe Hisaishi. This soundtrack is absolutely divine. Great use of front and center channels with dialogue and music that is crystal clear. The surround channels and the use of LFE as the sound effects bring "Ponyo" to life. This lossless soundtrack is perfect!

Now the bad. There is no lossless Japanese audio soundtrack. The Japanese Blu-ray release has a lossless soundtrack but what happened to it for this Blu-ray release? There is no doubt that audiophile purists who want the original Japanese soundtrack are going to be upset by this and one can hope that if Disney does bring out a Miyazaki release on Blu-ray in the near future, that a lossless soundtrack is included for both the English and Japanese audio.

Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Ponyo" has a good number of special features in 1080p High Definition and 480i Standard Definition. Audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital and subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish. Special features include:

* Meet Ponyo - (3:22) Executive producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy talk about working with Hayao Miyazaki and give a quick introduction to "Ponyo".
* Original Japanese Storyboards - Watch the entire film but this time with the video showcasing the original storyboards.
* A Conversation with Hayao Miyazaki & John Lasseter - (3:31) PIXAR's John Lasseter and a friend of Hayao Miyazaki talk about "Ponyo".
* Creating Ponyo - (3:58) Hayao Miyazaki talks about how he came up with the concept of "Ponyo" and him wanting to create a film for children.
* Ponyo & Fujimoto - (2:59) Hayao Miyazaki talks about the name "Ponyo" and the character Fujimoto.
* The Nursery - (2:00) Studio Ghibli Producer Toshio Suzuki talks about Miyazaki wanting to create a children's nursery and both men made Miyazaki's dream happen by creating the Studio Ghibli Nursery.
* Producer's Perspective: Telling the Story- (2:27) Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki talks about how Miyazaki works and creating the storyboards and story for "Ponyo" and more.
* The Locations of Ponyo - (9:32) An excerpt from a Japanese documentary on Miyazaki's animated films and visiting the areas that inspired Miyazaki to create the village of "Ponyo".
* Scoring Miyazaki - (7:19) A featurette about Joe Hisaishi's scoring Miyazaki films and more.
* Original Japanese Trailer - (3:22) The original Japanese theatrical trailers.
* Behind the Microphone - (6:04) Featuring the English dub voice talent talking about their role, their appreciation for Miyazaki and his films and interviews with the All-star talent.
* My Neighbor Totoro - Creating My Neighbor Totoro - (3:00) Miyazaki talking about the creation of his film "My Neighbor Totoro".
* Kiki's Delivery Service - Creating Kiki's Delivery Service - (2:27) Hayao Miyazaki discussing the creation of "Kiki's Delivery Service" and what inspired Miyazaki for the creation of the city in the film.
* Castle in the Sky: Character Sketches - (2:37) Miyazaki talks about the characters of "Castle in the Sky" and discussing how his audiences are loyal to his films over time.
* Enter the Lands - Visit the land featuring various small animated Studio Ghibli characters (from all films). Click on a character from that film (note: only "Ponyo", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Castle in the Sky" are available) to get a Q&A or a small video info. of that film and its characters.

EXTRAS:

A DVD of "Ponyo" is included with this Blu-ray release. The DVD is in Widescreen (1:85:1) - Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Japanese and French with subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Once again, Miyazaki continues to prove to us that hand-drawn animation is absolutely beautiful and there is no need to join the pack and create a CG animated film. "Ponyo" succeeds on all levels - storyline, animation, music and its soundtrack. I absolutely loved this film!

Before I saw the film, I figured that people were so used to Miyazaki's more serious work and for him to try to go back to something similar to "My Neighbor Totoro" was going to be difficult in this day and age but with "Ponyo", he managed to pull it off. The world he creates is magical, the characters are just enjoyable to watch. From every scene, I was literally just loving the animation and the painted backgrounds and to find out that Miyazaki actually drew the sea and the waves himself using 170,000 separate images is amazing.

In terms of any deep messages on society or ecology, in "Ponyo", we see how trash and waste has been collecting on the ocean floors and Ponyo being stuck in a bottle lying in a wasteland under the sea. For Fujimoto, as he tries to maneuver underwater, waste and garbage is everywhere. So, it was great to see Miyazaki convey how people have mistreated the ocean with their garbage and incorporating it to the storyline.

The Blu-ray is absolutely beautiful when it comes to picture quality, lossless audio and also contains a good number of special features. If there was only one thing that prevents this Blu-ray release from reaching perfection is the lack of a lossless Japanese audio soundtrack. But both English and Japanese vocals are well-done with the English track featuring all-star talent with Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Betty White, Cloris Leachmen, Lily Tomlin and Matt Damon providing their voices for this film. Even Jonas Brothers sibling Frankie Jonas (as Sosuke) and Miley's younger sister Noah (as Ponyo) do a great job as the primary vocals. The Japanese soundtrack features two of Japan's top celebrities with George Tokoro lending his voice for Fujimoto and Tomoko Yamaguchi as Lisa. And also Hiroki Doi (Sosuke) and Yuria Nana (Ponyo) do a wonderful job providing the main voices for the Japanese audio track as well.

Overall, Hayao Miyazaki is truly a remarkable filmmaker and "Ponyo" is a true masterpiece. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli show no signs of waning and they manage to capture the magic that I have felt when I was younger when I first watched Ghibli classics such as "Nausicaa", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". This Blu-ray release is highly recommended!

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ponyo loves Sosuke!, December 5, 2009

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ponyo (DVD)

Hayao Miyazaki is one of those rare directors who can take the magic of nature and childhood, then somehow capture it for the screen.

And his tenth Ghibli movie "Ponyo" is no exception -- it's a reimagined tale of a "little mermaid" who wants to become human so she can be with a little human boy she loves. It's a simple story told in a simple manner (occasionally TOO simple), but it has a lush oceanic beauty and an innocent sweetness that really capture your heart and imagination.

A little boy named Sosuke finds a tiny "goldfish" with a human face on a beach, trapped in a bottle. He names her Ponyo, and goes to great lengths to care for his little fishy friend.

But then the sea wizard Fujimoto, Ponyo's overprotective dad, appears and snatches Ponyo back into the sea -- and she decides that she wants to become human so she can be with Sosuke. Having tasted a bit of Sosuke's blood, she sprouts chickenleggy limbs and starts to change, but inadvertently disrupts a magical well that causes the moon to drop, the seas to rise over the land, and prehistoric magic to rise once more.

Sosuke and Ponyo are delighted to be reunited, despite the raging storm that is engulfing the city and causing ships to go missing. While the children go searching for Sosuke's missing mother, Fujimoto struggles to fix the balance of nature before the entire world is destroyed, with the help of Ponyo's sea goddess mother. The only hope of restoring balance lies in Ponyo and Sosuke -- and if Sosuke's love is not true, then Ponyo will be reduced to sea foam.

Compared to Miyazaki's other movies, "Ponyo" is a very simple story -- it's basically a boy-meets-fishgirl story, with lots of children running around being adorable and exquisite looks at the sea. Even its theme is simple -- the story is dependent on on true selfless love and how it knows no boundaries of age, experience or even species. Not to mention parents letting go of their children.

If there's a downside to the story, it's the lack of internal conflict. Example: the "test" that Fujimoto and the sea goddess use for Sosuke... well, it's far less impressive than it seems.

And Miyazaki does not disappoint animationwise -- he conjures a waterworld of luminous sea life, sparkling ships, prehistoric creatures, finned submarines and a town that has been swallowed by the sea (complete with boats floating over the rooftops). It's an exquisite piece of work that turns the ocean into a magical, otherworldly realm where wizards work in coral-encrusted towers and shimmering jellyfish take little mermaids to the surface.

Ponyo herself provides a lot of the movie's charm -- she's effusive, hyperactive, has a babylike fascination with the human world ("HAM!"), and an array of handy magical powers. Sosuke is a likable lad who is fascinated by Ponyo and her world, and Fujimoto makes a enjoyable anti-hero -- spindly, gaunt and with a mane of messy red hair, he's like a rock'n'roll embodiment of parental stress.

The extras are pretty promising on this particular edition, as you'd expect with a Ghibli film -- a slew of documentaries and interviews (including with Miyazaki himself), storyboards, explorations of the story's background. And most striking is the "World of Ghibli," an interactive creation which apparently allows people to "enter" the worlds of various Miyazaki movies -- "Ponyo's," "Kiki's," "Castle in the Sky's," and so on.

"Ponyo" is simpler and more childlike fare than most of Miyazaki's past films, but it's still a sweet and lushly-animated piece of work. At the very least, it will transport you to a magical childhood.

30 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unsatisfying, March 10, 2010

By 

Atli Hafsteinsson (Viborg, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ponyo (DVD)

I thought long and hard before giving the film this score, but there are simply too many things that make Ponyo not work for me. This latest animated movie from Myazaki, who needs no introductions, had the intriguing premise of the sea. He spoke of the sea being a character in itself. I was intrigued to see the movie. I knew it had two children as the frontline, but being a fan of My Neighbour Totoro, I knew that Myazaki has an unreal insight into the mindset of children.

The very first scene of Ponyo is breathtaking. Hundreds of fishes and jellyfish accompanied by breathtaking, oceanic music, finally zooming in on a man in a pinstriped suit, creating a bubble around his ship. We later find out that he is the father of one of the main characters, the fish girl Ponyo who wants to become human after befriending Sotsuke, a 5-year old boy living in a house by the sea. She is able to do this with a mixture of her father's magic (which she's inherited) and Sotsuke's blood (a drop of which she licked when he cut himself).

The problem with Ponyo is the vagueness of the story. There is practically no sense of conflict to the story at all. There is no substantial threat to the characters, and they have very little development. That the characters are so young shouldn't justify this, if we remember Mei in My Neighbour Totoro. Also, Ponyo's father is so at odds with practically everything in the movie's universe, it's hilarious and off-putting at the same time. Ponyo herself is, personally, creepy rather than cute (and her numerous little siblings are no different). I don't understand how nobody finds it peculiar that Ponyo, supposedly a goldfish, has a humanoid face (and Sotsuke shows her to quite a few people). It's even weirder when Lisa (Sotsuke's mother, whom he oddly always refers to by name), an intelligent woman, sees Ponyo eat a slice of ham in whole (as a goldfish) and isn't at all surprised about it. The only really developed character, and the warmest, is the grumpy old woman at the retirement home where Lisa works.

What Ponyo lacks in substance, it makes up for in visuals. The movie's highlight in my opinion is where Lisa and Sotsuke are driving down a road continually drenched in waves, on top of which Ponyo is running. These waves take on the form of giant fish. A wonderful piece of animation. The many underwater scenes are beautiful, with underwater creatures big and small swimming. Something about the overall production values of the visuals feel a bit unfocused, though. The morse code scene is then hilarious.

On the whole, however, Ponyo feels like a lot of elements that just don't work together. Sotsuke faces no real trials like other young Myazaki protagonists have faced. None of the characters feel like they serve any real purpose other than to bring Sotsuke and Ponyo together. The film's subplot of Ponyo's magic causing a rift in the natural order and causing the moon to come closer (which explains the flood) is never sufficiently delivered to the audience.

I was simply expecting a better delivery from a master storyteller like Myazaki. Ponyo may only really work for the smallest children, but that's excluding a large part of Myazaki's fanbase. He's one of those filmmakers whom I respect for continually showing people that animated movies can be for people of all ages. Ponyo obviously aims at a lower age group, but I just hope that the children will be more drawn into Sotsuke and Ponyo's story than I was (there is so much courteous and/or cute dialogue that I felt downright embarrassed at points).

Decent, but definitely not the brightest spot in Myazaki's repertoire.