Ponyo on a Cliff Art
Hayao Miyazaki Film Comes to Japan in Mid-July, 2008
Check out one of Hayao Miyazaki's conceptual watercolours from his upcoming movie Ponyo on a Cliff. Studios Ghibli will release the flick in Japan in July of 2008.
For the vast majority of animation fans, the news that Hayao Miyazaki is working on a film is like hearing that Walt Disney has crawled out from his grave, dragged his mouldering corpse back to the Disney Animation Studio (stopping only to eat Michael Eisner's brain), and told the animators, "All right kids, let's make a cartoon!"
Yes, for those in the know, Hayao Miyazaki inspires that kind of awe. The writer/director of what is arguably the most beloved animated film ever made (2001's Spirited Away), two of Miyazaki's films are in IMDb's Top 10 list of animated flicks: the aforementioned movie (#1) and 1997's Princess Mononoke (#3). Miyazaki also gets an honourable mention for his screenwriting credit for Yoshifumi Kondo's 1995 film Whisper of the Heart.
The only other animation director who even comes close to touching that record on IMDb's list is Disney/Pixar's Brad Bird, with Ratatouille (#2) and 2004's The Incredibles (#5) to his credit.
This is a pretty long-winded way of saying that Hayao Miyazaki is an absolute genius with animation. Even if he hates the sobriquet "the Japanese Walt Disney" that the media has bestowed upon him, Miyazaki well deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Old Maestro.
Which brings us to his next flick, Ponyo on a Cliff (Gake no ue no Ponyo in Japan), the latest installment in Miyazaki's extended "retirement" period.
Hayao Miyazaki Watercolour for Ponyo on a Cliff
Just to recap: Ponyo on a Cliff follows a goldfish princess called Ponyo who desperately seeks to become human. In the process, she befriends a 5-year-old boy named Sosuke.
Japanese magazine Yomy scored one of Miyazaki's watercolour-and-pastel concept paintings for its February 2nd cover. Miyazaki created countless watercolours for the movie, which will not only express the director's vision to the animators but is also the basis for the movie's look.
Since much of Ponyo on a Cliff takes place on the ocean, the use of watercolour to show the movement of waves is a powerful expression within the film.
According to fan site Ghibliworld, which scored the screen capture for the image, it depicts Ponyo standing in a fishing boat at night.
Ponyo on a Cliff hits Japanese theatres in July of 2008, most likely July 18th, and will likely come to North America (box office permitting) some time in 2009. You can enjoy a larger version of the Yomy magazine cover, which features Hayao Miyazaki's watercolour, by clicking here.
Extra Tidbit: Actually, according to Wikipedia, Walt Disney was cremated after his death in 1966 (from lung cancer. He smoked like a chimney). Which would make his resurrection even more fascinating. Perhaps as a slightly more benign version of The Fog?
