Ponyo

[A Black Falcon]

SO WEIRD

[Dark Jaguar]

That's good enough for me!

[Great Rumbler]

Haven't seen it yet since it's not showing anywhere close. I'll buy/rent the DVD though, definitely.

[Geno]

I've seen one movie by this director, Howl's Moving Castle, and that's certainly a strange movie. I've never seen Spirited Away, but I've heard good things about it. I'm not sure if I'll see this one or not. I might.

[A Black Falcon]

Howl's Moving Castle is probably completely normal and understandable compared to this one... it had a few weird parts, sure, but Ponyo is just completely odd beginning to end.

First, it's made for little kids... and they'll probably just accept its weirdness, but anyone else... yeah, it's so, so strange. It's like a cross between a bizarre dream and a children's story, or something like that, I think.

I mean, the core plot is about a movie about a magic fish that becomes a human. And if that sounds strange... the actual film is even more so. :) But I don't want to say much and spoil it, see for yourselves!

Overall, a good movie, worth seeing sometime if you're a Miyazaki fan.

[Geno]

Howl's Moving Castle had a talking fire! He ate egg shells! Also, it had a mechanical walking castle with a door that could open up to several different parts of the world depending on where the color-coded dial was pointing! That's pretty damn weird to me! If Ponyo is weirder, my head will a splode!

[A Black Falcon]

The original story from Howl's Moving Castle was from an American author, though. It's the most "Western" style of his movies, I'd say, so to someone used to western fantasy most of it makes sense... I mean sure, there's plenty of strange stuff as with any good fantasy work but it's not both strange AND foreign, really. I thought Howl's Moving Castle was great, but a lot of people seemed to dislike it compared to many of his older movies... "not Japanese enough" or whatever, as if American stuff is somehow worse...

If you want to see some more Japanese Miyazaki stuff, watch Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away, I would say. Lots of his movies are great though... his very first one was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is absolutely brilliant and really should be a must-watch (just like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). But yes, you're right that Howl's Moving Castle has some strange stuff in it, for sure. It's just perhaps a bit more familiar than the pure flight of fancy that is the plot of Ponyo.

Spirited Away's weirdness was mostly about the various creatures and characters from Japanese mythology that you meet along the way, though. Princess Mononoke was a tale set in ancient Japan. But Ponyo... it's just WEIRD. A bit of it's because of the 'foreign culture' aspect, but most of it's not, that's just setting. It's just a very strange story. It's also aimed at a younger audience than many of his recent films, which as I said probably contributed to the oddness because because perhaps he didn't feel constrained by some restrictions he might have felt in a film for older people... I don't know. Maybe other people would disagree about what I think of it, go see it for yourselves. :)

Oh, the movie is also 100% hand-drawn animation. Most major anime shows and movies now use CG frequently, for action scenes and such, etc, but this movie is entirely hand-drawn. It's very impressive work and just looks beautiful.

There was just one real plot flaw I noticed, though. I don't know if I want to mention it though because it's a significant spoiler and I don't think anyone else here has seen the movie... but trying to figure out how/why that can be explained (involving the main antagonist's actions in the second half of the film) is kind of annoying me. :) I mean, I can kind of understand it, but you'd think he'd be a bit more annoyed... oh well.

[Geno]

Did Miyazaki do Unico? I saw that one (I think the secod movie, actually) and, while it was odd to some degree, it made slightly more sense to me than Howl's Moving Castle. Another weird thing I remember about HMC is that lady who'd switch between young and old with each pan of the camera. It got a bit confusing at times. :)

I heard about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind from the owner of the comic shop I go to. He said it was really good and a must-watch, just as you've now said here, so maybe I'll give it a watch. I'll see if I can watch it instantly on Netflix, and if not, I might persuade my dad into letting me add it to his queue.

[Dark Jaguar]

<a href="http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Pork/">HAAAAAM!</a>

[Great Rumbler]

Finally got to see it last weekend. Definitely one his most bizarre movies, but really fun nonetheless.

By the way, here are the Miyazaki movies that you need to watch:

Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaa
Castle in the Sky
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Princess Mononoke
Porco Rosso
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle
Ponyo

And...uh...oh wait, that's all of them.