Ponyo hits theatres this Friday

I am super-super stoked that the world finally gets to see Hayao Miyazaki’s latest masterpiece, “Ponyo on the Cliff”, or Disney’s title, “Ponyo”, this Friday, August 14th.

It’s true that a lot of the emotion and some of the meaning may be lost in the translation of the English dub, but at least a new generation of kiddies will be exposed to Miyazaki’s environmental, feminist, socially conscious animated stories, instead of another pack of stereotypes and gender norms that the typical Disney movies spew out for consumption.

I watched the original Japanese version with subtitles on youtube at the end of last summer following its debut release and it really is an adorable film with great messages and breathtaking animation. It’s wonderful that Miyazaki’s genius has been recognized globally and that Disney contributes to this through their production of English versions of his work, but there are a few things about Disney’s handling of “Ponyo” that really irk me.

The first involves their selection of voice actors. Don’t get me wrong, there are some talented actors lending themselves to this film, such as Tina Fey, Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett, but then we get into Disney-spawn-produced territory.

I’m talking the freakin’ Jo Bros. That’s right, it’s come to this. Frankie Jonas, a younger brother of the Jonas Brothers (how many bloody kids do they have?) and Noah Cyrus, (you guessed it) a younger sister of that beloved glittery Disney slave Miley Cirus, are providing the voices of the main characters, Sosuke and Ponyo.

Disney even went so far as to have these kids make a kiddie-rock-pop version of the theme song for the film, available for your ears in all its disgusting glory below. My gag reflex kicked in because this honestly sounds like a brutal sacrilege of Miyazaki’s original vision. It’s the twisted “Americanization” of Japanese animation at its best folks.

If you want to compare here is the original Japanese version, which sounds reminiscent of the theme song from “My Neighbour Totoro” in my opinion.

Maybe the kids legitimately have the perfect voices for this role….or it was a form of free babysitting in the Disney sound studios…who knows? It’s just upsetting to me that the empty star power of Disney babes has to be associated with genius like Miyazaki as a flashy gimmick to boost box office sales. Then to top it off they completely warp the theme song into some Jo-Bro-Cirus Frankenstein’s monster.

I guess these are the flaws that fans just have to live with when dealing with the dubbed-for-every-American versions of Miyazaki’s work. The movie will surely still be marvellous, and as long as Disney doesn’t tamper with the original art they are still honouring the contract they signed in 1996 to produce and distribute English versions of certain Studio Ghibli films.

I love Miyazaki’s storytelling and animation style and hopefully he continues to create meaningful, beautiful films for a long while yet. Anyone who loves his past work will probably enjoy this film, despite the Disney-brats who happen to be along for the ride.