A little review of the new videos put on line by Pixar on Dailymotion and Facebook, beginning by two videos of the Disney Pixar panel filmed at the Comicon. And Hayao Miyazaki was also there to talk about his new movie Ponyo released in the U.S on August 14th - don't miss it!
Everyone know Lasseter's admiration for Hayao Miyazaki, and in this next video John, filmed at the El Capitan Ponyo screening, discusses his admiration for Miyazaki.
Today, a special Disney Animation update, and we will begin with some pictures of the Disney Animation Panel at San Diego's Comicon on July 24.
Legendary director Hayao Miyazaki was there too - his last movie "Ponyo" will be released soon in the U.S - and here he is with John Lasseter who consider Miyazaki as his "master".
On the next picture: Director Ron Clements, Director John Musker, Director Hayao Miyazaki, John Lasseter, Director Kirk Wise and Director Lee Unkrich at the Disney Animation Panel.
On this last one John Musker, John Lasseter and Ron Clements at the San Diego Convention Center.
And talking about John Musker and Ron Clements, the two directors of Princess and the Frog, here is a great "pencil test" video that was shown during the Comicon.
Also, a series of - for some of them new - pictures from this awaited movie.
Let's talk now about another 2D animated feature, Rapunzel, as new pictures were released recently, and all this looks pretty interesting as you will see. Here they are.
A good surprise may also come from another new Walt Disney Animation project called "Prep and Landing" directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers. Here is the pitch: "After working tirelessly on Prep and Landing for 227 years, an Elf named Wayne is upset when he doesn't receive an expected promotion to be the "director of naughty list intelligence". Instead Magee the North Pole Christmas Eve command center coordinator partners Wayne with Lanny, an idealistic rookie who has an undying unthusiasm for Christmas. during their Christmas Eve mission, Wayne and Larry encounter unexpected challenges that push them to their limits. Will the elves be able to guide Dasher, Dancer and the rest of the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh through a raging snowstorm to ensure a Merry Christmas for all?"
Don't need to be a genius to guess that this new movie will be released more than probably on Christmas!
Here are some pictures of "Prep and Landing" and apparently this one seems to be done in 3D animation.
Okay, that's all for today, have all a great week-end!
"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is the title of Hayao Miyazaki - the genius Japanese animated movie director - last movie. It was released last year in Japan where Miyazaki is almost a god, and as usual the movie had a tremendous success. "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" will be released in the U.S in August, but it was released this week in France! In two words - well, three, actually - it's a wonder, and let me tell you why.
"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is somehow inspired by the story of the Little Mermaid. Yes, that's right, the same story that inspired Disney's classic animated. But Miyazaki transform all of it in a Japanese tale, so i think we can say that the Little Mermaid inspiration is not that obvious. Which is not the problem, as Miyazaki's tale is wonderful.
Please note that from now on, as i am going to tell you more about the story, there will be some spoilers. If you want to avoid them, just look at the pictures and the trailer at the end of the article.
"Ponyo" is a 2D animated movie, just like in the good old days of animation. The very beginning of the movie is a gorgeous scene showing life under sea.
"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" tells the story of a 5 years old boy - called Suzuke - living with his mother on a house located at the top of a cliff. One morning, as he goes down on the beach to play with his little boat...
...he find - stuck in a bottle - a fish, half fish-half human who will be called "Ponyo", who also have magical gifts.
Ponyo - in fact a girl - is the daughter of Fujimoto - a kind of "sorcerer" living in the deep ocean who left the world of humans, disgusted by how humans keep destroying the sea's ecological system.
Her mother is a kind of Goddess of the sea.
Ponyo also have dozens of "little" sisters...
...all excited to see Ponyo's transgression of the undersea world rules.
Suzuke, the young boy, will try to keep Ponyo, feeding her - she loves ham! or playing with her...
Suzuke's mother watch all this closely...
...but Fujimoto the sorcerer will try to get Ponyo back undersea...
This is only the first twenty minutes of the movie, and from that point lot of great scenes awaits you, like a stunning typhoon-tsunami sequence, an animation wonder, and many other scenes that transform the movie in a waking dream, sublimated by the gorgeous score of Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's regular composer.
The whole movie is full of poetry and at first sight it seems to be an animated film for young children. But as always with Miyazaki it's more complicated than that. The ecological message is obvious and grown-ups will be amazed by the inside beauty of the movie, precisely coming from its incredible childhood's purity.
In a recent interview, Miyazaki explained why Suzuke, the young boy, is 5 years old: "It's a personal theory, i think that at 5 years old a young child is still at the border between human and god. When a baby is born he's godlike and then become ordinary, mortal, but individual..."
What happen when two genius of animation movie meets? You will discover it on this two-part youtube video filmed some time ago when Japanese genius Hayao Miyazaki did a surprise visit to John Lasseter.........at Pixar Animation Studios!
This was a memorable day at PIxar, and for sure they will remember it forever. Oh, and guess what's the size of the gift that Miyazaki brings from Japan for John Lasseter?
Note: the first minute of the video below is in japanese language. Don't worry, after this first minute, both videos are in english.
You probably know who Hayao Miyazaki is, but for those of you who don't, Hayao Miyazaki is not only a genius director of animated movie, but also a master acclaimed by all animated movie directors in the world, beginning by John Lasseter. If you've seen Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Howl's Moving Castle, then, not only you know his work, but also his genius. If you've never seen any of Miyazaki movies, i envy you! As you still have to discover them, and believe me, it's pure genius and poetry!
So, today in Japan is released the highly awaited Miyazaki animated movie: "Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea" and not only it's the new one and a major event, but may be, too, his very last one, as Miyazaki is now 67 and his health is not very good - one more good reason to discover his movies while he is still alive.
And, guess what? "Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea" is inspired by the classic story of "The Little Mermaid". Of course it's a new version of Hans Christian Andersen classic tale, re-written in a japanese way. " The story is now set in modern Japan and the christian elements of Andersen original story have been deleted " says Miyazaki. Miyazaki says also that this movie was done for very young children. The movie tell the story of Ponyo, a lovely aquatic creature with a human face, saved by a 5 years old boy, Sôsuke. Ponyo is forced to go back in the abyss of the ocean, and is dreaming to become human and live with Sôsuke who saved her life.
" I wanted to use the sea element since a long time, but doing animated waves is an incredible challenge " says Miyazaki. The 170000 cels of the movie are as always all hand painted - in the pure 2D animation tradition. As it is often the case in his previous movies, there is a subliminal ecological message - even if Miyazaki keep saying that " hidden messages don't interest him". But Fujimoto, Ponyo's father in the movie is living in the ocean's abyss since he left human beings because he could not stand any more their non-Environment respect...
The movie, released today in Japan, should be release in the U.S and Europe early 2009 and will be as usual distributed by Disney. In the meantime, here is some artwork and you can see more on the Studio Ghibli web site , to see them, find the four rectangles on the right of the home page, and click on the second one. But most of all, below, here is Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea japanese trailer!
