Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Gake no Ue no Ponyo, literally “Ponyo on the Cliff”) comes out today and is the latest and purportedly last film to be written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki for Studio Ghibli.  It is his eighth film for the studio and his tenth overall. The film is influenced, or inspired if you will by the Hans Christian Anderson’s story The Little Mermaid, but before you go thinking about singing crabs and well placed seashell bikinis; this is definitely a much different, and much more Japanese take on the story.
Unlike Disney’s original take on the tale, Ponyo doesn’t start the story out as a nubile young mermaid, but more like a pudgy little goldfish with big dreams. Ponyo wants to explore the world outside her father’s house deep under the ocean, but is not allowed. So one day Ponyo decides to escape, and goes off to explore the sea only to get stuck in a jar, and wash up ashore a small fishing village in Japan.  A young boy Sōsuke finds Ponyo stuck in the jar and frees the little fish, promising to watch over her always. Struck by the boys caring and generous nature, Ponyo falls in love with Sōsuke and begins her quest. Not only to live on the surface, but to be a human girl, so she can spend the rest of her life with Sōsuke.
I loved the film and while it was very different from the original story, some parts still rang very true. Ponyo to me was imaginative in both story and style, and was very reminiscent of the older Disney films in that they took some real chances. I thought this was a great film and sadly missed it during its theatrical run, but thanks to this release we can all watch this great film in a very nice 2 disc Blu-ray and DVD combo pack. I do have to admit when Disney started doing this I thought it was a very smart idea. See you get the Blu-ray, but you also get the DVD as well for a decent price; that way the DVD can be live with the kids and possibly be destroyed, while the Blu-ray sits safely in your library.  Now for a review of some of the features of the disc:

Check after the jump for more on this release!

Video:
Disney definitely learned from their first foray into the digital market, and have been well known as doing some of the best Blu-ray transfers of animation to date. I personally look forward to most of their releases simply because it’s almost like you will be seeing the film for the first time. Ponyo is no exception, it’s mastered in full 1080p and since Ponyo was digitally animated to begin with, the transfer is spotless and near reference quality. The pictures shows almost not signs of artifacting at all.
I can honestly say I have never seen anime look this good. I mean I own several other animes on Blu-ray and they don’t hold a candle to Ponyo. The colors are vibrant, the backgrounds are crisp, and you can see every digital brush stroke that went into every tree and every house. The picture is just gorgeous, this would definitely be a disc to show someone who your trying to get on the Blu-ray bandwagon, if they love any kind of animation. You have never seen a Studio Ghibli film look this good.

Audio:
The audio selections available for the film are English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with a Japanese and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks respectively. While I have to admit I am more a sub guy as adverse to the dub. I can honestly say the English DTS track gave my system a good run through, especially in the scenes where the tsunami waves were hitting the small village. The DTS sound mix was very well done with lots of really deep lows, and some great sound design that added a whole new layer to the viewing experience.
I found the dub of the film to be overall almost as enjoyable as watching it subtitled. Disney usually does a great job dubbing Miyazaki’s films. With a great cast that includes Tina Fey, Matt Damon and Qui-Gon Jinn himself –Liam Neeson you can’t go wrong. My only qualm with the release, is not being able to switch the audio on the fly on the Blu-ray from Japanese to English. I don’t know if it was a fault of my PS3 but I had to literally stop the disc and restart it to switch audio tracks from one to the other. I had to do this at the ending because the Japanese credits are really cool and the song is much better in it’s native tongue.

Supplements:
One of my main issues with Disney in some of their earlier releases Studio Ghibli films is they usually skip out on the extras. I mean that is why in the past I always paid a premium to import the Japanese discs; after all they always had English subtitles. But with Ponyo there is quite a bit of extras to be had, both for Ponyo itself and strangely some of the older Ghibli films as well. While the video quality wasn’t quite the same level for the older films, it sure was great watching a short piece on the making of My Neighbor Totoro.
There are also some really great docs on the disc that focus not just on the movie but on the studio as well, and while they are a bit junketish it still is some great stuff. One of my favorites is a short interview with Hayao Miyazaki conducted by Pixar’s John Lasseter; who turns out is a huge fan, and would explain Totoro’s appearance in Toy Story 3’s trailer. I definitely have to give Disney some credit for putting together a solid supplement section for this film. Giving the newcomer to Ghibli films a great introduction into the studio and Hayao Miyazaki as well.
Final Thoughts:
If you’re a Miyazaki fan this needs to be on your list. It’s a great release and I look forward to hopefully some of the older Ghibli films films making it to Blu-ray as well in similar special editions.
Rating: A resounding BUY IT! The disc is a little expensive retailing at $39.99 but you can find it on Amazon here for $24.99 which isn’t too bad.