Remember that post I wrote about a year ago about Gake no Ue no Ponyo? In English, this anime translates to Ponyo on the Cliff, and is considered to be one of the greatest works of the brilliant Hayao Mizayaki. When it was released in Japan, it was met with much acclaim. In fact, the film merely cemented Mizayaki’s reputation as a master of anime.
However, it seems that people across the ocean have yet to show their appreciation of Ponyo. The film was released in the US on Friday, August 14. The tale of a playful goldfish whose greatest desire is to be a little girl seems to be struggling to catch the attention of the American audience.
It has received a lot of positive reviews from critics, actually. More so, critics have been writing a lot about the director, who has lots of other excellent work under his belt: Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, to name a couple. Both of these films met great success all over the world, but only a lukewarm welcome in America.
That is precisely why there is a lot of speculation going around about how Ponyo is going to do in the US. To be fair, it has only been out for a couple of days. With all the hype that’s surrounding the film, more people might just go out and see it. The story is also quite interesting, being inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. Why don’t you go see it for yourself and let us know what you think of it?