Buy It Now!

Read my original PONYO review.

I say this a lot, but animation was made for Blu-ray. Disney does a remarkable job transferring Hayao Miyazaki’s latest world of wonder and whimsy to 1080p. The artists’ rich color palette pops. Look at Lisa’s pink car. Look at the deep blues of the fish waves. None of the details of the gorgeous hand painted art are lost. One can see the brush strokes in the backgrounds. The underwater scenes come alive with Studio Ghibli’s attention to detail from the particles in the water to flow of the water. The audio matches the picture very well. The English track is in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the Japanese track is in Dolby Digital 5.1. Or course the former is far better than the latter. The English track has clear dialog and great directionality. At one moment a call from the rear speaker actually made me turn. The English version simply balances all the elements of the soundtrack from the dialog to the music to the sound effects better.

As for the special features, English-language executive producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy give a brief introduction to bringing PONYO to the U.S. in “Meet Ponyo.” In lieu of a commentary track, the disc offers a Storyboard Experience where the Japanese storyboards play in the upper right hand corner along with movie. The color watercolor paintings often match the art on the screen exactly.

The World of Ghibli - Behind the Studio provides a host of short featurettes on various aspects of the famed studio and PONYO. “A Conversation with Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter” is one of the best giving the Pixar head a chance to chat with his friend about his latest film. “Creating Ponyo” has Miyazaki explaining his inspirations for making PONYO. One of which was having a lot of young children around the studio. He wanted to make a TOTORO for them. “Ponyo and Fujimoto” covers Ponyo’s father and his complex actions. “The Nursery” reveals secrets about changes in the story, as well as one of Miyazaki’s secret desires. “Telling the Story” interviews producer Toshiro Suzuki about working on PONYO and with Miyazaki. “The Locations of Ponyo” takes ten minutes from a Japanese Studio Ghibli documentary to venture to the small village that inspired several of Miyazaki’s films. It’s the best feature on the disc. “Scoring Miyazaki” talks to Joe Hisaishi about composing PONYO’s music. He was a little shy about how easy it was. “Behind the Microphone” looks at Marshall and Kennedy’s effort to put the all-star cast together. Many knew Miyazaki’s work and were eager to participate. It’s funny how they found their youngest stars. Did we really need a bonus Jonas?

The World of Ghibli - Enter the Lands is an interactive world where fans can learn more about the worlds of Ghibli films, PONYO, KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO and CASTLE IN THE SKY. The menuing is a bit awkward but once you get the knack of it I saw the appeal for younger kids to discover new elements. The material isn’t anything too special though, basically trailers and character bios. As is becoming standard with Disney releases, there’s a personality test feature that tells you which PONYO character you most resemble. The worst part of the experience is that films like PRINCESS MONONOKE and SPIRITED AWAY are featured on the main map, but cannot be visited. What’s up with that tease?

Rounding out the disc there are two Japanese trailers and previews of the special featurettes on the new special editions of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, and CASTLE IN THE SKY.