Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film opened in U.S. theaters this past weekend. In Japan it’s called Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. But here in the States, the title’s been shortened to one snappy, easy to remember word: Ponyo. Miyazaki has taken the Little Mermaid fable, removed all the religious subtext, inserted an ecological agenda, and moved the action to the Japanese coastline. Here’s my four-word review: My daughter loved it!
Gentleman Jim Hubbert has been translating for Studio Ghibli since 2001. He’s the guy responsible for the dubbing scripts of every Ghibli film except Grave of the Fireflies and Kiki’s Delivery Service. In other words, he did the translation and localization of Ponyo from Japanese to English. Good job, Jim! Here’s his review of the movie: “It’s a deceptively simple film, but it has as much depth as anything Miyazaki has ever done.”
The reason why this excites me so much is because Jim Hubbert also translated the novel, The Lord of the Sands of Time. When I saw his name pop up at the end of Ponyo’s credits, it brought a big smile to my face. We really do live in a small world.
