This is Disney's DVD release for Ponyo, which debuted in 2010 after the company's theatrical run for the film in North America. Even more than a decade later, this remains a solid way to watch the film on the DVD format. It includes great video and audio presentations along with a deep selection of extras that span across the two discs.
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Outside of very few exceptions, like their Pom Poko release, Disney has consistently delivered stellar video tracks for their Studio Ghibli DVDs. This one for Ponyo is no exception. First off, and not surprising, the source here is in stellar condition without any signs of print damage. Noise is also very low, although artifacting does on occasion become distracting. For those who have seen the 2008 film before, there are sequences with a lot of moving details in the frame. For examples, scenes of lots of red crabs crawling across the screen or sequences with loads of fish all moving. This causes issues for video compression, as normally space is saved by repeating details between frames that don't change. Because these sequences are so dynamic, though, the pixilation gets severe and the image a bit soft. Thankfully it doesn't happen all that often, but enough that it's worth talking about as the movie does have a few sequences that cause this. In general, though, the movie appears fairly sharp for what the medium is capable of, although there are minor signs of edge enhancement having been applied.
Moving on to the color palette, Ponyo features a beautiful and distinctive range of hues that complements the film's hand-drawn animation. The soft, watercolor-like backgrounds and the fluid underwater animation are visually striking on this DVD. While the colors could be a bit more vibrant, Disney made the right choice by keeping the tones just slightly muted, preserving the feel of the source material rather than over-saturating the image.
Lastly, it's worth noting that the DVD includes different video tracks depending on which version of the film you're watching. For example, the title screen differs between the English and Japanese versions. Additionally, the scene involving Morse code is slightly altered, with Japanese text appearing in the Japanese version. To accommodate these differences, the DVD uses different video tracks, which results in a brief pause when the video switches between versions. As a side note, the colors on the Japanese title screen feel slightly off, sadly, with a slight yellow hue.
Ponyo is presented in its original
aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
| Audio: |
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The audio presentation on this DVD is one of the stronger aspects of the release. The film includes the original Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, the English-language 5.1 Dolby Digital track and a French 5.1 Dolby Digital track. All three provide clear, immersive sound with no discrepancies to speak of and dialogue coming through with great clarity.
In terms of the surround presentation, the film really lends itself to the surround format. Thanks to Joe Hisaishi's music and the sea setting of the movie, the 5.1 mix ends up enveloping the viewer with the sounds of the ocean, the bustling underwater world, and the sweeping orchestration. The sound effects are also well-handled, with the sounds of crashing waves and the ambient noises of the underwater world coming through clearly and effectively. While the 5.1 Dolby Digital mix isn't quite as rich as the lossless audio track found on the Blu-ray, it still offers an immersive sound experience.
The movie offers removable subtitles in English, Spanish and French. For English, there are two subtitle options: one that translates the Japanese dialogue and another that serves as a closed caption track for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
| Extras: |
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This two disc set has quite a few extras for the 2008 film. While most of these are found on disc two, let's first cover what little extras there are on the first disc.
Starting off, the first disc has a "Meeting Ponyo" feature. This has various producers behind the US version commenting on the film. This might sound superficial but has some interesting moments, like when they screen the English version for director Hayao Miyazaki for his thoughts. Sadly, it's only about three minutes so rather brief. Beyond that, the first disc also has a collection of previews, but outside of Toy Story 3 these are all promos for DVDs... so aren't interesting. Fret not, though, because at least the second disc has two Japanese trailers for Ponyo on it.
Speaking of the second disc and moving on, the lengthiest extra is the full movie storyboard feature that is paired with an English or Japanese audio track depending on selection. This allows the viewer to watch all of the storyboards that were made to lead the animators in creating the final product. The audio tracks here are the same ones that are found for the main movie, although worth noting that the French track is gone, and for the Japanese one they can be accompanied by removable English subtitles.
Next up is the Behind the Studio content. This is the coolest extra, or really extras, found on this set. In total, there are eight shorts that combined have a runtime of 35 minutes. Sadly, worth noting that the "Scoring Miyazaki" one, which interviews composer Joe Hisaishi, is the same exact one found on other DVDs released around this time. If you don't have any of those other DVDs, though, this is a nice little feature. I personally found "The Locations of Ponyo" one to be the most interesting, which looks at the real-world coastal locations in Japan and how these inspired the imagery in Ponyo.
Lastly, there's the Enter the Lands feature, a menu-based extra that appears on other Disney DVDs from this era. The feature allows viewers to click around on a map, where selecting different locations triggers a brief English recap of the movie. You can explore films like My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky. After each recap, viewers can access character bios or interact with various clickable elements, which may lead to short video clips. While kids might find this feature amusing, it ultimately feels lackluster. It also teases viewers by showcasing films like Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997) and others that you can't actually click on for additional content. Overall this is an interesting idea, but doesn't offer much substance.
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Bottom
line, this DVD offers a solid way to enjoy Ponyo, with good video and audio quality along with a good selection of extras. While the Blu-ray version provides a significant upgrade, those sticking with the DVD format will still be pleased with the 2010 release.
As a side note, the Disney Blu-ray edition includes the first disc from this DVD set as the DVD feature film in their Blu-ray + DVD combo pack. |
