I know this news was released a couple of days ago, but I’ll post it anyway! Why? Because I can!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is the latest film from legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki (director of such films as My Neighbor Totoro and the Academy Award winning Spirited Away). The film is due for a March/April release in North America (it has already ranked in big sacks of cash in its native Japan), and the English voice cast was recently announced and includes the likes of

Liam Neeson (Woohoo!)

Cloris Leachman (Cool!)

Cate Blanchett (awesome!)

Matt Damon (uhhhh….)

Tina Fey (WHY?!)

Lily Tomlin

Betty White

Noah Cyrus (Miley Cyrus’ sister?)

Frankie Jonas (is that one of them Jonas brothers?)

No word yet on who they play or if this is all of the main cast.

I have to say, I’m actually a little skeptic on a few of the choices for the English version of Ponyo. I mean, Liam Neeson is ALWAYS a good thing, and Cloris Leachman previously provided the voice of Dola in the English version of Castle in the Sky (another Miyazaki film for those unfamiliar with the Director’s work), and in my opinion that was one of the best voices in any dub I’ve ever seen in a movie, and Cate Blanchett is consistently awesome. But truth be told, I don’t like Matt Damon, I’m sorry I just don’t, and I really just don’t like the Jason Bourne films (Bourne Ultimatum? more like BORED Ultimatum!). And Tina Fey….Seriously? This isn’t a joke? The woman parodies Sarah Palin a couple of times and suddenly she’s gold? I don’t know much of anything about Noah Cyrus or frankie Jonas so I’m not going to say anything, .  I’m not saying I’m any less excited for this movie (nothing can break my enthusiasm for Miyazaki’s films), but I have to say I am a wee bit skeptic of the dub, which is a shame since I have always been the strongest of supporters on the English dubs for Miyazaki’s movies (easily the best dubs I’ve seen).

I remember when Howl’s Moving Castle was on its way for an American release and I first saw the English cast I had nothing but positive feelings for it. I was like “Christian Bale! The dude who’s going to play Batman? AWESOME!” (this was a few months prior to the release of Batman Begins), and “Billy Crystal? COOL!”. This time around though it seems like they are getting a little too star heavy. I mean, they always tried to get good actors for the Miyazaki dubs, but this time around it seems like they are throwing in a bunch of big names who are popular with different age ranges to get a bigger audience. Not that I’m against it getting a bigger audience, I have always wished for more mainstream attention for Miyazaki’s films and feel they are deserving of a lot more attention than they get. But I always believed the reason they didn’t get more of an audience is due to the lack of advertising, I seriously only saw like one commercial for Spirited Away before its initial release, and that was at like two in the morning and I didn’t even catch the whole thing, I practically didn’t hear any more of it until it won its Oscar.

I do hope the English dub for Ponyo ends up being as good as the other Miyazaki dubs, and I do hope it does reach a more mainstream audience in America, but they always release the original Japanese version of the films along with the English ones, so even if it isn’t as good as the others, I can always watch the Japanese version.

Anyway, whether or not you are a fan of any of the cast members listed, I implore you, PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE. Help Miyazaki’s films get the attention they deserve, so when Ponyo is released early next year (expected to be March or April) go and see it. PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE!