In what kind of wonderfully demented world can Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett and Liam Neeson all work together on the same film? The wacky world of Japanese animation, that’s where! Sadly Fey won’t be starring with Damon, Blanchett and Neeson in some weird cinematic version of “30 Rock” (I’m thinking Neeson as Jack, Blanchett as Jenna and Damon as Kenneth the Page), but they will all be providing voices for the English dub of PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA. The Studio Ghibli film about a fish girl who longs to be human will be redubbed and released by Disney in early 2009. Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (the INDIANA JONES films among many other legendary projects) are producing the American version and overseeing the redub. If the film sounds similar to THE LITTLE MERMAID, it certainly was inspired by that story (not the Disney movie, the original Hans Christian Anderson story) but has a number of differences. Word on the street is that the film is currently testing around the US to see how the film will translate to US audiences. Has anyone seen this yet? Are the voices finished? I’ve heard nothing but great things about PONYO so this is one I’m keeping a close eye on.
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