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I should point out that the trailer for Ponyo could have been three Japanese men reciting bad translations of 17th century Welsh poetry for four minutes, and I’d still be interested in seeing it. Miyazaki is the Japanese version of Pixar (or more correctly – Pixar is like an American Miyazaki). He continually puts out animated films with epic, complex stories that work for all age-ranges and garner widespread praise. So I have full faith that the filmmaker will deliver yet again with Ponyo – a story adapted from Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid.” When it comes out, it will simply be a matter of seeing where it stacks up against his other films.

But, as you can see by the trailer, there’s no indication of what this movie is actually about:

I think it’s probably the grandiose statement that only Ponyo can save the world that comes at the beginning followed by a bunch of nonsensical scenes of Ponyo running on waves and being giggly that throws me the most. It sounds like imminent danger is afoot and he just wants to surf without a board. Which is pretty much what I did growing up during hurricane season, but I was never a goldfish that turned into a human.

So I’m definitely excited, but now I feel funny. Is there a Japanese trailer somewhere out there that’s better than this? I feel like there has to be.

What do you think?