New Astro Boy Trailer! Ponyo Release Date!

For the most part, I love my living situation, but minor inconveniences can turn into big ones quite quickly.

My Internet is down. But, because my landlord won't be home until 6, I can't call anyone to complain about it, or get it fixed. So, no Internet. Causing me to go batty because I couldn't check my e-mail.

Oh, well. It's a nice day for a walk. May as well walk on down to the library and use one of their free Internet terminals. Lace up my boots, strap on the MP3 player, cue up Lily Allen's new album, and hit the road! I get to the library and...all the Internet terminals are full. Darn kids and their spring break....

Luckily, the office is just down the street from the library, so may as well pop in at the office and get my Internet fix.

Now, what's so important that it couldn't wait until 6PM for me to call and complain to my landlord?

New Astro Boy trailer!

Anyone who's watched a lot of Japanese cartoons -- or just really liked The Incredibles -- can tell you that superheroes and animation are tailor-made for each other. None of this worry over getting the right actor...just draw them however you like. And things that seem impossible in live action just become possible when they're lines on a piece of paper...or vectors in a computer.

So that brings us to the new, computer animated movie version of Astro Boy. The classic Japanese cartoon character is being brought to the big screen by Imagi Entertainment, the same studio that brought us that computer animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a couple years back.

It's due out this October, and while the animation doesn't look to be groundbreaking, it definitly looks fun.



October 26 is when it hits theatres.

And speaking of classic Japanese cartoons, we have the North American release date for Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, the latest animated epic from Hayao Miyazaki, generally regarded as the world's greatest animator.

The story is about a goldfish princess named Ponyo who longs to be human, and befriends a 5-year old boy.

The English language dub includes the voices of Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, and Cate Blanchett. Frankie Jonas -- the littlest Jonas Brother -- voices the 5-year old boy, and Noah Cyrus -- the littlest sister of Miley Cyrus -- voices Ponyo.

As with the last two Hayao Miyazaki films (Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle), the English dub is being supervised by Toy Story director John Lasseter. Lasseter teamed up with Hollywood super-producers Frank Marshal and Kathlleen Kennedy to dub Ponyo, with the goal of making it Miyazaki's biggest hit in North America.

Anyway, what's the release date?

August 14.