Hopefully I'm wrong, but a quick scan of tomorrow's show times for Athens theaters showed zero listings for "Ponyo", the latest animated feature from Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Back in 2005, my wife and I had to drive to Buford to catch the brilliant "Howl's Moving Castle" (which went on to be nominated for an Academy award), and it looks like we'll be doing the same tomorrow for "Ponyo".

The film is being distributed by Disney and features the voices of Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, and a couple kids by the name of Noah Lindsey Cyrus and Frankie Jonas. Miyazaki's 2002 release, "Spirited Away", was the first anime film to ever win an Oscar, and beat out "Titanic" for highest-grossing film in Japanese history. In 2006, Time magazine listed Miyazaki as one of the most influential Asians of the last 60 years.

Here's the trailer for "Ponyo", his latest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YG22jOUNJg