Spirited Away has influenced animators all over the world.

Then what we do in casting of the voices we really aimed high on this one and I really credit Kathy and Frank for really getting the amazing cast that we have. And what's nice is that when everybody found out that it was a Miyazaki film they said, "Yes, I want to do this." And then working with them there were challenges. One of the things to understand is that in Japan, especially with Miyazaki, he always records the original dialogue after he's finished the animation, which is different from what we do in this country -- we always record the dialogue before we do the animation. And so the lip synch is somewhat on the rough side anyway, so it helps us kind of try to fit the words in there. But we try very hard in working with the actors to get the lines of dialogue to fit with the right mouth movements…

AWN: After using computer technology on a couple of films, Ponyo marks your return to completely hand-drawn animation. Was there something specific to Ponyo that inspired that? And what would you say are the differences between computer-generated and hand-drawn animation?

HM: Actually, at Studio Ghibli we dissolved the computer graphics section before we started production on Ponyo. So we had decided at that point to stick with hand-drawn animation. And then the difference between computer-generated and hand-drawn -- just as John Lasseter and I are different -- I think I can leave the computer-generated animation to him and I can stick to the hand-drawn animation.

AWN: You've mentioned before that Ponyo started out as a frog before becoming a gold fish. Why the change?

HM: There was a children's book that gave me a hint at the beginning and I was thinking of using that as the original story to work from. And that was the frog in there. But as I worked on the story, it became something completely different… so I didn't pursue that direction. I have told the author of that children's book that that was the hint for this film, though. Sometimes, I test myself, wondering, if I get a death sentence if I don't make this movie, would I still make this movie. And that's where the frog came into play.

AWN: What is your impression of stereoscopic 3-D? Would you like to make a movie in 3-D? And there are movies like Toy Story that are being converted to the 3-D format. Would you ever consider converting one of your prior films?

HM: I don't think we would make a 3-D film -- at least while my producer, Toshio Suzuki, and I, are alive.

AWN: Since this is a variation on The Little Mermaid, was the Disney version any influence at all?

HM: I watched the video of The Little Mermaid many years ago when I was first given it, but I haven't watched it recently. And, on purpose, I didn't watch it while making this film.

Sosuke and his mother Lisa share a tender moment in Ponyo.

AWN: The bond between parents and children is very strong in Ponyo. What do you want parents and children to get out of these relationships?

HM: I think what is most important is that parents and children see each other as being very valuable and very precious to each other, and if they can get that out of the movie that's fine.

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN and VFXWorld.