Fresh off the net today, the North American cast for Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea has been annoucned thanks to GhibliWorld.com. The talents include Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Fankie Jonas, Noah Cyrys and Cloris Leachman.

Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are the producers of the dub, and I assume that John Lasseter will be associated with it too seeing that he was executive producer for the dubs of Spirited Away and Howl's.

Sorry if I'm late on replying but I think I might have a few guesses as to who these characters might play. Now these could only be guesses. They aren't 100% correct.

Now Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett getting roles in the dub already makes it a winner for me.

Though I would see it this way:

Liam Nesson would be Ponyo's father Fujimoto. The way he talks as Aslan matches the exact tone of the original Japanese voice (Seeing as how I've seen the movie in Japanese with NO Subs XD)

Cate Blanchett would have to be Ponyo's mother Granmamare (spelling?). She has the voice for the character. Ponyo's mother always talked in a calm graceful voice and I think she would do well.

Tina Fey I'm guessing would be Risa (or Lisa from what I've heard), Sosuke's mom. I'm not too familiar with her work, so I can't really judge this.

The trailer for the English version has just hit. Here's my thoughts on the trailer:

The animation is absolutely beautiful, just what I'd expect from a Miyazaki film. I'll definitely be going to see this without question.

As for the voices:

Liam Neeson as Fujimoto: this is quite different from what I was expecting, but it sounded pretty fine to me. (Keep in mind I have not seen the Japanese version, so I have no preconceptions on how the characters should sound.)

Lisa: The one line I heard sounded a little monotone, but I hope that this is just one line. Still not a breaker.

Frankie Jonas as Sosuke: Better than I thought! Granted this was only one line, but it didn't sound lacking to me in any way. I don't have an overall opinion of the performance, but hopefully it'll be believable enough to assuage any naysayers (I think they'll hate on it either way).

Cate Blanchett as Granamamare: Very close in tone in Galadriel. Nice.

Noah Cyrus as Ponyo: Very difficult, because the only lines I've heard from her so far are giggles and some shouts. But they sounded fine to me. Again, I expect haters to dogpile on her either way, but what I heard did not sound like anything to scream about.

All in all, I think this is shaping up to be yet another terrific Disney-Ghibli dub. Of course, the rabid naysayers will hate it no matter what, but I haven't been disappointed in any of their dubs so far, and Ponyo seems to be another promising addition to the "family".

I'm looking forward to this.
-Jon T.

Oh please post a link. I'm super excited =D

Here's where it is:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/ponyo/

I hope my impressions aren't misleading.

-Jon T.