Ponyo

Ponyo
2008/2009 - Studio Ghibli
Directed By Hayao Miyazaki



SYNOPSIS

Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) rescues a small goldfish trapped in a glass bottle and names her Ponyo (Noah Cyrus.) She falls in love with the little boy. Her protective father (Liam Neeson) takes her back under the sea... but she uses his powerful magic and turns herself into a real girl. The magic upsets the balance of nature and causes a major catastrophe that washes out Sosuke's town. The two reunite and head on a big adventure to save Sosuke's mother (Tina Fey) and a group of senior citizens, and bring balance back to nature.



MY THOUGHTS

Hayao Miyazaki's unique take on "The Little Mermaid" blends outstanding visuals with an environmental message.

Ponyo isn't a direct take-off of Disney's The Little Mermaid or the Hans Christian Andersen tale that inspired it... but it's definitely influenced by them. Ponyo has the same basic premise... but it's carried in a whole different direction.

The story is somewhat weak. It's not very deep and is clearly only aimed for children. Miyazaki's other classics like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro have a much broader appeal and work on more levels than this one. There's not much character development. Ponyo and Sosuke declare their love for one another when she is a fish and this never changes. Apart from Ponyo's merely physical transformation, she and none of the other characters grow, change, or learn anything from the adventure.

Miyazaki's films often have the environment and ecology play a role.... here even more than normal. From the beginning we see a boat dredging up tons of human garbage... and Ponyo getting stuck in a discarded bottle. Liam Neeson's character shows disdain for humans whenever he can because of their wastefulness. Thankfully, we're not beaten over the head with the message.



The hand-drawn animation is amazingly detailed, very beautiful, and highly imaginative. The movement of the underwater creatures is ultra-realistic. The fish are animated to move like real fish... and there's thousands of them. They're joined but various jellyfish-like creatures and prehistoric fish and other creatures. The undersea animation alone makes up for any shortcomings of the plot.
The major storm is reminiscent of the huge storm in Pinocchio that sent him into the belly of the whale... and is just as frightening.
The above-land animation isn't as stunning, but it's OK.

The American voice cast is outstanding (as usual with Miyazaki) though you must avoid the song playing over the end credits sung by Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas. I'm not a fan of their older siblings (Miley Cyrus + The Jonas Brothers) but this is far, far worse than anything they've recorded. Far worse than fingers on a chalkboard.

Ponyo isn't on the same level as Hayao Miyazaki's previous works... but it's light years ahead of anything American animators would make.

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