Ponyo

While her father, Fujimoto, is experimenting the marine wildlife under the water, little fish Ponyo sneaks out and travels to the surface.  Here, she meets Sousuke, a young boy who comes to care for Ponyo in a way that instantly makes her bonded to him.  When Fujimoto reclaims Ponyo and brings her home, the little fish goes out of control, summoning unforeseen powers to become human and make her way back to her new best friend…bringing a cataclysmic tsunami along with her.  The fate of an entire island may be at stake and though it’s because Ponyo wishes to be with Sousuke, their young love might be the only thing that can restore balance to the land and sea.
 

Depending on who you ask, we all got into Anime for various reasons.  For most guys I know, it was because it was the coolest, most bad ass form of entertainment out there.  Stuff like Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing wowed us on the action front like nothing else before.  And then…you have titles like Ponyo from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.  There is nothing action packed or bad ass about it…but what Ponyo is…is unfreakingbelievably adorable and magical, to the point where it’s ok to forget the adrenaline rush from an action feature and enjoy that feeling of being 5 years old and reminded that the world was filled with magic…and still kind of is if this movie is any indicator.

 

After a series of darker themed features like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki returns to the fun childrens woods where he perfected My Neighbor Totoro.  While Totoro might still be my favorite of the two, there’s no denying this is Totoro’s spiritual successor.  From the first appearance of the little fishy from the sea, Ponyo has your heart and attention and will make you either chuckle or go “awwwwww kawaiiiiii” everytime she does…well anything really.  Ponyo is innocence personified in a fish turned human occasionally turned chicken…thingy.  Her laughter and never fading smile is infectious, even if she’s bringing the apocalypse along for the ride to reach her new friend/love interest.  Yes, Ponyo is a love story, more or less and it does work in many ways.  At the very least you’ll believe love is a force that cannot be stopped, even if there’s a tsunami bearing down on it.

 

It might surprise others, as it did me, just how unbelievably chill everyone is in little Sousuke’s seaside town.  When the storm to end all storms arrives, few people panic and his mom drives like she’s trying to best all of Vin Diesel’s Fast and the Furious stunts.  It’s a little concerning but at the same time, it fits the kind of movie Ponyo wants to be.  Yes, there’s an environmental message and the fate of the world is at stake just as with Princess Mononoke.  But there’s an innocence to both this time around.  When Ponyo is this adorable, its kind of ok to forgive her not being aware of the damage she’s causing.  And somehow, you know everything is going to work out in the end, regardless of how long it takes to get there or what trials might stand in the way of Ponyo and Sousuke proving how much they mean to one another.

 

Since this is Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, it should surprise no one that Ponyo is gorgeous.  The first couple of minutes alone featuring Ponyo reenacting her own version of Finding Nemo sets the mood perfectly.  The ocean setting is masterfully crafted and is as alive as any character in the film.  And, somehow, longtime Miyazaki music collaborator Joe Hisaishi has delivered what’s probably my favorite score of his to date (surpassing both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away).  The music is playful, adventurous, loving and wonderous in equal amounts.  When the choir sections kicked in, I was in awe, they definitely used those at the perfect moments.  And, as ive learned recently, Ponyo is one of Ghibli’s hand drawn features in an age where Anime is using more digital art techniques.  That’s very impressive especially during the tidal wave chase scenes.

 

Ponyo is adorable and amazing but it isn’t perfect.  It does feel a bit lengthy in certain spots, particularly towards the end.  It wasn’t that I was bored by anything or my interest had been lost, you just began to feel the time by then.  Also, the film does have a central conflict, a cute one with Ponyo trying to stay with Sousuke despite what it might cost her.  But there are times when it tries to do more and just forgets about it when it probably shouldntve come up at all.  This is most obvious with Fujimoto, Ponyo’s entertaining father.  He is played mostly for comic relief but the reveal of his “make the ocean rule the world” plan feels unnecessary when he should’ve just been a crazy, concerned parent who’s trying to stop his kid from burying Sousuke’s island under the sea.  There’s the aforementioned “People aren’t scared of anything in this town” bit I mentioned earlier but you can either roll with it or pull youre hair out at the lack of concern…personally I say go with the former.

 

When an Anime can make me cry, like My Neighbor Totoro or Your Name, it has done its job right.  Ponyo is a classic childrens fairy tale with excitement, magic, love and a heavy dose of fun.  I think it more than earns the right to stand up there with Miyazaki’s best like Mononoke and Spirited Away.  And as much as I complain about the film being long in certain points…part of me didn’t want this movie to end.  It’s the kind of feel good movie Miyazaki and Ghibli can do in their sleep and still dole out superior quality that few Anime films can match.  And just try to get that catchy and kawaii theme song out of your head, I dare you.  “Ponyo, Ponyo, little fishy in the sea…”

 

9/10