Movie Review: Ponyo
John Lasseter, Peter Sohn Produce Hayao Miyazaki Film For Disney
Aug 13, 2009 Dominic von Riedemann
Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki has produced some of the most beloved animated films of all time: movies like My Neighbour Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away, which won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Now Miyazaki fans John Lasseter (Toy Story 3) and Peter Sohn ("Partly Cloudy") – plus veteran producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy – have brought the anime maestro's latest film Ponyo (Gake no ue no Ponyo in Japan) to North America.
While it doesn't surpass his greatest work, it shows Hayao Miyazaki has not lost the wonderful artistic and story sense that has made him anime's greatest director.
Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett and Matt Damon Voice Roles in Ponyo's English Dub
Goldfish Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus in the English dub) lives under the sea with her dour sorcerer father Fujimoto (Neeson) and her horde of fishy siblings. But what Ponyo really wants to do is grow arms and legs and become human.
When Ponyo meets 5-year-old Sosuke (Frankie Jonas), she finds a reason to become human and stay on land. However, this decision has unexpected consequences: can Ponyo pursue her dream or will it literally tear the world apart?
What sells Ponyo is the story. It's a simple tale of a little fish trying to make her way in the world. There are no clear lines drawn between heroes and villains: no evil queens or wacky sidekicks here. The closest thing to a villain in this movie is human pollution: a theme that has been a part of other Miyazaki films, such as Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.
Everyone in this movie are all just human (or human-like) characters doing what they think is best. It's a breath of fresh air in a genre that increasingly relies on cookie-cutter adventure formulas and characters rubber-stamped from Joseph Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces.
That said, the only character that comes off as less than completely three-dimensional is Sosuke. Reportedly based on Miyazaki's estranged son Goro, he comes off as underdeveloped: a blank slate to which the other well-rounded characters respond.
The humour is unforced, and flows naturally from the situations. Some of the biggest laughs in the film come from a dialogue rendered entirely in Morse Code. It's timeless comedy, with no reference humour that will be dated in less than 5 years.
At first, the animation seems somewhat raw and primitive compared to Miyazaki's previous work, but the watercolour textures eventually grow on you. While Ponyo doesn't feature the bizarre and fantastical creatures that populated Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, there are still scenes of breathtaking beauty, such as when fish lazily swim above a drowned village. By the time Ponyo sprints atop a tidal wave of fish alongside a speeding car, we've become completely immersed (sorry) in Miyazaki's world.
If there is a serious criticism of Ponyo, it's with the English voice cast. While it's wonderful that actors like Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett or Matt Damon want to voice roles in a Miyazaki film, their vocal tones do become distracting. Blanchett and Neeson have such distinctive voices that their presence pulls you out of the movie and – let's face it, Hollywood – animation is probably the only genre where the star system doesn't apply. It doesn't matter whose voice you have in the booth, as long as they do a good job.
The Final Analysis
When animated family films like Ponyo are no longer made, a little light will go out in the world. It's a gorgeous film that isn't afraid to tell a story without delineated heroes and villains. While not as good as Spirited Away (still Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece), Ponyo is a wonderful family film.
It deserves a 9/10.
a scene from Ponyo
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