Ponyo (Review)
Friday, 4th June 2010, 17:18

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Hayao Miyazaki has established himself as the world's foremost practitioner of cell animation with such highly regarded titles as Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away to his name. Earlier this year, I braved the half term holidays and went to the cinema to see Miyazaki's latest film: Ponyo. Fortunately, it was up against a big 3-D family film (I forget which) so the cinema was surprisingly empty. It was easily the best film of that week and has remained as one of the best releases of this year, despite stiff competition from the 'big films' that dominated the awards season.

As with most, if not all, Miyazaki films, it is rooted firmly in a fantasy setting, albeit one with plenty of things that are recognisably real. As such, you have to suspend disbelief and just go with it as, if you watch these films with the mindset of 'oh, that would never happen', you’re in the wrong movie! Ponyo is set in a small Japanese coastal town where Lisa works at a daycare centre for the elderly and almost single-handedly looks after her five-year-old son Sosuke, who goes to the school next door. Together, they manage to stay in regular radio and Morse code contact with his father, a ship's captain, who is away at sea.

One morning before leaving for work and school, Sosuke is busy playing by the sea despite his mother's calls him to hurry up and get in the car. When he is just about to heed Lisa's call, he notices a goldfish trapped in a jam jar and, hard as he pulls, the fish stays resolutely stuck. Finally, in desperation, Sosuke brings the jar onto dry land and hits it with a rock, smashing the jar and freeing the fish which lies very still, making Sosuke fear that it is dead. Putting this seemingly lifeless goldfish into a bucket, Sosuke is surprised to see that it not only moves a bit, but licks his thumb where he cut it on the rock.

Unbeknownst to Sosuke, the goldfish, which he names Ponyo, is actually the daughter of a powerful wizard and King of the ocean, Fujimoto, who lives under the sea and hates humans for the way they pollute his home. Ponyo has run away from home and Fujimoto wants her back, so dispatches waves of water to reclaim the runaway. Distraught, Sosuke is desperate to have his fish back although it is weird, has a taste for ham and a face that causes one of the seniors to shriek in disgust at it. As Ponyo has tasted human blood, her DNA has been altered and she is able to use her magical powers to sprout arms and legs, all this to the utter dismay of her father. Whilst he is fuming which causes the sea to rage, Ponyo, with the assistance of her younger sisters, escapes again and runs after Sosuke and Lisa who are driving home through the storm. This is no ordinary chase as Ponyo is running on top of a giant wave which is made up of giant fish (it brought to mind the wave of horses in that brilliant Guinness commercial directed by Jonathan Glazer).

Now a fully fledged human, Ponyo and Sosuke get on really well but there is something very wrong outside as the sea continues to rage and boats begin disappearing, including that which Sosuke's father is captaining. It turns out that Ponyo's magical powers have disrupted the balance between land and sea, bringing the moon dangerously close to the Earth and causing the sea levels to rise drastically.

The only way to solve this is for Ponyo, who has become increasingly lethargic, to decide whether to become a human and forego her magic powers or join her family in the sea. Whatever she decides, Sosuke must promise to love her in the shape she chooses to live to prevent the world from ending.

I must admit to going into Ponyo with high hopes, such as been my previous experiences with, and love for, Miyazaki’s films and the entire output from Studio Ghibli. Needless to say, I was not disappointed in any way, shape or form at the cinema and loved the film from beginning to end and liked it even more watching it at home. I'm not sure why, but I was probably more comfortable as the movie was shown in one of the small screens at Cineworld, so I was sitting right at the front which I've never found conducive to comfort. Whatever the reason, I loved Ponyo from first minute to last and even left it playing through the credits because of the wonderfully catchy song which plays over the end credits -- it's not often that happens.

The debate will obviously rage as to where Ponyo ranks amongst the best of Miyazaki's work and, to be honest, I really couldn't say. This has all the elements of the typical Miyazaki film: children growing up, the importance of family, having respect for the environment and the power of love. It is probably a more enjoyable film than Spirited Away, the film that most consider to be his masterpiece, and I consider it to be up there with My Neighbour Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and even Princess Mononoke. This is a very classy piece of animation with a beautiful story, terrific animation and a harsh reminder that you don't need all of the whizz bang effects of digital animation (3-D or otherwise) to keep you utterly involved for the duration of the film which leaves you emotionally exhausted at the end. The phrase 'suitable from ages 8 to 80' springs to mind, but I would contend that Ponyo would appeal to children younger than eight years old (Miyazaki wrote it for five year olds) and adults older than eighty. It is a marvellous piece of work and proof that, despite his years, Miyazaki has lost absolutely nothing and is still a master animator.

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