PONYO Review

Evening!

Got back from Ponyo and bashed out my review for the Inquire website. LOVED the film.

"HAAAMMMMMMM!"

Ponyo Review:

First things first, I feel like I should let you know that I’m biased; I adore Studio Ghibli. Despite this fact hopefully this review will be somewhat balanced and won’t gush over Hayao Miyazaki’s brilliance…except for that one bit of gushing right there.

When summing up the basic premise of Ponyo, many people have described it as Miyazaki’s take of the infamous Little Mermaid tale in the sense that it consists of a fish-girl who dreams of becoming human, meets human boy/man, turns into human and must overcome some sort of obstacle to stay human.

Studio Ghibli’s take on the tale however has more layers to it, replacing more obvious threats and horrors such as villainous characters with one threat that can inspire more fear in a child’s heart than any old octopus lady could, that being the loss of the parental figure and the subsequent sense of isolation and abandonment that follows.

Once human, Ponyo and her new found friend - Sosuke - must go on a quest across the tsunami ridden town to find Sosuke’s mother and a charming coming of age tale for both the focal characters arises.

Of course this is an animation film, and something has to be said for the artwork of this film. From the opening scene it is clear that Ponyo is a work of vibrancy. The underwater world bursts with life, every single frame taken up with intricacies that bring forth a smile from the viewer as well as a chuckle as humorous creatures scuttle, float and flip around.

It is something that the rest of the film manages to keep up with, every frame oozing charm more so than any kind of cgi created world could attempt. The cascading and violent waters of the sea warp between diving fish into fizzing foam with such finesse that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch Finding Nemo again without making some snide film student-y remark.

However, I do have one main complaint about this film, and that is the handling and casting of the voice actors. The beautifully directed opening scene is somewhat halted as soon as Liam Neeson’s booming voice announces itself, seemingly rather out of place when coming from a red haired, pin striped suit wearing skinny magician. I find the A-List celebrity voices bring you out of the enchanting world Studio Ghibli has created which disrupts the storytelling and has you sitting their thinking, “is that Matt Damon? Yeah, I swear I just heard Matt Damon.”

So overall, voice actor qualms aside, if you are so inclined to animation, or let’s be honest, good films in general, I suggest you put sometime aside to view Ponyo. Miyazaki makes up for the disappointment that was the recent Ghibli film, Tales of Earthsea and returns to his classic storytelling via animation.

He pits children against life altering circumstances while also managing to imbue his film with topics such as the destruction mankind is having upon the natural world with it still remaining child friendly.