Ponyo

Ponyo

Madman

R4 DVD

Ponyo is a engaging and beautiful anime film from Hayao Miyazaki; it is enchanting, magical and poetic. I have always had a strange relationship with Anime; I regularly find it cinematically difficult and hard to relate to. However, there has always been one exception, the work of Hayao Miyazaki who gave us Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and other such classics. I waited with much anticipation to see what his latest film would be like and Ponyo is an utter delight.

Ponyo is a delicately made film, it could have so easily moved into a cloying and sentimental experience which would have been so full of sugar I would have turned it off. However, somehow Miyazaki contains the sentimentality and while the film is undoubtedly high on the cutesy factor, it kept me watching right to the very end. Ponyo and Sosuke while lovable are balanced by Sosoke’s rather independent and straight thinking mother and even the old people in the home have a cynic among them. The various characters and elements of the story are masterfully balanced to create what I believe will become a truly classic film.

The story is a mythic tale centred on Sosuke, a five year old boy who lives with his parents on a house by the seaside. His father regularly travels to sea on business and leaves his wife to run the house and work a job at the local old people’s home.

Sosuke finds what he believes to be a goldfish trapped in a jar and during his attempt to free her cuts his finger which she licks. Ponyo, however, is not a normal fish, she is a fish spirit and after tasting human blood her magical powers accelerate including the ability to move between the human and oceanic worlds.

Ponyo’s father is not amused and wants her back home. When he discovers where she is she, he awaits the right moment. Soon Ponyo is captured and taken back to her underwater home. While her father may have the best of intentions, she does not aim to stay put. She is not content to live in a bubble under the ocean and by the strength of her will sprouts arms and legs and triggers an ecological crisis by tipping the balance between the divergent worlds. It seems her mother is a Goddess and Ponyo is too young to realize the effect of her choice. The story continues with fascinating explorations of environmental issues, family conflict and the simple message that if you love someone you accept them as they are.

The animation in the film is breathtaking, the detail in each scene is astounding and the depth of colour, texture and form make this a visual feast. What I find so utterly astounding is that Miyazaki creates his work by hand and does not use CGI. Ponyo really stands as a work of art from beginning to end and is quite an amazing achievement.

The voice actors in the film range from Cate Blanchett to Liam Neeson, Frankie Jonas to Matt Damon, they all do a sterling job bringing life to these amazing characters. Ponyo is a film which will delight, entertain and astonish viewers of all ages.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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