Ponyo
by Donna Duffy
Hayao Miyazaki’s recently released full-length animated feature, PONYO, is a Little Mermaid-esque story about a fish girl wanting to escape her underwater aquarium and become human. It is set in a modern day seaport village whose inhabitants are unaware of the magical world just beneath the waves. The film opens on this fish girl, eventually named Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus), who lives in an underwater castle with her wizard father, Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), and numerous smaller sisters. Ponyo swims away from her father during an outing in a desire to see more of the world. She is picked up by a 5-year-old boy, Sosuke (Frankie Jonas), who names her and keeps her as a pet. Sosuke is the only child of Koichi, a sea captain who is often out at sea, and Lisa (Tina Fey), a young, reckless, neglectful, yet loving mother. Sosuke and Ponyo bond quickly, but Ponyo’s escape throws off the entire balance of nature creating major flooding and extreme tides. And unbeknownst to them, Sosuke and Ponyo are the only ones who can restore the balance of nature. The adventure begins.
Miyazaki’s direction and cinematography in this film were beautiful. The sounds and music were as fluid as the sea. But to be honest I wasn’t a fan of the animation in its entirety. Don’t get me wrong the depiction of the sea and the flooded town was amazing. But the quality and style of animation seemed inconsistent. A lot of the backdrops looked like colored pencils and cheap watercolors, as if Ponyo was produced as Disney’s hand-me-down sitcom (think Lilo and Stitch the movie versus the TV show).
The writing was decent. I didn’t care for the unnecessary monologued narration. Both parental figures—Fujimoto and Lisa—narrated their actions at different parts throughout the film. I can understand doing to this help push along the narrative and make sure everything is absolutely clear to young movie viewers, but it could have been done more subtly. He also hinted at bigger themes like environmentalism and care for the elderly, yet he didn’t spend anytime massaging them out. And I felt there was much time spent developing the story, but the climax and the resolution were very rushed.
I do have to say that one of the things that really brought the movie to life for me was the character of Sosuke. I’m definitely not in the habit of throwing the Jonus family a bone, but Frankie Jonas was perfect for the role. His depiction of Sosuke was spot on. He was precocious, innocent, and just plain adorable. I spent most of the movie wishing I could take him home with me.
Bottom line, for a family film, PONYO is very entertaining. I wouldn’t rush to see it in the theaters. But I do suggest renting it if only to see Betty White as a Yoshie and Liam Neeson as an androgynous evil wizard/mad scientist who looked like a member of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with an 80’s do—Ow!
