PONYO Review

Hayao Miyazaki’s Little Mermaid. PONYO is another wonderful hand drawn feature by one of the greatest animators of all time. It’s cute, unbelievably imaginative, and magical. But the characters lack… development and the story seems too simple, not enough complexities to make it as powerful as Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. It is still an entertaining family friendly film that will make you smile but it’s not perfect.

From the Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki comes “Ponyo,” a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid.” Already a box-office success in Japan, the story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus) and her quest to become human features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo.

The animation leaves a lasting impression. I can’t help but be amazed at how creative Miyazaki and team made the ocean look like an army of liquid soldiers. Some may find American animation more interesting but you just gotta admire the thought and work process that may have been put into making this feature. It may not be as detailed as Finding Nemo because that’s a whole other ball game, but when Ponyo the goldfish slowly out to surface with the help of jellyfish-like creatures, the imagery is nothing short of divine, the rich colors that are involved, and the careful attention to how certain sea creatures should move. What’s also eye-catching is the transformation of PONYO from being a fish to human and how her fellow goldfish friends always try to help her out.

The typhoon scene has got to be my favorite, the way Lisa the mom is literally racing against the angry sea that seems to be following closely is fun and exciting. Ponyo runs on water and the water breaks a few seconds after hits the land so Ponyo has to back and forth onto the water again so she can keep up with the car, what a great spectacle. I’m not sure why they have to settle for ancient fish instead of today’s ordinary kind, but I remember from his previous works, Miyazaki often puts a twist on the usual things we know today to arouse our curiosity.

It cracks me up to hear the English-speaking voice talents chosen for this version. Not because I don’t think they’re not right for their roles, but because they way they say their lines is in the same style as any Japanese animated features that have been dubbed before in the past.
The only thing that keeps me from giving PONYO an absolute undying praise is the lack of character development. I don’t mind the amazing visual but the movie seems too focused on that aspect alone, in the end I could care less about Sosuke, Lisa and even PONYO is nothing more than just cute. The story is too simple and straightforward, Ponyo’s father Fujimoto plays this personality that may or may not have the best intentions for PONYO but he doesn’t serve enough problem to push the characters to make life changing decisions.
I’m aware that this is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” but this is also probably the closest Miyazaki gets to imitating Disney’s works in the past, especially the play on deadline, the main princess turns back to her natural form by midnight or in this case, PONYO turns back to fish after a certain period of given time. I think Miyazaki needs to return to makes him great, playing by his own rules and creating his own universe.

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