Preparing for the neatest, sweetest Miyazaki film in EXISTENCE?! Here's spitting water in your face.
Written: Aug 17 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Backed by pretty animation and fitting voice-work...
Cons: ...this charming childlike fantasy is one of Hayao Miyazaki's weaker films.
The Bottom Line: While Ponyo isn't one of Hayao Miyazaki's best, it's a decent film that fares better than it does worse. Go see it if you'd like...just don't come looking for fireworks.
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| ChromeKiller's Full Review: Ponyo |
Legacy is a triumphant standard that fans continue to look for in a master creator's work. They count on it as the number of masterpieces grow. Everything that comes between their first engagements with this genius's craft and the ones that come after you can only expect to add to the glorious pile of this living legacy. Hayao Miyazaki is one man who has made his mark on the world with much legend to tell, and hopefully many more. At age 68, Mr. Miyazaki is an acclaimed writer and director behind several of the Japanese-made anime motion pictures that have graced us over the years. From his early work in the 1980s on such renowned classics as Castle in the Sky to his later projects of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Hayao has provided some of the warmest, the fluffiest, the most succulent bread and butter that anime fans have ever bitten into. It's only with his recent return to the silver screen that fans have been waiting on more irresistible cuisine, in which along with Studio Ghibli’s partners at Disney, they now release the North American version of Ponyo: a tale of two worlds told off a cliff by the sea.
Earth is an unsanitary environment. The sky is polluted, the oceans are trashed; this not the world that was intended for people to inhabit. Yet here we are, mucking it up each and every day. There is a force that lives below the ocean's surface, using his magical energies to keep balance to his realm of Earth as it is while cleansing its watery depths. Fujimoto, who once was a human, now serves as a keeper of the sea by harnessing magical elixirs. His daughter, Broom-Hilda, is a goldfish that wishes not to be contained in the ocean bottom. She has stuck her head out today, setting out to wander the above world. It is here that a young boy will stumble upon her. Having broken her free from imprisonment, Sosuke, the boy, offers to her his responsibility to care for her while imprinting onto her the name Ponyo (pronounced pon-yo). It is when her father discovers that Ponyo now has a new name, a desire to live amongst the humans, a fetish for ham, and a love for this young boy that his rage for the distaste of humans and their unclean world will be tested. Ponyo and her new friend will undergo a trial all the same when they must learn to care for one another as the Earth's imbalance unsheathes itself before their very eyes.
As you might be able to discern, Ponyo is loosely based on The Little Mermaid fairytale. More so than that, it's a Hayao Miyazaki film, which in itself you'd think would rise above a mere children's fable. Unfortunately, Ponyo does not. Ponyo instead is a movie intended more for a younger audience, ditching the complex narrative of Hayao's past works. Ponyo tells the tale of a fish wanting to become a human, where it has the potential to do more than it does. But then the film loses itself to but a couple of engaging moments - you know, the kind that give Hayao Miyazaki films that significantly special feel. Ponyo doesn't emphasize and doesn't attempt to build a broader narrative that would otherwise keep engrossed audiences pulled in and immersed throughout.
That's not to say that Ponyo doesn't work. It does, and it does so through the story's delightful array of animation and sound design. Perhaps being spoiled by 3D animated movies as of late, you'll come to the opinion of Ponyo's 2D visuals resting below your level of acceptability. But, don't think that way. After all, Ponyo carries an important message: don't judge something or someone by the way that they look. Studio Ghibli, the talented team responsible for Hayao Miyazaki's past films, brings to life a town set in a modern day Japan (even though, as always has been the case for his films, the characters aren't modeled with squinty Asian eyes and such). There's a contrasting difference in the life provided here, speaking of elements such as the backgrounds and the objects that are being animated in the foregrounds. The people, such as Sosuke, his thinly trimmed mother, and Ponyo are penciled in and brightly colored with pinks, whites, peach tones, and the distinctive difference in the shaven grays around Sosuke’s head to the darker hues of floppy brown that makes up his hair line. All of this connects across the more watercolored pastels of the backdrops, in which some of it is composed of bushy green trees, light greenish/yellowish grain stalks, and then of course the rest that blends with the action, like the wide sparkling deep blues of the ocean splish-splashing with overgrown fish every which way. There's a great deal of quality in Ponyo to witness here. The only problem is that it can also be said that the quality is not up to par with a number of Hayao Miyazaki's past efforts. There's goodness, and then there's matters of goofy cheesiness (Ponyo at times looking like a bizarre chicken-person) that doesn't quite capture the perfect essence that you'd come to expect from one of his much deeper entries.
Matching up with everything, with the times that people and creatures come to talk to the audio when they walk, there's sound around to listen to in Ponyo. Voiced by a lineup of some noticeable and some fairly unnoticeable stars, every bit of dialogue and each person who speaks for these roles is actually just about perfect for the part. Ponyo, handled by Noah Lindsey Cyrus (who you might recognize as the younger sister of Hannah Montana) is fluid in giving off a bright, sprightly voice that involves much squeakiness that doesn't dip into the realm of irritation. Another star spun from a musical background, Frankie Jonas is the talent behind Sosuke. His calmer and more serious demeanor reflects off of Ponyo's nicely, while being at a young age and mirroring off of some younger and some more elderly folks who he converses with all around his world. Liam Neeson even proves once more that an animated lion, or in this case, an animated crazy-looking weirdo is a role that was tailored for his extremely relaxing Irish-English accent. As for the rest of the movie, elements of gushing waves and magical energies come pushing against the stark contrast of the gentler side of the movie where you'll find something like the guzzling of a soup bowl being filled. Every now and then, you'll also hear an orchestral melody to come along for the ride. These portions appropriately mesh with the story, but won't overtake your complete focus on the character's humorous and direct lines.
Ponyo is an anime, an anime created from the mind of one of the most audacious talents in the industry. His movies in the past have inspired us to no end, and for that we thank Mr. Hayao Miyazaki. Now comes the moment of moments when this imaginary filmmaker's next project has hit North American audiences, and now comes the time in which to decide on how to judge a movie not by its trailer but by the time that was spent surveying the final product. Being a fan of one of the greats is one thing; being someone who is honest is another. A blind Hayao Miyazaki fan might tell you that this is another addition to his wonderful collection, while a fan who is honest will say that Ponyo itself is just okay. I don't care to lie and tell you that the movie is completely mesmerizing. I don't want you to go thinking that Ponyo is not worth the trip either. All that can be told here is that this is not his best work. Performing a balancing act between degrees of good and average, Ponyo sadly doesn't quite hit the same central target as previous Hayao Miyazaki treasures did.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Family Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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ChromeKiller
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Member: Christopher
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