Ponyo (2008)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.
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Although it will draw thematic comparisons to "The Little Mermaid" and "Finding Nemo," it's unlike any other animated feature – excepting, of course, Miyazaki's own.
The Disney picture, "The Little Mermaid," is a musical, not unlike "The Sound of Music," and while it happens to be an undisputed classic, it also feels very old-fashioned in its shape and message.
In a story loosely inspired by "The Little Mermaid," five year-old Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) finds a very odd fish, with a face, near his house on the cliff by the sea.
Not surprisingly, Ponyo, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic The Little Mermaid , is a huge success in Miyazaki's native Japan.
Casually, you might hitch Miyazaki’s “Ponyo’’ to any iteration of “The Little Mermaid’’ tale, namely the musical one from Disney - which is also distributing “Ponyo.’’
Ponyo, an emotionally profound, visually thrilling animated reimagining of the classic fairy tale ''The Little Mermaid,'' is another opportunity for the smitten to state the obvious: The work of the legendary Japanese animation artist Hayao Miyazaki is both unmistakable and inimitable.
While underwater, she is under the watchful eye of her wizard father, Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), an oceanic impresario who sports striped suits and flowing hair and looks like something out of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine.
Miyazaki's vision of life under the sea is closer to the Pop Art of Yellow Submarine than to the photorealistic luminescence of Finding Nemo.
The early scenes recall Peter Max’s Yellow Submarine, with the father in a blue candy-striped jacket and flowing hair, a kind of undersea ringmaster.
While the story may be inspired by The Little Mermaid, the visuals look more like something out of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine with its extremely bright color palette and almost play doh-like way of movement (the scene of Ponyo chasing Sosuke while riding on a series of fish-shaped tidal waves might be the most stunningly fluid piece of animation Miyazaki and his team of animators have ever accomplished).
Miyazaki pulls you into a world of pure imagination that seems, by turns, inspired by images from Maurice Sendak, Winsor McCay and the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.”
Almost a decade after Spirited Away, Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki made Ponyo , a soothingly surrealized riff on, among other things, the story of the Little Mermaid.
"Ponyo," his latest, is not quite as magical or complexly unsettling as, say, "Howl's Moving Castle" or his Oscar-winning masterpiece, "Spirited Away."
He is best known for his gorgeous, good-hearted children's films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988), but his most recent films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle grew more elaborate in scale, more nuanced in design and darker in spirit.
It also presents an impassioned environmental message without lessening the entertainment value of the visually dazzling animated tale created by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away).
It’s also the director in a much less visually extravagant frame of mind than either “Spirited Away’’ or “Howl’s Moving Castle.’’
</p> Such star power has been deployed by Pixar and Disney on behalf of Miyazaki, whose films have been never as popular here as in the rest of the world -- despite a Best Animated Feature nomination Oscar for "Spirited Away" and a nomination for "Howl's Moving Castle."
That is nothing new for this Japanese visionary, who’s been railing about man’s ecological ravages for years, most epically in 1998’s “Princess Mononoke.’’
Miyazaki, whose previous masterpieces include Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and the 2002 Academy Award winner Spirited Away, deepens the classic Hans Christian Andersen story so that it becomes a parable about keeping a planet in balance, and a vision of multigenerational love.
The Japanese animation giant has always specialized in fairy tale stories that let kids star in their own adventure, with some of them becoming classics-- Princess Mononoke-- and some not.
The advance word on Ponyowhich opened in Japan last year and arrives here in an English-dubbed version adapted by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison and supervised by Pixar guru John Lasseter had suggested that the film would mark a conscious return by Miyazaki to the gentler, more kid-friendly style of movies like My Neighbor Totoroand Kikis Delivery Service after the epic-scaled and sometimes violent narratives of Princess Mononokeand Spirited Away.
It’s a philosophy that’s followed him through other masterworks (My Neighbor Totorro) and true works of cinematic art (Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle).
It keeps things moving along and provides a reason for the animation, but it's no match for Miyazaki's best (for me, that would be Spirited Away , with Princess Mononoke coming in a close second).
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Although it will draw thematic comparisons to "The Little Mermaid" and "Finding Nemo," it's unlike any other animated feature – excepting, of course, Miyazaki's own.
It's not the photorealistic water animation of Finding Nemo, but something far more expressionistic and strange.
The film's underwater opening sequence is breathtaking, easily surpassing anything in either The Little Mermaid or Finding Nemo , and the later scenes with roiling waves and prehistoric fish swimming beneath the surface, are arresting.
There's a little bit of Captain Nemo and Finding Nemo here, not to mention The Little Mermaid as the fish falls in love with a little boy (he calls her Ponyo) and evolves (at one awkward stage she looks like Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy) into a little girl.
Miyazaki's vision of life under the sea is closer to the Pop Art of Yellow Submarine than to the photorealistic luminescence of Finding Nemo.
If the plot is reminiscent of both The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo, that just shows how metallic Disney and Pixar feel next to Miyazaki�s genuine sense of awe.
He is best known for his gorgeous, good-hearted children's films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988), but his most recent films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle grew more elaborate in scale, more nuanced in design and darker in spirit.
It’s his cuddliest movie since “My Neighbor Totoro’’ over 20 years ago.
Our family has enjoyed many of Hayao Miyazaki's other films including "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle," "Porco Rosso," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Castle in the Sky," "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," and more.
"Ponyo" is a sweet-natured film that emphasizes the joys of childhood friendships, but though it has a lot in common with Miyazaki's gentle classic "My Neighbor Totoro," it still manages to be exciting when it needs to, and it's been given first-class treatment by distributor Walt Disney Studios.
The advance word on Ponyowhich opened in Japan last year and arrives here in an English-dubbed version adapted by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison and supervised by Pixar guru John Lasseter had suggested that the film would mark a conscious return by Miyazaki to the gentler, more kid-friendly style of movies like My Neighbor Totoroand Kikis Delivery Service after the epic-scaled and sometimes violent narratives of Princess Mononokeand Spirited Away.
And I got very excited indeed about 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro -- another of the most wonderful movies I’ve ever seen -- and I only saw that for the first time after I saw Howl.
Back in 1995, the release of Toy Story seemed to be a killer blow for American hand-drawn animation.
The English-language version has been adapted by John Lasseter (“ Toy Story ,” “ Cars ”) and, believe me, he did it for love, not money.
As with the most childlike of the Japanese animation master’s previous films — My Neighbor Totoro , Kiki’s Delivery Service — the dreamlike quality of Ponyo is reflected in the way the magical elements seem not to come as a complete surprise, even to the grown-ups.
He’s shown his love for airships and flying in classics like “Castle in the Sky,” “Porco Rosso” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and he brings that same eye to the undersea world, giving us fantastical fishy creatures and wildly imaginative ships.
The buzz: The latest film from Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki marks a return to his littlest kid-friendly works like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” after a series of more mature acclaimed fantasies “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Princess Mononoke.”
And that for him, "normal" and "gentle" mean the enjoyable and only slightly less bizarre "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) and "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989).
Ponyo is a kids film at heart, though; it's much closer in tone to the tween-witch escapades of Kiki's Delivery Service than it is to feral growlings of Princess Mononoke.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, Disney) takes place in a magical variation of our own world.
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Behind the simple story is a fable about the interaction and symbiosis of land and sea, and while it isn't one of Studio Ghibli's best works, it's far superior to the American Battle for Terra, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas, who worked as a visual effects artist on his fellow Canadian James Cameron's Titanic.
"Ponyo," his latest, is not quite as magical or complexly unsettling as, say, "Howl's Moving Castle" or his Oscar-winning masterpiece, "Spirited Away."
He is best known for his gorgeous, good-hearted children's films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988), but his most recent films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle grew more elaborate in scale, more nuanced in design and darker in spirit.
It’s also the director in a much less visually extravagant frame of mind than either “Spirited Away’’ or “Howl’s Moving Castle.’’
Our family has enjoyed many of Hayao Miyazaki's other films including "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle," "Porco Rosso," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Castle in the Sky," "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," and more.
It’s a philosophy that’s followed him through other masterworks (My Neighbor Totorro) and true works of cinematic art (Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle).
</p> Such star power has been deployed by Pixar and Disney on behalf of Miyazaki, whose films have been never as popular here as in the rest of the world -- despite a Best Animated Feature nomination Oscar for "Spirited Away" and a nomination for "Howl's Moving Castle."