MUBI

Miyazaki kembali. Kali ini dengan Ponyo. Sebuah kisah yang tidak jauh dari tema persahabatan dan alam, yang banyak menjadi ciri dalam film Miyazaki. Ponyo berkisah tentang seekor goldfish yang bernama Ponyo. Suatu hari dia kabur dari rumahnya di kedalaman dasar laut. Ponyo punya masalah dengan bapaknya, seorang ahli magis yang sangat benci dengan manusia. Dalam perjalanannya itu Ponyo terjebak dalam sebuah botol hingga dia terdampar di sebuah dasar tebing. Ponyo kemudian ditemukan oleh Sosuke seorang bocah yang kebetulan sedang bermain di dasar tebing tersebut. Sosuke yang melihat seekor ikan terjebak dalam botol, lansung memungut dan mencoba mengeluarkan ikan itu dari botol. Karena tidak bisa ditariknya ikan tersebut, Sosuke langsung saja memecahkan botol tersebut dan pecahannya membuat jarinya tersayat. Ponyo yang baru saja diselamatkan bak seekor anjing langsung menjilat jari Sosuke yang tersayat.

Ponyo bukanlah ikan biasa. Bayangkan bapaknya saja seorang wizard, ibunya goddess of sea. Jadilah Ponyo sebuah kisah fantasi yang imajinatif dan magis. Ponyo yang memiliki darah manusia dari bapaknya, berhasrat menjadi manusia. Ponyo ingin punya tangan dan kaki. Kedekatannya dengan Sosuke membuatnya ingin seperti itu. Mutasi Ponyo menjadi manusia membawa dampak pada alam. Bumi terancam. Apalagi kawasan Sosuke tinggal yang dekat dengan laut. Tsunami siap menerjang.

Tokoh-tokoh dalam film ini digambarkan dalam animasi yang imut dan manis. Hampir tidak ada karakteristik tokoh yang buruk, dengan garis-garis yang menyiratkan kebengisan atau jahat. Yang agak horor adalah ombak-ombak yang memiliki mata. Pendeknya animasinya sangat menyenangkan dan enak dilihat. Colourful persis sebuah coretan crayon anak-anak dalam pelajaran menggambar

Silly, watery fish flash upwards through a hundred painted colors at once while little girls sprout for ham and instant ramen under the threat of the world’s flooding mood. Miyakasaki went really simple and a dove into a child’s wildest dreams so deeply that it’s impossible to follow. You either give in or the crayon whimsy leaves you washed out waiting for a truly inspiring adventure. While this can be great fun and a psychedelic playground it never manages to allow the carnival of aquatic creatures and magical powers to create something tangible. Something with a texture I could feel instead of be bathed by. Miyazaki is obsessed with nature yet nature seemed to have no passion or purpose here. All that beauty for such a little thing.

Miyazaki’s obsession with flight makes a natural transition to the sea with this wonderful children’s film with a strong environmental message. Updating “The Little Mermaid” to a quaint Japanese fishing town, Miyazaki’s warm colors and peerless traditional animation lend a beautiful backdrop and exciting action sequences to a sweet and odd story about a goldfish who becomes a little girl when she experiences mutual love with a human boy. Both the Japanese and English language tracks appear on the Blu-ray, and they are both excellent, as is the various behind-the-scenes documentaries about Miyazaki and his famous Studio Ghibli.

Many have called this a “lesser” work of the master. I prefer “familiar;” Miyazaki’s staples are everywhere, such as child protagonists and some light environmental messages (though his signature motif, flight, is notably absent). So Ponyo is pretty much business as usual with Studio Ghibli – business as usual with one of the most consistently creative and charming film studios in the world. Expect beautiful animation (here traditionally hand-drawn), endless expression, and a highly imaginative whimsical romp through the glowing eyes of youth.

Some will find the story simplistic and pointless, but those with an eye for nuance will see Miyazaki’s gift for situation and presence on par with his masterful My Neighbor Totoro. I responded best to scenes reminiscent of my own childhood (and others of theirs I’m sure), for instance the respective feather-ruffling of parents or the excitement of exploring a new friend’s home. Both were nostalgic illustrations of particular instances I had long forgotten, and am now glad to remember. Because of this focus more still will miss the sweeping epicness of say Laputa or Mononoke, however they will also miss the point. This is thoroughly a family film, its themes paternal and its conflicts relative. See it with your family. Grab some kids and join their wide-eyed ranks for 90 minutes.

Being in Toronto for a convention that deals with anime meant I couldn’t leave the city without actually seeing an anime film, right? Lucky for us, the new Hayao Miyazaki film Gake no ue no Ponyo was playing at the local multiplex just minutes from our hotel. Distributed like his previous few films in the United States by Disney, from its Japanese Studio Ghibli origins, Ponyo ports the vision of its creator in beautiful animation and color with the inclusion of new Hollywood actors to dub in the script. With talent such as Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Betty White, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Cate Blanchett, it becomes all about whether the story grabs you and takes you along for its journey. There are no subtitles or “bad acting” to make note of, no, the story is key. And was it good enough? In my opinion—not really. Definitely the weakest of Miyazaki’s films that I’ve had the pleasure of watching, Ponyo may work wonderfully for the young children, but unfortunately that is where its success ends. Besides trying to make a comment on humanity’s interaction with nature, there really isn’t anything more than a cute tale to keep the kiddies occupied for an hour and a half.

It’s all about young Ponyo, a fish parented by Fujimoto, a human who has decided to leave dry land for the ocean, and Gran Mamare, a sort of God of the sea. Given magic by her father, Ponyo wants to utilize her new power and explore the world; soon finding herself stuck in a glass jar right outside the Cliffside home of Sosuke, a five-year-old boy who enjoys animals. He sees this hurt goldfish and tries to revive her, in effect accidentally allowing her to taste his human blood, which allows for her eventual transformation to human form. Fujimoto attempts to bring her back to the fold and keep a tenuous balance in the world whole, (ocean vs. land), but realizes she has become too powerful for him to subdue. Contacting her mother and consulting with her, he decides to let his daughter stay above water if her love for Sosuke, and his for her, is true. Risking her destruction if the love isn’t pure, he knows that it is now up to her to restore balance, bringing the magic of the ocean back, away from the humans who may not be able to control it.

Even from the beginning, devoid of voice, only a colorful display of oceanic life, the animation is gorgeous to watch, but sometimes overabundant in its jam-packed frame. The opening scene, watching Ponyo’s escape for the surface, makes you a bit disoriented, not knowing what is happening. Are all those little fish her children? Is the creepy water lord Fujimoto a hunter on the search for her? The familial relationship between these characters really doesn’t become known until later on. Once the magic is released, however, and these “fish with faces” unleash the tsunami prophesized by the elderly Toki, a resident at Sosuke’s mother’s retirement home, it all makes sense and the audience can just sit back and revel in the artistry at work. A golden glow emits forth and changes aquatic animals into powerful fish and alters the water itself into a school of powerful fish-like waves, slowly rising higher and higher as the moon gets closer and closer, raising the tide—the planetary proximity having been thrown off by the human metamorphosis of Ponyo. The waves themselves reminded me of Hokusai Katsushika and his “Great Wave off Kanagawa” woodcut; the artistic comparisons are definitely there throughout, melded with Miyazaki’s signature style to become his own.

An attempt at infusing the story with an environmentally friendly bent is quickly tossed to the side as the quick retorts of Fujimoto and his disdain for humanity’s unclean living become nonexistent. The story becomes more about the love between these two new friends and the acceptance of someone different as equal. Sosuke knows his friend used to be a fish, but his love for her doesn’t waver as a result. Even though his father is a fisherman himself, gone long stretches at sea on his large boat, the bond this girl and he create is too powerful to allow for petty differences to interfere. So, in that regard, Ponyo is a great film for the youngsters to make them laugh, get them excited from the tension of the giant storm and search for Sosuke’s mother, as well as help them to understand the meaning of tolerance. It is a cute film, well worth your time, and successful at bringing a smile to your face. Unfortunately, it is from the mind of Miyazaki, whose previous works have held such layered storytelling, captivating on so many levels and reaching viewers of all ages. Maybe Hayao wanted to tell a simple story and nothing more. If that is the case, bravo, I guess I just wanted more.

http://jaredmobarakreviews.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/ponyo/

I’m not sure if this is true, but I heard that this was actually made in Japan way before Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, which makes a lot of sense. The animation was achingly beautiful, but the character development was kind of limited, and the dialogue was abrupt and ungrounded. I felt like the overload on famous voices was distracting and unnecessary, but maybe I just prefer the quaint anonymity of other Miyazaki casts. For an apparent early film, though, it’s superb.

It’s hard to believe that the creative forces behind Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle came up with this overly sentimental confection. Granted, Miyazaki has for his American version once again teamed up with Disney, the juggernaut of schmaltz, so perhaps the Japanese original was not quite as saccharine. I should have known the film was suspect when the Times published a rave review.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/movies/14ponyo.html?scp=1&sq=ponyo&st=cse
Ergo, never trust a critic from the major media.

Gorgeous. Ponyo starts fine, and then turns batshit insane. The film is fun to look at and relaxing, but the second half is nonsensical. A ticking clock, potions, and a tests of love are introduced late in the film in order to drum up a modicum of tension. There are plenty of laughs intentional and otherwise. Ponyo isn’t great, but it is worth staring at from time to time, much like a large aquarium full of colorful fish.

It was different, not what I expected. I have not seen any of Miyazaki’s other films so I have nothing to really compare it to. Obviously with the under sea location, Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Pixar’s Finding Nemo come to mind. The story is adapted from Andersen’s Little Mermaid and when you think of the basic story elements it has some things in common with Pinocchio too.

The animation is stunning! The story is creative in ways I didn’t expect! This includes the ancient fish that are brought to life by the sorcerer’s magic when the sea levels rise and Ponyo’s magic abilities. But there were also some plot holes that bothered me a little. Ponyo’s dad, the “evil” sorcerer, is a human who hates wasteful humans and has taken up living in the sea. He still needs air bubbles to breath, but then sometimes the animators seem to forget and he is shown getting along fine without an air bubble. Another case is when Ponyo is shown growing tired and falling asleep at Sosuke’s house while remaining in her magical human girl form. But then later after further adventures, she grows tired and this causes her to loose concentration on maintaining her magic and she reverts to a goldfish. It’s not all entirely consistent.

The eight year old I saw the movie with wished it had been longer. And I agree it did seem to end abruptly. I wish Ponyo and Sosuke had the chance to go on more adventures, to deal with more obstacles before it all wrapped up. There are some charming jokes in this movie and touching mother and child moments. This has made me interested in sampling more Miyazaki.