I once heard director Quentin Tarantino say that he watched Chungking Express entirely through a blur of tears. The movie was so perfect and so beautiful that he couldn’t contain himself. I remember thinking, “What a wuss.”
Well, I’m now going to eat those thoughts. I just watched Ponyo, the latest movie from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, and I now know exactly how Tarantino felt. Ponyo is so splendid that I couldn’t hold back the tears. I guess this makes me an even bigger wuss. At least Chungking was made for grownups. Ponyo is a G-rated cartoon made for kids.
And parents, how often do you hear the words “G-rated” these days? Not even movies from Pixar get that stamp of family approval. And yet, here we have the best family movie in years, dropped on us from the skies by a messenger from Japan. (Don’t worry about subtitles. Disney, its U.S. distributor, has done a fine job dubbing the movie in English using the likes of Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, and Tina Fey.)
Ponyo re-tells the classic fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" in fresh and colorfully eye-popping new ways. Hand-painted (another rarity these days) in what looks like watercolor pencil, the setting is filled with Miyazaki’s trademark vivid pastel green foliage and blue skies and rolling white clouds. And the characters populating the story are both familiar and wildly and wonderfully exotic.
Sosuke, the five-year-old son of a wayward sailor, lives with his mother on the side of a cliff by the sea. He’s an adventurous boy and she’s a liberating mom who gives him plenty of room to grow. No adventure and no opportunity to grow though can quite compare with what he discovers floating in the white-wash of the sea one day.
He finds what he immediately says to be a “goldfish” – although it appears more like a redfish with a girl-like face – stuck helplessly in a bottle. After setting it free, he quickly falls in love with the little creature, names it Ponyo, and promises to protect it forever. He then steals away home with it to show his mother.
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Article comments
1 - Nick
Nice review. Miyazaki continues to amaze me. Princess Mononoke, for example, was one of the finest movies I've seen. Looking forward to seeing Ponyo.
2 - Ted
Loved your piece. It's great when a review makes you want to see for yourself what the critic is describing.
3 - Phillip Winn
Add me to the fans. I was on the bubble about seeing this movie, though I should have known better, since I tend to love Miyazaki's films.
Now your evocative descriptions have made me want to see this, and soon!
4 - Ricki
This movie was so UnDisneylike. I was mortified by it.
The mother is portrayed as an out of control woman who in one scene, drinks until she passes out. She leaves the 5 year old child home alone and tells him, "he is the man of the house"
The parents fight via morse code. The dominate male character looks like a cross dresser with purple eyeshadow.
The whole thing was weird and distrubing!!!!
DO not go to this movie, you will be disappointed.