As I've mentioned before, I am a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan. Despite that, I actually did not see Ponyo when it got its theatrical debut in America, but that's probably because it's sort of a strange movie to convince non-Miyazaki fans to go to.
This movie feels like Miyazaki's telling of The Little Mermaid except with a less interesting villain. In fact it's so similar that I have to dock originality points from this film because it's just not up to Miyazaki's usual completely original storytelling. The movie follows a little girl named Ponyo as she tries to become human against her father's will.
Ponyo, like so many of Miyazaki's other films, has an excellent cast dubbing the film to English, making it very watchable without subtitles. When I say excellent, I mean Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Betty White, Liam Neeson and more voicing the characters in this film. As usual, the audio and animation are absolutely stunning, just as all Miyazaki's films are. There's one particular section where Ponyo is causing the waters to flood and destroy a village mainly by accident as she uses the water to move quickly, but the animation and audio work makes the scene seem both terrifying, calm, and beautiful all at the same time, simply incredible. Click here to see what I mean.
Ponyo is definitely geared towards a more typical Disney style movie. It doesn't have many of the really dark features of Miyazaki's other films, which I feel takes away from it's depth a bit. If you want to watch a lighthearted kids movie about water and such, it's not bad, but it's not The Little Mermaid. If you want to watch a Miyazaki film, go for Princess Mononoke or even better Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind which is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Still, not bad.
Edit: Meh, I gave this one too high a rating because I like Miyazaki.
Grade: C+
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