Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

...tells the story of a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a sea princess who longs to become human.

TRAILER: http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/07/19/hayao-miyazakis-ponyo-on-the-cliff-japanese-trailer/

Let me start with pre-conceptions. Miyazaki has been on a tremendoes streak, he made the brave and epic Princess Monoke, then the charming and beautiful Spirited Away and the similarly splendid Howl's Moving castle. When I saw the first art from Ponyo I was worried. It was an image of a head attached to a little body of this weird creature that lived in the sea. The trailer, whilst visually gorgeous featured an abominable theme tune, similar to Totoro.

All is well here though, like Totoro, the vocal theme tune isn't played until the credits at the end. Joe Hisashi is on duty here and the score is as marvelous as ever. I was also wrong to doubt Miyazaki. I think you have to understand firstly that the film aligns itself more with Totoro than the likes of Spirited Away. There isn't much at stake here, there is no kind of real peril like your parents being turned into pigs and the threat of being stuck in a strange world for the rest of your life for instance. If Howl's Moving Castle is a satisfying main course, than Ponyo is like a light, fluffy but perfectly excecuted desert.

Ponyo starts with the most fantastical, beautiful opening shot of any Studio Ghibli film to date. It has so much detail and beauty that a Japanese reviewer even questioned whether the detail of blu-ray would even do this film justice. It opens with a shot of some fishing vessels on the night sea with a yellow moon peaked between two clouds. As it pans underwater you see a cacophany of vibrant sea life swarming and twisting, in dazzling colours and movements. There is one shot where they even go the full mile of animating microscopic life, rendering the image of a melting pot of ecological life into your memory.

If there is one negative to Ponyo it's the story. There isn't much of one. It's basically, sea princess wants to become human and live with a young boy. That's pretty much it and all sorts of chaos arises out of the situation. It's not deep or satisfying or complex like other Ghibli films, this isn't a Nausicaa. But this doesn't matter much as the film is almost perfect excecuted. It's a film that will have you smiling throughout its one hour and forty minute running time. And not because of laughing, although there are moments. You will smile because of the absolutely delightful imagination that is constantly painted across the screen. Even an exciting car chase is animated with Studio Ghibli style. I'm sure some of you have fond memories of the car chase in the Castle of Caligstro, this is a similar scene, with peaks of insanity, danger and joyous fun.

Unfortunately, I saw a version of the film that was poorly translated so some aspects of the story may have eluded me. All in all though, this is another special film from a very special director. It's a shame that Disney wont bring the film till america till Spring 09 I read and the Japanese- english subtitled DVD may be months and months away.