Film Review - Ponyo

Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki creates a magical adventure in his 2008 (2009 for the US) animated hit Ponyo, about a young boy who makes friends with an extraordinary goldfish. The goldfish’s name is Ponyo, (Noah Cyrus) who has a strong admiration for what lives above the sea. It is when she wonders too high up that she gets caught in a fishing net and stuck in a glass jar, eventually leading her to the shore. It is here where she meets Sosuke, (Frankie Jonas) a 5 year old boy playing by the sea. After he decides to rescue her and keep her by his side in a small bucket of water, a strong friendship develops between them, and they soon fall in love. With similar sounding aspects to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989) it comes with no surprise to learn that Ponyo was influenced by this story, and used it as a starting point to elaborate in its own way from.  

When Ponyo is taken back from Sosuke by her father Fujimoto, (Liam Neeson) and put back into the ocean, she fights with everything she has to get back to Sosuke, and even steals some of her father’s power to transform into a human! Disobeying her father causes the sea to gravitate towards the moon and form catastrophic tsunamis. Regardless, in these child’s lives they both just want to be with each other and belong together as humans. The charm and sentimentality of this film is accentuated through the young age and innocence of the characters. Sosuke being only 5, and Ponyo literally only just learning to be a human after a childhood underwater, brings a sweetness to their relationship and adds warmth to the tale, despite the consequences that can derive from their actions. “Ponyo is a simple movie with simple messages about complicated things like love, because when you’re five years old, everything is purer, more innocent, and seems like it could last that way forever. Miyazaki excels at reminding us what it’s like to be that age, when problems really can be solved if we just want it enough.” (Myers, 2009)  

Figure. 1. Ponyo film still.

As well as the film being about love, it can arguably be considered as a message about parents letting their children grow up and become their own person. We can see this more strongly with Ponyo’s father, through the way that he forces her to stay in the ocean and has to imprison her to keep her from seeing a young boy who he does not trust. Sosuke’s mother is much more content with the relationship, but still carries a great deal of worry regarding her son’s safety. As a whole, the parents are both overprotective, which is understandable as both children are very young, but either way this seems to be a topic that Miyazaki touches in the film. With the way that Fujimoto is introduced, it’s easy to label him as the villain at first, when in fact there is no villain in the story, and all characters come to respect one another by the end of it. With an adventure that first appears to have potential risk, conflict and tragedy, it plays out incredibly joyful by the end with only positive conclusions for all the characters.  

With a sweet and imaginative story, it is one that appeals to children perfectly, allowing them to see a constant and limitless adventure. While the masterful animation can be widely appreciated by adults, and provide enough illusion of life to even convince them of the story they’re watching. “This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators has such deep charm that adults and children will both be touched.” (Ebert, 2009) Allowing the adults to watch such a happy and pure journey centered around youngsters also provides nostalgia to their own childhood, as such a story just wouldn’t have the same effect if it were about adults. It is touching because Sosuke is so young yet wants to care, love and protect like an adult would, in the same way his mother does for him. “We empathize from the outset with Sosuke's delight in having someone to love, take care of, and watch over. His world is one of wonder, the same spirit we all possess until institutions and careless adults knock it out of us.” (Frederic & Brussat, 2009) It is this way that the nostalgia hits the older audiences, because the story is limitless in imagination and ends on a very positive and magical note, and it allows them to escape from the reality that is dull, adult life. 

Illustrations List 

Figure. 1. AMP, Ponyo film still. https://asianmoviepulse.com/2016/05/ponyo-on-the-cliff-movie-review/ [Accessed 26/01/19] 

Bibliography 

Ebert R. (2009) https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ponyo-2009#disqus_thread [Accessed 26/01/19] 

Frederic & Brussat. (2009) https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/19254 [Accessed 26/01/19] 

Myers E. (2009) https://www.tor.com/2009/08/11/film-review-lemgponyolemg/ [Accessed 26/01/19]