Simply put, Ponyo is magical. There is no other word to describe it. Miyazaki’s newest film might not have the depth and meaning of his last few films like the environment or the terror of wars, but it has in place is a sense of innocence, just like his classic My Neighbor Totoro. Ponyo is inspired by the classic, Hans Christian Andersen’s the Little Mermaid. Of course, Ponyo is purely Miyazaki style unlike the Disney’s take to the classic tale.

I am not even going to repeat the plot, I would say just go see it. I usually don’t like dubbed version with foreign movies, but Disney has treated Miyazaki’s film with the highest respect and you can see it in the English language production, from the A list voice-talents to the carefully matching credits and theme song. The Pixar team lead by John Lasseter has always done an excellent job in bring Miyazaki’s works to America. And even though behind the mic are all the big name stars ranging from Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Lily Tomlin, Betty White to the next gen siblings of the most popular Disney teen stars – Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas, they rarely got in the way of the film, I hardly even recognize the people behind voices because they fitted so well into the animation.

I was quite used to Miyazaki getting all the big idea and grand theme and put it in the animation. From Princess Mononoke onward, all his films has lots of messages that I think he made his films just for adults. Ponyo is pleasant surprise because it is such a simple story, one that focus on the innocence of the children. I can completely recalled the same wonderful feeling when I saw My Neighbor Totoro, in fact, Ponyo looks extremely like Mei – the younger sister in Totoro. This is one of those films that put a smile on your face, you wouldn’t want to miss it~

Related posts:

1. The Movie 9
2. Astroboy
3. Avatar
4. Some upcoming Fantasy films
5. Toy Story 3

Tagged: Miyazaki · Movies · Ponyo