Ponyo

Ponyo is a magical goldfish who befriends a five year old boy named Sosuke. Sosuke is a bright young boy who seems to be more capable than anyone in his age bracket. Sosuke's mother, Lisa, tries her best, but is often times very absent. Even early on in the film, when you see Sosuke walking himself to school while his mother runs off to work, you never get the feeling that she doesn't care. Still, you wonder why she thinks the strange little fish he found-the one with the human face-is not out of the ordinary.

That little fish is, of course, Ponyo. Ponyo develops a crush/friendship with the young boy, and decides she must become human to stay with him. This, of course, causes a tear in the fabric of reality. Ponyo's father, Fujimoto, tries in vain to steal Ponyo back to the Ocean, before her life on land leads to cataclysms that are less from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki and more from the mind of Roland Emmerich.

The films does everything it can to be "precious" and effect even the most cynical people. I doubt anyone will leave the theater without a smile, and I have no doubt that most people will find something to like about Ponyo. I compare it to E.T. Like Elliot, Sosuke's father is gone (though in this film, he's merely out to sea). He has the same sort of hard working, but still caring mother. And it is a film about the child getting over real world problems while bonding with a strange creature.

Imagine, though, if E.T. simply picked up the phone and called home. Sure, we'd still have some of our favorite moments. We'd still have a cute little story. But the movie wouldn't be the same. It would be a loaded conflict without a real resolution. Ponyo gives us a cute little story with high stakes. And, to Ponyo's credit, they don't give us the horrible details. Think of Hurricane Katrina, if all the footage was people rowing happily. We understand that there is a real problem, but we are spared the grimness. For reality, that doesn't work. For the movie, it works out best. But that doesn't mean we can't have a genuine resolution. We don't need a large action scene, or millions of lives shown to be hanging from a thread. We just need something more than "It's all over, we can go home."


Fujimoto also makes statements about his hatred for humanity. These aren't followed up on. The Pollution in the ocean is brought up several points early on, but it turns out only because it's a Miyazaki film and he always throws in the enviromentalism. Fujimoto is fearful about meeting Ponyo's mother again, and Ponyo describes her as having a temper, but we never see that in the slightest.

As I made it clear, I'm not looking for action. I'm not looking for violence. No, that would ruin what is a genuinely likable, cute story. I just wanted them to live up to the build up that they gave us. A much harder choice, or perhaps a puzzle. Who knows? In a fantasy film, they sky is the limit.

*** out of ****