Review of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - Ponyo

M

Matthew

Completely Average High School Student
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2010-08-13ponyo_dvd.jpg">

<b>Review of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - Ponyo by Matthew</b>

Ponyo is the eighth film that Hayao Miyazaki has directed for Studio Ghibli. For a lot of anime fans the reading of this review can end there. It's another Miyazaki film, and that's enough to warrant buying the DVD or Blu-ray.<br>
If you've made it this far then maybe you're sitting on the fence as to whether Miyazaki has pulled some more magic out of his hat again or not. It's certainly a piece of work Miyazaki can call his own, as he wrote, animated and directed it. In fact, he took personal charge of all the waves and sea effects and in the process set a new personal record of 170,000 images drawn. For a 69-year-old that's an astonishing feat over a two-year filming cycle.<br>
Ponyo isn't actually the full title of the film, it should be referred to as<em> Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea</em>, but as is usually the case, Western audiences are thought to prefer a shortened name by the film's marketing departments.<br>
The story centres on a girl who starts out in&nbsp;life as a fish. During her travels with her many sisters under the sea, she strays from the group on the back of a jellyfish, gets caught in a fisherman's net, and stuck in a glass jar. Unconscious and washed up at the shoreline, she is discovered by a little boy called Sosuke, who promptly saves her.<br>
Sosuke is enamoured with what he believes is a goldfish and names her Ponyo. The relationship of boy with pet fish would continue if it wasn't for one small event. As Sosuke attempts to get Ponyo out of the jar, he manages to cut his finger. Lying in Sosuke's hands, Ponyo licks the human blood away, sparking a reaction in her of wanting more than to be just a fish in the sea.<br>
We then see&nbsp;Ponyo's destructive attempts to become a girl and spend her time with Sosuke, her father's determination to take her back to the sea and control her urges, and the eventual unbalancing of nature in the process.<br>
Ponyo is Miyazaki at his best, there is no question of that. The artwork is up to his usual high standards, and no one depicts children and their actions as well as Studio Ghibli. You instantly form an emotional attachment with each of the main characters and completely lose yourself in the story.<br>
With a running time of 97 minutes Studio Ghibli has done well to fit the story in so neatly. The first hour flies by as Ponyo causes untold destruction and then joins Sosuke on his travels. This could easily have been a much longer film and I don't think it would have suffered for being so.<br>
Ponyo belongs on the shelf of any Miyazaki fan, but it will be entertaining for just about anyone. Young children will love how colourful it is, older children will easily engage with Ponyo and Sosuke. Parents can relax and lose themselves in the rich world Miyazaki has created. It also helps that the&nbsp;US voice acting includes well-known actors such as Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, and Cate Blanchett.<br>
<b>Final score: 10 out of 10</b>

<b>Additional screencaps</b>

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2010-08-13ponyo_screen_01.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2010-08-13ponyo_screen_02.jpg">

<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2010-08-13ponyo_screen_04.jpg">
 
I watched my recently purchased BD of Ponyo myself tonight; this thread served as a good prompt for me to do so. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to. The picture quality is astonishing - The second I saw the familiar Ghibli title card in flawless HD I was already impressed. Sad case that I am I was almost crying tears of joy at the fact that I didn't notice even a single compression artifact.

The story is a nice enough re-working of the little mermaid; one I'd dare say children would probably enjoy and relate to more what with the central characters being five year olds. They've managed to get some heartfelt emotion in there without it seeming too clichéd as well. The overall vision does comes across as a little incoherent at times though. Was Miyazaki trying to make any environmental point about the ocean? It's as though he begins to do so with the early scenes of Fujimoto (who, not dissimilarly, begins to develop but never actually becomes a developed character) and then just gives up on these things to focus on Ponyo and Sosuke. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, as some of the nicest scenes are of Ponyo, Sosuke and Lisa in the house together just enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

I'd probably give it an 8.5 overall. And it loses at least two-tenths of a point for that creepy half-muppet half-chicken thing Ponyo turns into between human and fish forms.
 
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