Gake no Ue no Ponyo

A goldfish sneaks away from home and floats off on the back of a jellyfish. After getting stuck in a glass jar, she drifts to the shore where she is freed by Sousuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother Lisa in a house by the sea while his father Koichi works on a fishing boat. After healing a cut on Sousuke's finger by licking it, the goldfish is named Ponyo by her new friend.

Unknown to Sousuke, Ponyo already has a name and a family. Her father Fujimoto, a sorcerer who forsook his humanity to live underwater, searches frantically for his daughter Brunhilde. When found and captured, Ponyo rejects her birth name and declares that she wants to become a human. Using the power received from Sousuke's blood, she grows arms and legs and escapes to the surface once more. But the magic released into the ocean causes an imbalance in nature, causing the Moon to start falling out of orbit and the tides to grow dangerously stronger. Reunited with Ponyo, Sousuke must pass an ancient test to restore order in the world and let his companion live on as a human.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ponyo Main

Kouzuki, Yuria Japanese

Sousuke Main

Doi, Hiroki Japanese

Fujimoto Supporting

Tokoro, George Japanese

Lisa Supporting

Yamaguchi, Tomoko Japanese

Granmammare Supporting

Amami, Yuuki Japanese

Yoshie Supporting

Naraoka, Tomoko Japanese

Kumiko Supporting

Hiraoka, Eimi Japanese

Toki Supporting

Yoshiyuki, Kazuko Japanese

Koichi Supporting

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Script, Executive Producer, Screenplay, Animation Director

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Medel, Jennifer Script

Reviews

Jul 23, 2008

aranelcharis

Recommended

3 words describe this movie: Death By Cuteness [Note: This review is based off of the Japanese version, not the Disney dubbed one!]

If you thought Totoro was cute, you ain't seen nothing yet. Ponyo is the cutest little...fish-girl ever. The movie is loosely based on "The Little Mermaid," but don't think Disney. Think instead of when you were a kid, and the world was brighter, magical, full of wonder and delight. Those are the feelings which describe what happens when you enter the world of Miyazaki.

Story - Although there's more story to Ponyo than your average Miyazaki film (eg: Totoro again), the film is geared ... more to a younger audience, and therefore has simply a slow progression of events which unfold for the main character Sousuke, who saves what he calls a "goldfish" from the ocean, trapped in a jar. Unbeknownst to him, her father is looking for her, as she has run away from home. Sousuke, however, promises to protect the "goldfish" he names "Ponyo," and Ponyo slowly becomes more and more human as she spends time with Sousuke.

Art - The art is great Miyazaki as usual. This time, the art reflects a child's view of the world. I particularly liked the backgrounds that look they're colored pencil/crayon/chalk (though still drawn with lots of detail) and the sea creatures. Actually, any of the ocean scenes are amazing. It felt like I was in an aquarium.

Sound - The beginning of the movie was an opera piece, which was quite interesting, and a normal orchestral score after that. The seiyuu who played Ponyo has the most adorable voice too. Voice acting throughout was top-notch.

Character - If you do not fall in love with Ponyo, you have no heart. She's innocent and adorable. Sousuke seems really smart for a 5-year-old, and very kind, obedient, and generous. If I had kids, I'd want them to be like the characters in this movie. The "grown ups" seem to be overly cheery, and this was the main thing I found incredulous in the film. What kind of mom leaves 2 kids alone at night? What kind of adults seeing 2 kids alone in a candle-powered boat, simply wave hello to them? What kind of adults calmly talk to sea-spirits like they're next door neighbors?? Yeah, this only happens in Miyazaki world.

Enjoyment - I love the ocean, and little kids (when they're not brats), and the whole fish-out-of-water element (haha, this movie literaly has a fish-out-of-water), so I obviously loved this movie. You know it's great when you get out of the movie theater and you`re still smiling.

If you like other Miyazaki movies, I think you'll like this one. If you don't like slow paced, slice of life (with a dash of magic) movies, then you probably won't enjoy it as much. If you do, just sit back, relax, and let Miyazaki take you to another world...

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 27, 2010

seekster

Mixed Feelings

Let me preface by noting that I am a Miyazaki fan that consider Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke (in that order) the best animated films ever to come out of Japan (or possibly anywhere). Spirited Away in particular had it all, a good story, memorable music, incredible visuals, and likable characters that grew as the story progressed. I also saw Howl's Moving Castle and while I thought it was good it wasnt up to the same quality as Spirited Away or Mononoke (still maybe about the level of Kiki though).

Now I also admit that I saw the dubbed version of Ponyo featuring a cast ... of star voices alongside Miley Cyrus's youger sister and 1/3 of the Jonas brothers. As the rule goes, Disney makes everything worse but I still rate this a 6/10 because quite frankly the voice acting was passable and was the least of this movie's problems. So take a deep breath and lets dive right in.

Story:

I really have a hard time believing that this was written by Miyazaki. To put it bluntly the story ranged from bad to nonexistent. Even if the story was different in the Japanese version it would have to be completely different do even be decent. I just finished watching and I still dont know what happened. There are far too many inconsistency but I will save those for character. Most Miyazaki films have a story in which the main character(s) face and overcome some sort of adversity and grow over the course of the story. In Ponyo the characters dont change a bit (save for Ponyo who changes physically at random). The only two things that can pass for adversity in this plot are a typhoon (which isnt that bad since its basically only Ponyo saying "hi") and a journey that Sasuke and Ponyo take to find his mother Lisa after the storm (which is not really that adventurous considering that its short and they travel with the villagers most of the way anyway). Also the message is hard to grasp, sometimes the movie tries to have an environmental message, sometimes it tries to have a message about trust, love, and not judging on appearances. Maybe it was trying to have lots of messages but failed miserably at all of them. Oh yeah and there is some Majora's Mask thing with the moon getting close but that only seems to be an issue whenever Liam Neeson's character shows up.

Art:

If it wasnt for the art being so good I would swear this wasnt a Miyazaki film. I havnt seen water animated so well in the traditional anime art style before. Also the colors work together well. Having said that the art style used isnt one I like all that much but thats a personal preference and all said I was able to stomach it fine.

Sound:

Now this is for the English Dub so I cant speak for the Japanese version but the voice acting was fairly lacking considering the big names in this cast. Matt Damon has maybe 5 lines (most delivered by an Aldis lamp in a funny scene), Tina Fey (Lisa) is spunky and fun until about the part where Ponyo shows up in the storm as a girl and then she becomes really bland and one dimensional. And Kate Blanchet's lines were so badly written that it was hard for her to do anything with them. Still all of these voice actors did decent jobs. As for Ponyo, Ms. Cyrus (Miley's younger sister), well considering most all her character did was shout and moan she did a good job, it was nice of Disney to throw her a bone (or ham in this case). And one of the Jonas brothers voices Sasuke (does it really matter which one?) and as such Sasuke as 1/3 the personality of a normal human being. The only voice acting job in the English Dub that is good (Tina Fey was good for the first half) is Liam Neeson who voices the sometimes crazy sea wizard guy. He actually brings a sense of depth to his character, going from wacky to grim on a dime in a way that really works.

On a different note, why wasnt there a memorable song to Ponyo. All Miyazaki films have left me humming the theme after I saw them but Ponyo seemed to be lacking in any good music and instead had some kiddy playground song at the end (think puff the magic dragon only for younger audiences). Also some of the dialogue seems out of place for young audience, particularly an exchange with a mother in a boat where she explains to Ponyo that if she drinks the soup the mother can make milk for the baby...yeah thats odd for a kids movie.

Character:

Again the only characters I liked were Liam Neeson's crazy wizard and the spunky Lisa (Tina Fey) whose character was replaced by blandness halfway through the movie. I still cant believe how easily Lisa bought into the whole Ponyo used to be a fish but now is a girl thing. There is also a nice conflict with Lisa and the father in which Sasuke tries to take both sides but this goes away later on (along with the father who doesn't seem important enough to get an invitation to the party at the end of the movie). Ponyo herself is a decent yet one dimensional character. She almost always seems happy even when the scene doesn't call for it, and despite being adorable is also a bit creepy at times.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 16, 2009

Tsumayouji

Not Recommended

May I just start by saying that I am a big time Miyazaki fan. I loved Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (haven't as of yet seen his other ones). So, for someone who very much enjoys previous Miyazaki endeavors, Ponyo in a word is: disappointing. Yes, it's obviously for little kids (why Miyazaki couldn't make another family film that we could all enjoy is a bafflement to me), but even for children, it'd be boring.

~Story~

So a little fish girl endowed with magical powers wants to become human to stay with a little boy she ... meets named Sosuke - a tale loosely based on the original telling of The Little Mermaid (there's even a reference to turning into sea foam). Seems straightforward, yes? Well, for the most part it is...expect at the climax when plot most matters.

Like the original Little Mermaid, a major, life-altering decision must be made concerning Ponyo's future. Unfortunately, this decision and how it's reached is built-up, vaguely explored, and then reached with absolutely no pay off whatsoever. It's akin to asking someone if they would rather wear a red shirt or a blue shirt, they pick the red one, and balloons and rainbows! Everyone is saved! YAY! Miraculously and with no explanation as to how that red shirt helps avert major disaster.

The main issue with the story is that it's very disjointed and wants so much for everyone to be happy and riding on unicorns that no real conflict or danger ever actually enters into the equation, even though dangerous scenarios that could be developed are constantly flirted with (ex: men being lost at sea, the deaths of thousands, the loss of land, the reversion of a person into sea foam etc...). These issues are mentioned with a melodramatic "GASP!" and then either ignored or solved in lightening fast speed a la the reasoning of a five-year-old. In short, it's patronizing, insulting both the intelligence of adults and children.

Heck! Even Totoro had more depth and plot and didn't treat the possible loss of a child in such a "light-hearted" fashion. Totoro introduced actual calculated conflict or, at the least, intriguing events in a timely fashion so that the story progressed at a pace that kept things interesting. Ponyo lags on and on and on and thinks about introducing conflict and then skirts away from it to continue to drag on and on and on.

~Art~

Eh, the art is mediocre. I know, I'm horrible for saying that, but the cutesy "let's draw so it looks like children did it" style is only entertaining for so long. Granted some of the sea creatures were done very well and were very interesting to look at, but personally, I couldn't shake the impression the entire film that the backgrounds and environments were flat. Instead of drawing them in a manner that suggests that they extend beyond the scene into a real, 3D atmosphere, they just felt like "here's a flat backdrop in front of a car lot, pretend it's real." Spirited Away's environments didn't feel this way, and were full of detail and life. Even the individual characters were bright and multi-dimensional. Ponyo just didn't achieve that. However, I will also concede that Ponyo as a fish was incredibly well-done and believable. Her fish-like face and eyes really made her character the most intriguing.

~Sound~

I can't really comment because aside from the obnoxiously catchy ending credits music, I don't recall any of the music. The English voice actors (I did see this in theaters) did great jobs according to the script.

~Character~

Here's another huge issue with Ponyo. The characters were all poorly defined and again so geared toward butterflies and fuzzy kittens that they acted unrealistically and contradictorily. What mother leaves two five-year-old in a flood out of The Old Testament alone? What mother takes in this little girl from nowhere and doesn't try to find her parents? Why is the cranky and mean old woman suddenly nice at the end? Why does she urge Sosuke not to go with Ponyo's dad? Why is Ponyo's dad so people-hating, and then suddenly begging for humans not to think ill of him? Why is he okay with Ponyo's ultimate fate? What the heck is he even doing anyway? Why's he there? What purpose does he serve really? Other than to be an annoying and totally inefficient obstacle to Ponyo's happiness?

~Overall~

In conclusion, Ponyo might have been an entirely charming short had it only lasted about ten minutes. As it is, it has no business spanning hours and drags pitifully. It's like the creators had fifty different ideas and instead of narrowing them down to go in one direction or the other, they just decided to try to "incorporate" them all. Ponyo could have been great, it really could have, had they ironed out the plot and characters, treated the story in a non-intelligence insulting way, picked a direction, and stuck with it. Come on! Even classic fairytales aren't 100% fluff. I really hope that Miyazaki's next film isn't such a let-down.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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