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Bookmark this pagePonyo (2008)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Movie review
From Time Out London
Goosebumps start to form about 30 seconds into the latest from Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki (‘Spirited Away’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’). We’re drawn under the waves of the sea to a hidden enclave of neon-hued aqualife more vibrant, surreal and enchanting than any of the floating 3D whatsits in ‘Avatar’. Miyazaki offers a spin on Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and subverts his source to explore the main theme of all his films: the unpredictable psychologies of kids separated from their parents. The film charts a key episode in the life of bowl-cutted scamp, Sosuke, and the sweet bond he forms with Ponyo, a squeaky-voiced goldfish-turned-human girl. Among the film’s pleasures are yet another heartbreaking evocation of the trials of childhood (particularly the complexity of forming friendships), a non-patronising depiction of old age and a trenchant yet subtle reminder of looming ecological catastrophes. Who knows why it didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for Best Animation?Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 2060: 11-17 February, 2009
User reviews of this film
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- Sem White said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2010 23:12 Studio Ghibli's best so far
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- Anne Marie said...
- Posted on Feb 19 2010 22:07 i love all of Miyazaki's films. Ponya is good and I think it is the best yet!
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- philmk said...
- Posted on Feb 19 2010 15:34 Japanese fish-girl restores the balance of nature and saves the planet. I somehow doubt that all Japanese 5-yr-olds can identify the fish of the Devonian by their Latin names. Still makes more sense than Avatar.
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- amyisraelchai said...
- Posted on Feb 18 2010 23:14 My Japanese wife loves it - every time she sees it she cries!
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- Peter said...
- Posted on Feb 11 2010 15:45 Also, can't resist taking a shot at Avatar, eh? Even in a review for a competely unrelated movie.
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- Peter said...
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Posted on Feb 11 2010 15:43
I don't agree that "the main theme of all [Miyazaki's] films" is "the unpredictable psychologies of kids separated from their parents" - I can see this applying to Spirited Away and maybe My Neighbour Totoro, but Porco Rosso? Princess Mononoke? Nausicaa?
I'd say a more universal theme of his films is man's unconscious corrupting of nature.
I'm looking forward to seeing this but it doesn't excite me the way recent Miyazaki films have. - Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre(s): Children's
Rated: U
Duration: 100 mins
US Release: Aug 14 2009
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