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Plot: An underwater Princess (Ponyo) falls in love with a boy (Susuke,) and wants to turn into a human girl. It is a version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, but told from the boy's point of view
Review: Sincere, Adorable, Cute -- and I thought this movie was great. Many will disagree; this movie is probably too sincere, too adorable and too cute for most Americans. If you can't stomach a movie full of adorable and cute -- see District 9. The biggest criticism of this move is that no one is this pure-of-heart, and that the world is not this happy. This is a genre film where the audience receives an escapist experience to a Fairy Tale World.
The animation is like the previous movies from Miyazaki -- perhaps more artistic. The backgrounds are colored pencil drawings and watercolors, and the anime-style characters movie in front.
The movie was charming from the opening sequence. I decided that Ponyo was going to be a spectacle and to suspend disbelief, sit back, and watch. Ponyo's little sisters are playful and fun to watch. Ponyo's discovery of the land world is clever and interesting. Ponyo's running on the waves scene is unforgetable. The use of a toyboat to sail to the nursing home is clever. The whole movie is visually satisfying and occasionally spectacular.
Plot: An underwater Princess (Ponyo) falls in love with a boy (Susuke,) and wants to turn into a human girl. It is a version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, but told from the boy's point of view
Review: Sincere, Adorable, Cute -- and I thought this movie was great. Many will disagree; this movie is probably too sincere, too adorable and too cute for most Americans. If you can't stomach a movie full of adorable and cute -- see District 9. The biggest criticism of this move is that no one is this pure-of-heart, and that the world is not this happy. This is a genre film where the audience receives an escapist experience to a Fairy Tale World.
The animation is like the previous movies from Miyazaki -- perhaps more artistic. The backgrounds are colored pencil drawings and watercolors, and the anime-style characters movie in front.
The movie was charming from the opening sequence. I decided that Ponyo was going to be a spectacle and to suspend disbelief, sit back, and watch. Ponyo's little sisters are playful and fun to watch. Ponyo's discovery of the land world is clever and interesting. Ponyo's running on the waves scene is unforgetable. The use of a toyboat to sail to the nursing home is clever. The whole movie is visually satisfying and occasionally spectacular.
There is strong character development for Ponyo herself, and there are interesting minor characters including the old people at the nursing home, and the Mom, Risa. The boy, Susuke, is pretty one dimensional in his love for Ponyo. The un-varnished devotion is why one needs to suspend cynicism to enjoy this movie.
The story is based on Hans Christan Anderson's Little Mermaid, but its moral teaching of accepting other people and helping others is clear.
Crew: Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Rating: 3.5 flasks
and 1/4
The story is based on Hans Christan Anderson's Little Mermaid, but its moral teaching of accepting other people and helping others is clear.
Crew: Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Rating: 3.5 flasks
and 1/4More: I am no expert on Japanese culture, but I believe that Japanese pop culture is more sincere and less cynical than American culture. This movie is an example of that. Previous Miyazaki movies have been big hits with adults in Japan. In the US, this probably will not cross-over to the general audience. For example, my wife could not wait to leave the theater.
Even more: The children had a sequence naming pre-historic fish. I can't ever see that happening in a Shrek or Toy Story movie. I like the idea that they had anatomically correct pre-historic fish swimming around. I even recognized a trilobite.
Yet More: It occurs to me that most people that like Ponyo probably would not like Bruno, but I liked both. What does that mean?
3 comments:
I LOVE PONYO. You are right, it is an escapist fantasy into a wonderful world and you forget about your mundane pointless life for a couple brief hours of shiny happiness. Mom is CRAZY for not liking it, I have no idea what is wrong with her.
Nick and I discussed the difference between Japanese and American culture when I told him about seeing a chip from a Japanese news show where they were watching the trailer for Ponyo. All the people, men and women, were commenting and making cute noises and were not embarrassed of thinking something is that cute, whereas in America people would be more hesitant and are more jaded in general. Nick said "That's why Japan is awesome!"
Also, you gave away plot in your review. I guess you usually do that, but what I guess I'm saying is that with such a wonderful movie like this, it is best to be wonderfully surprised and now know ANYTHING.
I only give away the plot from the beginning of the movie. That is the only way to talk about it.
You are right about sincerity & Japan. I tried to find documentation of that, and so I could make the point more forcefully, but I couldn't find it.
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