Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo)

ponyo

the little mermaid in japanimation. it is pretty cool though.

better than i thought it would be. of course i try to go into things with low expectations. but this film surprised me. i was entertained though out.

there are some high profile actors doing voice overs to help american audiences get into it. names like matt damon, liam neeson, betty white, tina fey, cate blanchett and lily tomlin to name a few.

it’s a really cute story and the animation is interesting. take the kids to see it.

3 1/2 magic jellyfish out of five.

Cal Reed

Ponyo

Basic Premise:

Ponyo is a curious little human-faced fish girl (you might even call her a mermaid) who wants to know about the world of humans. She meets Sosuke who is determined to take care of her even if taking her from her water world could mean the end of his.


Review:

Rated G to the umpteenth degree. This movie is uber family friendly and all the bright colors and constant movement will delight children of any age. I should know. I was in a movie theater full of kids and didn't hear one peep out of them. Now the asshole teenagers that were sitting directly in front of me wouldn't shut up.

Ponyo is more along the lines of My Neighbor Totoro than Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I'm guessing Hayao Miyazaki wanted to do something a little less violent this time around. He succeeded beautifully.

This movie is totally cute and very sweet. No, really. That's a warning to all you parents out there. If you took a chunk of fudge and a chunk of white chocolate, dipped them in honey, wrapped it in marshmallow, coated that in caramel and then smothered the whole thing in pure cane sugar, you still wouldn't match the sweetness of this movie. I came out of that movie wanting to suck on some lemons just to take the edge off, or at least get some lemonade out of the experience.

So if you are looking for a huge pick-me-up, then this is your movie.

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Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

Ponyo: The Moon is Down

As the moon falls from the sky scattering satellites like fiery stars, little Sōsuke must prove his unadulterated love for Ponyo…to save the world. Brünnhilde the tiny mermaid escapes from the captivity of her Wizardly father, a Captain Nemo-like recluse who lives under the waves of Earthly perception, and she is washed upon the shore to be discovered by an innocent boy. Her father was once human but now despises their cruelty towards the Ocean, as their ships pollute the sea and dredge the silt for garbage and refuse: he wishes to eradicate the human race to save the planet. But the little mermaid is saved by Sōsuke and heals a minor cut by licking his wound and tasting blood; he names her Ponyo and this selfless act begins her transformation into humanity with catastrophic consequences! She is captured once again by her father and escapes with the help of her sisterly brood, and running along the black waves she searches for her boyfriend while the world’s tidal forces wreak havoc upon the seaside town.

Director and animator Hayao Miyazaki has created a wonderfully child-like and elegant fairytale of tragedy and comedy, a story of untainted love between children, an allegory concerning the loss of our innocence as we descend into adulthood and we become isolated from the world…and ourselves. The hand-drawn imagery is breathtakingly creative, as waves take the forms of leaping fish, witness the extinct Devonian species swimming languidly amid the flooded town, jellyfish undulating like gelatinous umbrellas, the tiny toy that becomes a tugboat, the submarine with flippers, or Ponyo’s mother whose watery reflection captures the beauty of the ancient sea.

The story itself is a child’s tale but is ripe with tension and fear, as Sōsuke loses his mother amid the raging storm and finds her abandoned car, and the loneliness of his fatherless existence, his only contact a flashing light from his passing ship: this undercurrent of anxiety is just enough to make Sōsuke become human himself and not an animated caricature. As cute Ponyo begins to lose her magical powers she must be kissed by our young protagonist and loved for what she has become if she is to stay human. For Ponyo, her bubble bursts and the world is saved: true love is born upon a contaminated world. Maybe there is hope for us after all. Final Grade: (B+)

Recommendations: The Birds, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960), Funny Games

All reviews copyright Korova, Ltd. Visit Alex at his Home Theatre Blog, http://korovatheatrepresents.blogspot.com/

Ponyo - Review

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is more Totoro than Princess Mononoke. It’s aimed more towards the younger crowd, but still so visually amazing and mindblowing because Ponyo was done completely with traditional hand-drawn animation. Miyazaki proves that 3D animation is never a replacement for 2D, just an alternative. Miyazaki’s consistence as a director and slow, methodical mastering of a genre that he has regularly redefined means that any new material of his is now treated as an event rather than a mere release. But this, and other Miyazaki megahits, are anything but lowest common denominator entertainment. Even though his heroines are usually in their early teens or younger, their adventures unfold in rich visual and narrative sequences, with everything from personal memories and contemporary environmental concerns to ancient Japanese mythologies and fantastic European cityscapes tossed into the mix.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is an enchanting film which tells a beautiful but simple story. The story begins as Ponyo attaches herself to a jellyfish and slowly rises to the surface of the ocean. Ponyo is nearly caught up in a fishing net, and nearly dies when a glass jar gets stuck on her head. Ponyo is rescued by 5 year old Sosuke, who resides on a cliff above the ocean and promises to protect her always. Eventually, Ponyo’s sorcerer father manages to recapture his wayward offspring. But Ponyo, both a willful child and an ungovernable force of nature, rebels against her father’s wishes and dreams of living among humans. She uses the magical powers to transform herself into a human and returns to the surface to seek out Sosuke.

I doubt Ponyo will garner the same acclaim as Spirited Away; but little kids will eat this stuff up. The rich symbolism and the shadowy frisson of threat in, say, Spirited Away is more or less absent from this film. Like I said before, the story is extremely simple. Girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy (and vice versa), and they try to overcome all odds to stay together. Along the way, Miyazaki dispenses small nuggets of wisdom, just the right size for fidegty kids and jaded adults, without being too preachy.

However, this is another memorable and wondrous film from an animation master who, at age 67, is at the peak of his game. U.S. moviegoers can check out this film in theaters August 14th, 2009. I don’t throw the word “genius” around lightly. With Ponyo, it becomes clear that not only does Miyazaki appear incapable of making a film that is anything less than revelatory, but that as he approaches the old age of 70, he is still making films with the exuberance and passion of a young man. Ponyo, the magical film will definitely cast an indelible imprint in the minds of all who will watch this beautiful creation. Rush to the theaters to see this one.

Final Grade: A-

For more reviews like this and others:
http://japancinema.net

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Ponyo

Rated G to the umpteenth degree. This movie is uber family friendly and all the bright colors and constant movement will delight children of any age. I should know. I was in a movie theater full of kids and didn't hear one peep out of them. Now the rude teenagers that were sitting directly in front of me wouldn't shut up.

Ponyo is more along the lines of My Neighbor Totoro than Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I'm guessing Hayao Miyazaki wanted to do something a little less violent this time around. He succeeded beautifully.

This movie is totally cute and very sweet. No, really. That's a warning to all of you parents out there. If you took a chunk of fudge and a chunk of white chocolate, dipped them in honey, wrapped it in marshmallow, coated that in caramel and then smothered the whole thing in pure cane sugar, you still wouldn't match the sweetness of this movie. I came out of that movie wanting to suck on some lemons just to take the edge off, or at least get some lemonade out of the experience.

The climax of the movie was something of a let down, which is why I rated the plot so low. It was like one of those Looney Tunes cartoon character sneezes -- lots of build and anticpation for a tiny squeak and a sheepish look followed by the person saying, "Bless me. I have a little cold." Other than that, the movie was engaging and fun. I can't wait to add it to my Studio Ghibli collection.

If you are looking for a huge pick-me-up, then this is your movie.



Review originally posted at The Multiverse's Archival Chambers on 26 Aug 2009.

Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

Last updated: 2010-02-13 10:29:14 by dreneebagby

Ponyo

I'll admit I was going into this film with an agenda. I was hoping for my first major scalp of the year, a film that everyone else loved that I could tear to pieces. But I can't, because in cinematic expressions of pure, innocent and unadulterated joy, I doubt Hiyao Miyazaki has a match. The credits are even in comic-sans font for god's sake.

That's not to say Ponyo doesn't have its problems because it certainly does. Its English language dialogue sounds awkward, often painfully so. Structurally its a mess, with a little too much stretching of reality. Not so much in the ocean scenes, in fact that's what you want from them. But in its human world, and I think Miyazaki spend more time there then he has ever done, it becomes a little ridiculous. My personal favorite being Our boy hero's mother trying to outright a tsunami in a smart car for n discernible reason, with her kid in the car. That bitch is crazy. But believe this is writerly nit-picking, because I did love the experience of this movie. Which kind of felt like the world view of a 6 year old on an acid trip, if that image wasn't absolutely horrifying.

The film seems to be a slightly tweaked version of The Little Mermaid, in which Ponyo, a lowly fish, who gets accidentally washed up in the backyard of Sosuke, a young boy. Together they form a boy to fish bond, so much so that by the power of her love, Ponyo turns herself into a human so they can be together. Unfortunately, the price of this seems to be all the seas in the world going crazy, and doing all sorts of freaky but awesome shit. Ponyo looks so stunning, particularly when underwater that honestly I have no description of how beautiful it is. You just have to see it. So it comes not to matter that the story is a bit scatty, because visually its just so spellbindingly enthusiastic and joyful. That one crazy but wonderful image of Ponyo sending the whole ocean into a fritz as shes runs atop the water to get to Sosuke, left my with a huge, unconscious grin on my face. It expressed such pure happiness. And that's an emotion that is so rarely earned or truly explored in cinema anymore. This film is no Spirited Away, its way too much of a mess, but a glorious mess all the same.

A charming, involving kids film that no film fan should mind seeing.

Rating: 8/10

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Master is on form and welcomes a new generation of Miyasaki followers

Quite simply, i was tickled pink watching this in the movie theatre and grinned from ear to ear; eyes wide open whilst trying to take all the details in that are at the same time insanely simple, fresh, yet incredibly sophisticated, breathtaking and in imaginative.

In terms of audience age range, it is probably pre Totoro. The plot works because of the pure heart of 5 years olds who are focused in what they want and conscientious in their pursuit. They lives in a world that is unspoilt by cynicism and cultural learning of how everything is 'suppose' to work. While most critics might disregard this film due to the lack of a 'message' or 'plot' film (Although it is in there somewhere), it is precisely for this reason the film should be cherished. Too often our judgement are impeded by our own limitations of cinematic and cultural standing. Like most of Miyasaki's film, each is totally unique but undeniably Miyasaki. Ponyo may at times feel so unique and fresh, it may feel alien like.

The viewing experience provide a wonderful change from all the generic children's products that are generally commercialised to please the adult demographics (ie/ Animals that talks like their human counterparts, Eddie Murphy in Shrek.) It is perhaps comforting to know that good old fashioned hand drawn cells still work so incredibly well in this digital era where Toystory/WallE/Shrek/Cars generally triumph. It therefore feeling rather nostalgic at the same time makes the film feels timeless, a bit like how Totoro and Jungle Book hasn't really aged.

The subtleties of each character's expression and body language is captured in such nuanced interpretation that digital films like Wall-e can never compete on, or if it does, it would be a very expensive process. It would be a big pity for Wall-E to win over this one at the Oscars, and it probably will this year. Yet it might be quite unfair to compare the 2 mediums, as it is really the craftsmanship and the story telling that wins at the end of the day.

Vincent Snavely

Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo) — 10

I love the Shit outta anything Miyazaki, i have seen the vast majority of his films and i only didn’t like one of his films and even then My Neighbor Totoro was still pretty good, if not extremely slow.

Like all Miyazki films, the intro will confuse you unless you have seen the movie before and this is no exception. The entire first 20 minutes of the film had no spoken words, so it was all about interpretation and the journey that the director wanted to take you on.

The Little Mermaid, a story most Americans love and grew up with, was the base inspiration for this movie. In a way i want to view it as the Japanese version of the Little Mermaid, but its not. Similar, yes, the same, nononononono, its far from differnt, but you can see where he got his inspiration from for sure.

Now i loved this movie, and it might be my favorite Miyazkai film to date, I’m not really sure since all of his movies are amazingly awesome, but I wont ruin the story for you, so you’ve gotta go and watch it yourself.

Basically it tells the story of a fish-like creature that finds its way to the surface of the water, and eventually gets caught up in a garbage tanker and gets shoved into a jar. A human boy finds the jar and from there, i will not say anymore, even though its extremely hard for me to stop here and not say anything more about the story.

Lets just say that during most of the movie i was experiencing what most others might call, a childlike sense of wonder while watching this movie. My mouth was in a permanent smile from ear to ear from the first 20 mins in until the end of the film.
This movie also made me laugh a lot during it, and It was just flat out awesome from start to end. I recomend that everyone who has a slight taste for animated films, and anyone who just wants to smile from start to end should definatly go out of thier way and watch this movie in theatres while its still around.

Base Score = 8
+1 for Miyazaki
+.5 for a retelling of the Little Mermaid
-1 for a light amount of dragging on during the beginning of the movie after the boy finds the jar
+.5 for Liam Neesan
+1 for a childlike sense of wonder
= 10/10

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Last updated: 2010-01-21 22:34:55 by Tolll

Ponyo

I took my 3 year old to see Ponyo today. She did pretty well considering it's only her second visit to the cinema, and seemed to enjoy it as much as any 3 year old with the attention span of a languid goldfish.

...ok, fine! So I took her along so I wouldn't get weird looks from Hoyts staff going into this "kid's flick" by myself. I'll happily admit to being a Ghibli fanboy.

Words like 'magical' and 'wondrous' were invented to explain the effect Hayao Miyazaki's films have on adults and children alike, and Ponyo is no exception. The story is a take on The Little Mermaid - the small fish-girl Ponyo is intrigued by the human boy Sosuke and wishes to become human, throwing nature out of its delicate balance and causing all kinds of chaos unless Sosuke promises to love and take care of her.

Coming after the lavish visuals of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (the current must-watch-fifteen-times-a-day favourite of a certain 3yr old), Ponyo initially seems a little subdued. Gone are the obvious experiments in CG, replaced here with beautiful watercolour backgrounds on which Miyazaki animates a variety of typically Ghibliesque characters. The tone is light and playful during this first act: Sosuke is a smart and endearing 5yr old, helping out his perpetually late for work mother while his father, a fishing boat captain, is out at sea. Like most Ghibli films, the family unit is central, however disfunctional. There's genuine affection felt by all, tempered by just enough reality to keep it from mawkish sentimentality. Tina Fey, in the English dub, surprised me with a very fine performance as Sosuke's mother Lisa - an inspired piece of casting on Pixar's part.

Ponyo's father, the sea guardian Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), attempts to confine her to home, but when Ponyo escapes she unleashes an enormous magical storm. If you've seen the trailer, these are the scenes of her running along the tops of waves, with huge fish diving in and out of the waves. It's a breathtaking, spirited sequence, and the film is suddenly lifted from its delicate watercolours into something awe-inspiring. Honestly, I don't know how Miyazaki consistently manages to hit these emotional peaks in his films.

After the storm, the sea has flooded the town and brought up all manner of sea creatures with it that now swim along the submerged roadways and in and out of buildings as if they were theirs. This is what Empire's review in particular described as "pure, spectacular poetry" and I couldn't agree more. What's more, Sosuke accepts it all with a pragmatism that belies his young years. Even when Ponyo uses her magic to enlarge his toy boat so they can sail off to find his mother, he accepts it with the kind of innocence that only a child can muster, which simultaneously makes him all the more endearing to us, while also going a long way to prove his love of Ponyo 'as she is', something which becomes vital to fixing the dilemma at hand.

It's interesting to consider that if this were a western film, you'd never hinge your plot around a 5yr old declaring his love to a similarly aged girl and making a life-long commitment to her, especially while there's adults looking on. We just wouldn't accept it, probably because we've so confused love with a sexual relationship that the two are nigh-on inseparable. Miyazaki, however, handles this kind of thing effortlessly (see Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service, or Laputa: Castle in the Sky) by refusing to let his characters lose their innocence just yet. It's something I find beautiful without being nostalgic or whimsical or idealistic, and is something that Ponyo has in spades, probably much more than previous Ghibli films given how central this relationship is to the movie. It's a child's movie that lets the kids be kids.

I saw the English dub, which I have to say is probably the best dub for a Ghibli film yet, which is saying something. I think John Lasseter would commit seppuku or something if he thought he'd defiled a Miyazaki picture with a sub-standard dub. The cast are uniformly superb, even the presence of the Jonas and Cyrus kidlings - Frankie Jonas in particular is really, really good as Sosuke, even if he is a bit of a goofy looking kid in real life.

I'm gonna give this the full 5-star treatment. I came out of the cinema thinking 4, because it took a while to adjust to Miyazaki in a more sedate mode, but I'll admit I was expecting to be swept away from the get-go. Thinking about the film during the day and as I've been writing this has brought a smile to my lips though, which is exactly what I want from a Ghibli film. Again, to echo Empire's review, it's not as ridiculously fantastical as previous entries, but it is a simply wonderful film.

Originally published at aruminatingghost.webs.com August 27th, 2009 

Recommendations: Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo), Fountain, The (Darren Aronofsky, 2006)

Last updated: 2010-02-25 08:16:41 by SethMerlo