Ponyo (English version)

Movie: Ponyo (English version)

I saw it on: August 19, 2009

Cast (voices): Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White

Genre: Children’s Fanyasy, Anime

Synopsis: Ponyo (Noah Cyrus) is the goldfish-like daughter of human-like “king of the sea” called Fukimotoa (Liam Neeson) and a goddess-like entity called Gran Mamare (Cate Blanchette).  Fukimoatoa has the power to control fish and the sater itself.  Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) is the five year-old son of Lisa (Tina Fey) and Koichi (Matt Damon).  Koichi is a ship captain and Lisa works at a retirement home (Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Betty White).  Sosuke and his family live in a cliff-side house a couple of hundred feet above the water with a winding path down to the beach.

The movie opens with under the sea and follows Ponyo when she breaks free from her home, gets caught up in a fishing net and winds stuck in a bottle.  Sosuke rescues her, thinking she is a goldfish.  Sosuke’s father comes looking for her and stirs up a huge storm to “rescue” Ponyo.  Ponyo did not want to be rescued.  But using her natural magic and an elixir her father has, she manages to turn into a human, escape her father and return to Susuke.  Susuke realizes that the girl who shows up is the former goldfish.

Somehow, Ponyo’s transformation causes an imbalance in the world forcing the moon to come closer to the world and causing widespread tsunamis and flooding.  The movie follows the adventure of the two children trying to battle through the storm and floods to re-unite with Sosuke’s mother – who had gone to help the old women in the retirement home during the storms.

Not much in the movie would be upsetting to young children.  I think most would find it to be very entertaining.

My two cents:  I am a big fan of animated films.  This was unlike anything I have seen before.  Time Magazine had quite an article about the movie.  Apparently the director is an Oscar winner and is hugely famous in Japan.  Once I got used to the different style, I kind of liked the movie.

I initially objected to some things like a mother letting her 5-year-old son wander down to the beach by himself.  She also leaves two five-year-olds alone in a monster storm while she drives down to the retirement home.  Lisa is also an incredibly reckless driver.  BUT – I kept telling myself, this is just a cartoon/movie, not reality.

Once I put myself into the mode of sitting back and watching a good-old fashion cartoon, I stopped being so critical and enjoyed it a lot more.  You just need to NOT expect logical or rational explanations for most of what happens.  I also like seeing scenes that looked like elaborate water-color paintings instead of usual stock computer-generated backgrounds.