Loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, Ponyo tells the story of a young goldfish and her quest to become a human. The fish is rescued from a glass jar by a boy named Sosuke. Sosuke and the fish, who he names Ponyo, fall in love. Ponyo's father is a wizard and, against his orders, Ponyo uses her father's magic to become human. This disrupts the natural harmony of the world, and to restore order, Sosuke must pass a test to prove his love for Ponyo.
Although
this movie is aimed at younger children, there is plenty for older
viewers to appreciate, such as beautiful 2D sequences of the magical
undersea world. It almost looks like what would happen if My Neighbor
Totoro and Finding Nemo had a baby!
There
are also lots of aquatic creatures that will amuse ichthyologists,
including moon jellies, an octopus, a spider crab, and even some extinct
fish!
There's also a sense of pollution awareness that kids will understand, much like other Ghibli films.
 |
| That's Ponyo's father, Fujimoto, on the bottom. |
It should also be noted that this movie used over 170,000 drawings!
It's
also been reported that director Hayao Miyazaki wanted to make a Ponyo
2, but producer Toshio Suzuki convinced him to do The Wind Rises
instead. Little did they know that it would be the final film Miyazaki
would direct.
As much as I respect The Secret of Kells, I honestly liked Ponyo a little better because I felt 'Kells' wasn't too family friendly. I also think Ponyo should've been nominated instead of 'Kells'. But now that makes me wonder: If The Secret of Kells would not get the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, would Song of the Sea be snubbed, too?
That's all I have to say about this week's Oscarless Animated Feature. Tune in next week when we celebrate Christmas a bit early with Aardman's greatly underrated Arthur Christmas!
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