STORY STUDY (GHIBLI MONTH) - MEDIUM: FILM - “Ponyo”
Ghibli month concludes with a tale takes place under the sea… and over it.
Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo is about Brunhilde, a little fish-girl who lives with her father, Fujimoto, and her numerous smaller sisters.
You can tell she’s different and unique based on the size of her eyes.
One day, during an outing with her family, she slips away, causing her to get trapped in a little glass jar. The jar winds up on shore of a fishing town, where she is found by a little boy named Sosuke. Thinking she’s a goldfish, he renames her “Ponyo” and takes her back home.
If you think from that setup the plot will be about Ponyo and Sosuke’s cute little friendship/building romance… well, it comes more complicated than that. It seems that Ponyo’s magic to turn her into a human also caused the world to become imbalanced. Specifically, she causes the moon to arrive closer, thus the town becomes flooded. And that’s just the start of the problems.
This causes Fujimoto to want to get her back, but in Ponyo and Sosuke’s young minds, he’s the bad guy, and he cannot get what he wants.
Ponyo is a story that probably could’ve benefited from having a much simpler story. Having two children start and develop a friendship would’ve been good enough; in fact, it would’ve fit right at home with how Ghibli (or at least, Miyazaki) does their films. But... yeah, end of the world circumstances arise. It just seems like a forced conflict (now THAT sounds familiar.)
Story problems aside, Ponyo and Sosuke are so adorable, especially when they’re together, that they carry the movie.
Sosuke’s mom, Lisa, is a lot of fun, what with her crazy driving and her erratic personality.
Fujimoto isn’t really all that bad; he’s just being a father who wants to protect his daughter.
And then there’s the animation. For anyone who is a water person, this film has some beautiful, hand-drawn water animation. The way they crash, ebb, and flow, it just looks beautiful and dangerous (depending on which scene).
One thing I neglected to mention in the other posts is the food. Studio Ghibli movies have a tendency to showcase food that look so delicious that you want to try it for yourself. For Ponyo, this was the ramen.
Just look at that!
I’ll admit, I bought and went into Ponyo blindly. I knew it was inspired by The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, and it did throw me off on how much Miyazaki made it as his own thing, but what he created really stands on its own. I mean, for example, Ponyo and her sisters aren’t exactly what anyone would picture when they hear the word “mermaid.” Plus, it helps the two main characters are cute, and the supporting cast has a lot of charm to them.
There’s not really a difference in context or even atmosphere in the Japanese and English tracks. However, I must warn you; if you do watch the English track, be warned; there is a terrible rap verse of the English version of the Ponyo theme song that’s played in the ending credits. Yes, seriously.
All in all, Ponyo is another one of those films that you can show to your children as an introduction to anime. It’s perfectly appropriate for all ages.
Dive in, and check it out.
