Anime: Gake no Ue no Ponyo

'Gake no Ue no Ponyo' had been lying in my hard disk drive for over a year before I finally got to seeing it. I somehow knew I would not like this film, and have been putting it off until now. It could've been because this movie seemed so childish from clips I saw in variety shows, the obnoxious little girl singing its theme song, and the surprising amount of marketing campaign for an animated film. However, being somewhat of an anime fan, and an avid Japanese movie fan, this is a film that I had to watch. My hunches are wrong sometimes, but unfortunately, this was not the case... it was even worse than my low expectations. If you think this movie is a masterpiece and don't want to read any negativity about it, you might as well stop reading now. I will be analyzing a few key scenes from this film that stood out for me, and it won't be pretty.

We have become accustomed to all these Ghibli feature length films with deep values in recent years, but once every while, they do release kiddie films like 'Ponyo', which seemed like an attempt to replicate the success of 'Tonari no Totoro'. The stories are similar in that they both tell the tale of a child's encounter with a mysterious kiddie bait (interesting enough, the word "ponyo" means "blobby" in Japanese), and the short adventure this child takes with the creature. Unlike 'Totoro', which has become an iconic masterpiece for Studio Ghibli (enough to be included in their logo), 'Ponyo' lacks the same level of magic because its story is a mess and there are too many useless themes. In addition, the subject character lacks the enigma because, well... it speaks.

The opening sequence was very enjoyable, conveying Ponyo's life in wander and beauty of the sea without a single word being spoken. However, I was a bit disappointed by the animation. Sure, it is detailed and fluid, but this is just the matter of budget per frame. It seemed very, very outdated with its coloring, like watching a classic Disney film rather than a 21st century Ghibli film. The "fish wave" scenes were spectacular, but otherwise, there is nothing in this film that we haven't seen before. While this retro hand-drawn cel style animation is certainly preferred by some and has its merits, I find it alarming that other animation studios have made a giant leaps in animation quality in the past few years while Ghibli, once industry benchmark in anime, have been largely unchanged... arguably even deteriorated in terms of quality since peaking out with 'Howl's Moving Castle'.

I have nothing but praise for musical score in this movie. All the pieces were fully orchestrated, and really sets the mood for every scene, whether it's a jolly comedy, exciting action, or mysterious fantasy moments. Sound mixing / volume adjustment was outstanding, such as the sudden spike in audio volume in a "chase" scene to show the impending danger, perfectly timed to what's happening on the screen. Every piece was obviously designed specifically for each scene, and the main theme music is very memorable, also used as the instrumental for the theme song sang by the little girl in the end. Unfortunately, there was a major miscast with the seiyuu in using old school dorama actress Yamaguchi Tomoko as the mother. Often typecast into tough female roles such as single businesswoman, she seems to be the perfect fit on paper as the strict mother of the protagonist. However, the character design simply seemed too "soft". Her voice acting experience being very limited, she ended up sounding overly unemotional in some scenes. She certainly is no Kimura Takuya when it comes voice acting.

The story development was forced in many occasions. There were quite a few face-palm scenes in this movie, like when Ponyo's father started talking to himself in an underwater scene just to explain the situation to the audience. It was hard to believe such reputable studio and director would resort to such poor storytelling technique. Another questionable scene was near the end, when the kid finds his washed away green bucket just as Ponyo was losing her power and returning to her fish state. It's a kiddie movie, but that is just way too convenient lazy writing.

The themes in this movie were also very confusing. As mentioned earlier, the concept is almost identical to that of 'Totoro'. But Ponyo herself is a ripoff of 'Little Mermaid' (and the forbidden love with human), and then they added Ryuuguu castle reference to fairy tale 'Urashima Tarou', plus a tunnel reminiscent of the one in 'Spirited Away'. The water controlled by Ponyo's father also moved like the black goo from 'Mononoke Hime' (and the two subsequent Miyazaki Hayao films). Did they simply run out of ideas, or are they trying to capitalize on their past success?

There were three other scenes that I found very disturbing. First of which occurred while Ponyo was transforming in the water bubble, and her "sisters" come for help. It must have been a symbolism to a new birth, representing multiple sperms trying to penetrate the ovum. The second one occurred near end of the movie, when a mother of a newborn baby was explaining the process of breast milk production. The final one occurs shortly after when they enter the underwater castle, another sperm race to ovum entry scene. The whole movie was presented as a children's movie, and these three scenes had absolutely no place in this film. And worse yet, they verbally raise the stake: "It's up to you to save the world", from what? A shameless attempt to manufacture an epic adventure. Unlike other Ghibli films, this one did not have a real lesson learned or a concrete message. Fragmented and poorly structured plot without a central theme. The story is a complete mess despite simplicity, things just happened, and characters just behaved the way they did without apparent character development. Admittedly this is a children's movie, but it should not require intelligence level of a child to be enjoyable.

The ending was the most unsatisfying one among all Ghibli film I have seen thus far. Things happened in a rapid succession, leading to a sudden jump and kiss out of the blue. It couldn't have been any more rushed than it was. The transition to the theme song was abrupt, and poor credit roll was a complete waste of an addictive theme song. This is totally inexcusable execution of the ending for what has become a mediocre anime movie. With 'Howl's Moving Castle' being a personal flop, and 'Tales of Earthsea' being a widely accepted failure, this is strike three Ghibli for me. I don't want to sound like one of those film fans who cling in the past, but they simply don't make anime movies the way they used to.

It has been widely agreed that Hayao Miyazaki is a master at his craft when it comes to combining rich animation with thoughtful storylines and similarly imaginative characters. His movies, from Nausicaa, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke to the recent Howl's Moving Castle are all not only gorgeously rendered in terms of art, but in terms of moviemaking as well. Can this man do no wrong? Not really, but it is impossible to expect everyone of his movies to always be five star marvels. His newest film, Ponyo, an unashamedly family-friendly tale of a "goldfish out of water", is as lushly animated and alive with interesting characters as you would expect... and yet this is the first film of his which treads into "lesser" territory. Don't get me wrong, Ponyo is not a bad movie by any means. As mentioned, it is a sight for the eyes and is as charming and adorable as Totoro and Kiki. The problem is that the story doesn't stay afloat to satisfy anyone eager for another engrossing, in-depth plot.

It starts out on a moonlit night underwater, in which we see one Fujimoto, a mysterious (and somewhat neurotic) magician on the prow of his submarine, metamorphosizing plankton into live-size jellyfish. During this, a cute little goldfish (with the head of a human) swims out of his craft and takes a forbidden voyage to the "human world". Before you know it, she finds herself in the arms of Sosuke, a little boy (who bears a strange resemblance to Kanta from Totoro but is more like Pazu from Castle; interestingly, the director created him after his own son) who finds himself quite taken with her. What begins is a variation of the "boy gets goldfish-struggles to hide goldfish-loses goldfish" scenario. This is the best part of the entire movie, in which it showcases Miyazaki's fascination with childlike discovery and the struggles of keeping a new friend a secret. It should be interesting to note that he never butts heads with his mother about this.

At this point I am going to take a break and talk about who is my favorite character in the movie--Lisa, the mother of Sosuke. She's caring, kind, and very supportive of her son, but also has a bit of an aggravated temper, particularly when she gets annoyed with her seafaring husband, Koichi, for continually staying out at sea instead of keeping his promise to return home. In one memorable and hilarious scene, where Sosuke is sending a flash signal from the front porch of his house, an incensed Lisa makes no secret showing her disdain for her husband staying away from his family (Sosuke, naturally, softens the whole thing by sending a friendlier message after seeing a light show from his father's ship). She is also a VERY reckless driver, as witnessed in the scenes where she narrowly zooms her car across a dock where a ship is about to pull in. It helps, too, that I happen to have a parent named Lisa, who is pretty much the same person (save for the driving part).

Anyway, Fujimoto takes the goldfish (whom Sosuke has named Ponyo) back to his underwater farm and tries to talk her into staying away from humans. Ponyo, however, who has taken a liking to Sosuke's hand sandwich (and tasted his human blood from a cut on his finger) insists on becoming human. So, of course, she breaks into her father's secret chamber and drinks his magic elixir. Before you know it, Ponyo becomes a hyperactive four-year old with short crimson hair (the spitting image of Mei from Totoro) with magic powers; she rides on an oversized tsunami of fish across the ocean in search of Sosuke, sending a hurricane all over the entire town. (This sequence, in which gargantuan ocean waves threaten to swallow Sosuke and Lisa's car as they blaze toward their home on a cliff, is the most exciting in the entire movie.) The storm ends when Ponyo finally finds Sosuke and is subsequently taken in by Lisa.

It is after this moment, unfortunately, when Ponyo starts to run out of momentum. Although the scenes where Ponyo and Sosuke share a dinner of ham and noodles are cute and funny, many of the subsequent sequences slide into somewhat sluggish territory. The focal point of the plot is when environmentalist Fujimoto and his wife, a diaphanous sea-goddess named Gran Mamare (with the ability to shift from a titanic giant into a human sized woman) decide to test both Ponyo and Sosuke to see if the youngsters' love can save the entire planet, which, at this point, is in danger of becoming totally enveloped by water (the moon having grown to enormous size and satellites drifting into the ocean). Using a toy boat (oversized by Ponyo's magic), the two youngsters set out across their world, now transformed into an underwater aquarium, complete with gargantuan fish in search of Sosuke's mother. These scenes are still a lot of fun, especially when they are stopped by a fleet of friendly passengers, including a mother with her sickly baby.

Naturally, one would expect a finale of tension and real trauma to cap off such a story, and that is where Ponyo finally takes on water; the actual ending is both anti-climactic and undermines the joy and imagination that came before. It really is a shame, too, because for the opening hour and fifteen or so minutes, Ponyo is the embodiment of a child's watery fantasy captured on film. In fact, the entire aura of Ponyo feels like a fairy tale for children, and the movie plays out as such, and it is disappointing to discover that it doesn't finish as strongly as it starts.

On a technical level, Ponyo cannot be faulted. The animation is absolutely gorgeous to look at, produced entirely without a single shot of computer-generated-imagery, and naturally Joe Hisaishi provides us with yet another breathtaking musical score; the best moments being the rousing sequences underwater, accompanied by a chorus and a soprano voice. And the backgrounds are lovingly painted and detailed as any other Ghibli movies.

Having proved themselves worthy on translating and dubbing Ghibli's previous movies into English with top-quality results, Disney Studios and Pixar once again provide an English translation (courtesy of E.T.'s Melissa Mathison) and a mostly capable cast of actors. Compared to most of their other dubs, though, I do have some issues, although in all fairness, not enough to discourage anyone from giving it a view. Frankie Jonas (youngest member of the Jonas Brothers) is surprisingly good as Sosuke, sounding very natural and believable throughout. Noah Cyrus (younger sister of Miley Cyrus of Hannah Montana) as Ponyo, on the other hand, sometimes goes overboard in shouting her lines before eventually settling down toward the end. Leads aside, the rest of the cast includes Liam Neeson as the overprotective Fujimoto (who manages himself unsurprisingly well in the character), Cate Blanchett as Gran Mamare (in a reverberated voice and omnipresent tone which is not much different from her Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings), Matt Damon as Sosuke's father Koichi (who is good but nothing to write home about), and Tina Fey as Lisa. Of them, Fey is the best voice in the entire cast, imbuing the character with just the right amount of spirit and personality. Her scenes with Sosuke show real chemistry. On the other hand, Cloris Leachman, who was spectacular as Dola in Castle in the Sky, is disappointingly wasted as one of three handicapped elderly women (she barely has any lines!), who are also voiced by Betty White and Lily Tomlin. Of them, only Tomlin's character, a cantankerous woman named Toki, shows any real personality, but if I were casting the movie, I'd switch Tomlin with Leachman. The script adaptation flows well for the most part, although the inclusion of Japanese honorifics, like "sensei" and "san" feel somewhat out of place for a dub that's supposed to be targeted toward a wider audience. Probably the only really jarring drawback of the dub is a blasty techno-remix of the film's catchy (but ridiculously repetitive) title song, which thankfully doesn't occur until midway through the closing credits. Considering that the rest of the movie features a lovely score and a soprano-belted opera number at the beginning, it's a very curious, unfortunate marketing ploy. Compared to Disney's other dubs for Ghibli, this one is less seamless, but it still does its job well for the most part.

On the whole, Ponyo is a good film; a fine piece of animated work which is perfect for youngsters and family audiences. Due to the loss of momentum toward the end, though, it falls far short of classic status. Since Miyazaki at his least is still better than a majority of other animated films, though, I'll be generous and give Ponyo a full star recommendation, because any feature of his is still very much worth watching, particularly on the big screen. (Be sure to catch it in the theaters while you can.)

The spectacle that is Ponyo is every bit as magnificent as any of Miyazaki's works, or perhaps any animated work ever. There are memorable sequences abound, and in typical Miyazaki style, they may be notable as wildly imaginative or as heartwarmingly human. Anything in the underwater world would fall into the former category, while the affection between the two main characters is so lifelike that it may cause you to up and grab the nearest person and give him/her a nice squeeze. Ponyo is just about the sweetest thing that exists, and it's not only because of the cute quasi-romance between the two 5 year-olds. From the borderline senile old ladies, to the tiny spat between Sosuke's parents, to the way Ponyo's father, the antagonist, swoons in the presence of her mother, it's a sugar fest from top to bottom.

The extremity of the cuteness will make this film difficult for some. As someone who enjoys a nice family friendly movie, I still found it cloying at times. The other problem with Ponyo is that it is essentially an adventure like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, but it's filled with all the inanity of My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. In Kiki's Delivery Service, there isn't a central conflict established in the beginning and resolved at the end, but in its exploration of Kiki's problems, it feels like an insightful look at a slice of her life. In Spirited Away, you have a gratifying and epic adventure with a clear and powerful climax. Ponyo is set up like an adventure, with making Ponyo human as the primary goal, but in the journey the plot meanders to much smaller conflicts while potentially plot enriching points such as the discovery of the wizard's plan to destroy humanity or the final test that must be passed to make Ponyo human are resolved in painfully anticlimactic fashion.

I watched the English version, localized by Disney, so I cannot comment on the original regarding music or voices since Disney is notorious for filling in the silence. The music is orchestral and epic at times, and whimsical and skippy at others, but it can get intrusive. While the epic scenes are beautifully accompanied by the soundtrack, many of the cuter, smaller scenes don't require the bouncy and somewhat loud music to make it more saccharin that it already is. Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, and Cate Blanchette all do a notably good job with their characters. Noah Cyrus's Ponyo captures her essence well enough, but there is something a little off about Sosuke. The little Jonas runt that voices him needs makes Sousuke sound like he's in a rehearsal for a bad elementary school play.

Ponyo's eccentric, borderline crazy "villain" of a father is just one aspect of many that makes this film memorable. I think from this day forward, anyone who references "Respect your father!" will get a chuckle from me. It's just hard to forget a movie as sweet as this is, for better or worse. The beautiful visuals are the perfect medium for expressing Miyazaki's sentimentality as well as his whimsy, but the directionless plot will leave most at least slightly unsatisfied when walking out of the theater.