Ponyo [movie]

[chomiji]

This was visually very beautiful and quite funny (in a very-young-child way). It also managed the feat of being cute without being sappy - even my cynical husband said so! Part of this is due to some rather scary scenes, but I didn't hear any whimpers or crying from the small children in the audience this afternoon. In fact, as smillaraaq remarked, the tots all seemed to be mesmerized into silence.

Sosuke, age 5, lives in a house atop a cliff overlooking the sea. His mother Lisa (!) works in a senior center next to his school, and his father is an officer on a ship whose route often passes below the house. One day, in the shallow water at the cliff's base, Sosuke finds an odd-looking fish stuck in a jar. He rescues it by breaking the jar, names it "Ponyo," and starts toting his new pet around in a bucket - even to school.

What Sosuke doesn't realize is that Ponyo is in reality the daughter of a half-mad formerly human mage whose job is keeping the ecology of the sea in balance. He'll stop at nothing to get her back - but he is not the only major power in play in this story, and Ponyo herself is a force that can't be ignored.

I think I saw a visual homage to Spirited Away during the rather mystical final section of the movie, but The Mr. disagreed. I also have to add that there was a realism I really appreciated about the depiction of Lisa's situation, as the wife of a man who is often away from home, and that the eventual happy ending is happy for her as well.

Official movie site with trailer here.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I saw it this weekend too. I have to admit that I found it very young indeed, or perhaps I'm feeling very old these days.

[chomiji]

We did all feel like it was targeted at ages 4 to 6, but we enjoyed it anyway.