Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea

Since I figured I have every right to lay back and relax for Thanksgiving break, I decided to stay up and watch a movie that had been sitting in my external terrabyte for quite a while.

I've been virtually a lifelong fan of Hayao Miyazaki's works. As children, many people may remember the director/screenwriter's titles like My Neighbor Totoro (1988) or Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Other popular titles include Princess Mononoke (1997), the Academy Award winning Spirited Away (2001), and the fairly recent Howl's Moving Castle (2004).

All of Miyazaki's films are animated, featuring recurring character designs and portrayals. At the same time, common themes are incorporated, most prominently those relating to man versus nature, technology, and morality in general. As a result, despite appearing like children's films on the outside, Miyazaki's films are often much deeper in context.

Well, the film I started off mentioning before is Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea (2008), the latest feature film by the director. It took me a while to find a copy with good English subtitles, but once I found it, I never found the time to settle down and go through watching the movie.

In short, the film starts off with a mute "goldfish" that runs away from her underwater home. As the film progresses, we meet Sousuke, a boy around five years of age, who manages to pick up the lost fish. For some unknown reason, Sousuke decides to name this fish, Ponyo.

Eventually, the audience realizes Ponyo is a magical entity. And soon enough, we have a mixture of transformations (namely that of Ponyo becoming a little human girl), a shady, but quite amusing father (interestingly enough, Ponyo's father is an oddball underwater ex-human sorceror), impending planetary doom, a hot mom (yes, Ponyo's mother -- a.k.a. the wife of aforementioned oddball sorceror -- is a divine sea-goddess/mermaid), crazy old ladies, and a bunch of peculiarities not often seen in reality.

Don't get me wrong, though, this is a children's film (or a family film, if you will). Despite that, though, like all of Miyazaki's works, Ponyo still holds the values and themes that have been featured before. In this film's case, it would be the man versus nature theme. Ponyo wishes to become and remain a human girl. In the process, she unknowingly upsets the balance of nature, unleashing ruthless tidal waves and disrupting sea life. A good part of the film deals with settling such a conflict while analyzing more human traits like responsibility, family, love, and so forth.

In my honest opinion, I'd say it's a very worthwhile film. Yes, it can be a little childish at times, but that's a given with the movie's genre. Other than that, I enjoyed the film's uniqueness that Miyazaki is so famous for. I only wish there are more directors or screenwriters out there in this world that have only a portion of Miyazaki's creativity.