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Ponyo (2008)

★★★½ — Ponyo (2008)

Ponyo arrived in 2008 as Hayao Miyazaki's most deliberately childlike film since My Neighbour Totoro, a conscious return to simplicity after the sprawling ambition of Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. Loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, Miyazaki wrote and directed the film almost as a personal project for very young children, famously insisting on hand-drawn animation at a time when much of the industry had moved toward digital production. Studio Ghibli employed around 170,000 individual hand-drawn frames to achieve the film's fluid water sequences. Released in Japan by TOHO in the summer of 2008, it grossed over $200 million worldwide, with Disney handling the English-language release (featuring an entirely recast voice ensemble). Miyazaki would follow it with The Wind Rises in 2013, initially announced as his final feature.

Not top-tier Ghibli for me, but still a beautifully animated, heartwarming ride. Studio Ghibli could animate a puddle and make it look like a masterpiece, and Ponyo proves that. The water animation is insanely good. The vibrant world feels like it was pulled directly onto the screen from real life. Pure magic. It’s like watching a childhood fever dream unfold in the best way possible. That said, this one leans a little more on the whimsical, "this is a kids film more than a family film" side of Ghibli. It’s charming, it’s sweet, but it doesn’t hit quite as hard as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. The story is simple, almost too simple at times, but damn if it isn’t endearing.

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2008 | Watched: 2010-03-03

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Netflix · Netflix Kids · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK

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