A still from Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, a new film by Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki
In Theaters August 14
In this adorable gloss on The Little Mermaid, a fish who wants to be a girl meets a boy who needs a pet. She adapts to land living and finds a new friend, but the arrangement that vexes Ponyo's piscine parents — the King of the Sea and his sea-goddess wife — and stirs a tsunami of trouble. Oscar-winning animation director Hayao Miyazaki takes a breather from his ghostlier epics (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) and returns to the cheerful sorcery of '80s kids' movies like My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. This sweet parable earned a blockbuster $165 million in its native Japan; it may not match that total in U.S. theaters, but for adventurous kids and sympathetic adults, it's an incitement to enchantment.
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