The red-haired Ponyo bonds with her savior — or abductor — Sosuke, in the film by anime master Hayao Miyazaki
(2 of 2)
Sosuke has cut his finger. Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus, the 9-year-old sister of another Disney cash kid, Miley) heals it with her touch, and in briefly tasting his blood, she starts to become human. She also develops a taste for the food humans like. Mmmm, ham! — more savory than plankton. And in one of the film's many lovely vignettes, she enjoys her first sip of honeyed tea. Ponyo is accepted into the household by Sosuke's mother Lisa (Tina Fey), who works in a senior center; the boy's father Koichi (Matt Damon) is a fisherman whose job keeps him at sea for nights on end.
Absent parents, absent children: Ponyo is all about the yearning for a complete family. Ponyo's anxious dad Fujimoto (Liam Neeson) is a king of the sea, with an aging rock star's gaunt face and flowing seaweed hair. Can he let Ponyo desert the water for life on land? Her mom is even more imposing: Gran Mamare (Cate Blanchett), a magnificent sea goddess who will finally calm the tsunami of trouble Ponyo has stirred up.
Depth Perception
The notion of a tsunami engulfing a village has to be startling to Asian viewers, who surely recall the devastation wreaked by the December 2004 Indian Ocean disaster. But in the movie, it's as if Sosuke's town has just gone through a cleansing car wash. "Rather than the tsunami destroying the town," Miyazaki says, "I took it as her own sense of life overflowing, and that helped to revitalize the town. None of the buildings were destroyed in the flood. You can see them all beneath the water. That's magic."
Miyazaki's recent films have boasted an epic sweep, a teeming cast of characters and a two-hour-plus length that proved more daunting than endearing to some viewers. Ponyo is closer in tone to his kid-friendly '80s movies: Castle in the Sky, about a pair of orphans in pursuit of a floating island; My Neighbor Totoro, in which two girls meet some agreeable forest spirits; and Kiki's Delivery Service, about a 13-year-old witch who starts her own business. All are artistic triumphs and certified delights — close kin to Lasseter's CGI wizardry and Nick Park's stop-motion Wallace and Gromit films. These are Miyazaki's animation amigos: "My comrades in arms," he says, "in trying to keep good quality and commercially viable animation going."
When you see Ponyo — and you must — be prepared for a movie that doesn't abide by Hollywood rules. This is a tale for children (yes, of all ages) who are ready to be coaxed into another world through simple words and luscious pictures. Miyazaki knows the secret language of children; he dives deep into the pool of childhood dreams and fears and, through his animagic, takes children down to where they can breathe, and feel, and be free.
— Reported by Lev Grossman / San Diego