Movie review: Ponyo

by Alex Bentley

The films of Japanese animator Hiyao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) have always required a certain level of expectation from American audiences. Japanese animation (or, simply, anime) is a different style from most of the standard animation Americans are given, and Miyazaki's films always include fantastical elements that require more than the usual sense of disbelief.

His latest, Ponyo, will test those same limits. A hit in 2008 in Japan (making almost $148 million), Ponyo is being trumpeted here by no less than Pixar/Disney head honcho John Lasseter. (And in case you doubt the seriousness of the venture, check out the similarities between this poster and the one for Finding Nemo.) Ponyo uses the story of The Little Mermaid as a jumping-off point, but anyone expecting Disney's 1989 version will be greatly surprised.

Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus) is a slightly human-looking sea creature who often has the urge to go exploring away from his father, Fujimoto (Liam Neeson). Fujimoto is, well, a magical human who pilots a submarine with flippers while standing atop it encased in giant bubble (got that?). On one of Ponyo's escapades, she encounters Sosuke (Frankie Jonas – with him and Cyrus, can you feel the Disney synergy working?), a boy who lives in a seaside town with his mom, Lisa (Tina Fey), and mostly-absent dad, Koichi (Matt Damon).

After Ponyo's brief stay with Sosuke, she gets the urge to become human herself, an ability that she somehow summons out of thin air, but comes and goes throughout most of the story. The rest of the film is spent showing her struggles to get back to Sosuke, and how those efforts affect the town, including a senior center that houses Yoshie (Cloris Leachman), Toki (Lily Tomlin), and Noriko (Betty White).

One's enjoyment of Ponyo will depend entirely one's tolerance of tendencies of anime. Unlike the latest American movement, Miyazaki still sticks with traditional 2-D animation. Much of the imagery can be beautiful, but it's also hard not to notice the low-rent nature of many of the scenes. And the cultural divide is sometimes too hard to overcome. Scenes with waves of giant fish, buildings encased in giant bubbles, and other such creations seem rooted in a distinctly Japanese way of filmmaking, an idea that doesn't always translate well.

There's also the factor of American actors dubbing in the lines for the Japanese film. While there are a number of light-hearted moments, it often seems as if some lines have been changed in order to appeal to an American sense of humor. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't seem to fit with the film's original intention. It's also hard to judge any of the actors on their performances since they have to conform their lines to the animation, rather than the other way around, limiting the choices they could make.

The biggest problem, though, is that the story just isn't that interesting. There seems to be a big deal made about the absence of Koichi, but there's no emotional resonance to it. Ponyo's quest, while heartfelt, is just too bizarre at points to be fully engaging. And why anyone should care about the senior citizens in the story is beyond me. They're peripheral characters that do nothing to add to the story.

In the end, Ponyo can't survive the journey from Japan to the U.S. Some of Miyazaki's films may be considered classics, but it's hard to see how this will join their ranks.