"Ponyo" makes me smile, and it makes me cry. Not in the tear jerking fashion of a Hollywood melodrama, or from the heavy-handed existentialism of the avant-gard, but rather through the spot-on capture of the quintessence of childhood joy. "Ponyo", in short, is twee-as-fuck. From the intrepid mind of Hayao Miyazaki, the man behind 2001's Oscar winning "Spirited Away", comes a simple animation that goes back to basics, steering clear of CGI and computer enhanced animation. "Ponyo" features a whopping 170,000 separate images, all hand drawn, some with water colors, utilizing a vivid array of happy-go-lucky pastels.
Rated G, a rarity in cinema today, "Ponyo" is the simple tale of a little fish that yearns to be a real girl. Inspired by the Little Mermaid, the film goes a step further: instead of dumbing down an adult tale for children, "Ponyo" views the timeless tale through the eyes of a child. The film conveys messages of peace, respect and community, and like many Miyazaki films touches on environmental conservation without ever getting too preachy.
Ponyo herself is adorable, and I dare you not to smile as she stretches her human legs for the first time and runs about her new surroundings with awe and wonder. She befriends a little Japanese boy named Sosuke and the two fall in love, as five year olds often do, and boldly proceed headlong into a brave new world. Death and Pain are still just concepts to these wide eyes, impossible destinations of childhood conceit, ones which would never taint the purity of a child's heart.
The film could be the blueprint to a perfect world, bearing messages that could better humanity as a whole. I was shocked to see that "Ponyo" wasn't even nominated for this years Oscars; the American dubbing features an all-star cast including Liam Neeson, Tina Fey and (more old-school) Lily Tomlin and Betty White. Be sure to stick around for the credits which play over the Poyno Theme song, a piece of twee-pop so adorable that it puts The Moldy Peaches to shame.
