I seriously spent about a total of 8 hours working on this post, so you better read it, dammit! Haha... No, really. Read it nice and good.
This past Sunday was exciting for me, because I got to see a special pre-release screening of
Hayao Miyazaki's latest film
Ponyo at
Symphony Space (which is right in our neighborhood) as part of the
New York Children's International Film Festival. I had heard about the screening about a week before, but for some reason I procrastinated and didn't buy a ticket right away. I was mad at myself when the Symphony Space website announced the movie was sold out. But after church on Sunday, I decided I would show up their early to see if by chance they had a waiting list so I could get a last minute ticket. I wasn't expecting to get so lucky, but it paid off, and I got to buy a ticket! I felt so relieved, because I was regretting not buying a ticket back when I first heard about it. I even got in line in time to get a great seat. People were lining up pretty early; it was clear everybody was excited for Miyazaki's latest. The theater filled up, and I was surprised, yet not surprised, to see so many adults excited about
Ponyo. Many were there with their kids too, of course. Miyazaki and his
Studio Ghibli have an ever-growing American fanbase of people of all ages. I will present you with my review of Ponyo, but first...
Some important notes:
For the North American release, the film's title is shortened from the original international title Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. My comments are based solely on the English language dub produced and distributed by Disney. That's the version that will be released in theaters here, so that's the only version I've seen--or rather, heard--so far. Whenever possible, I always try to watch an anime film in the original Japanese language first (with subtitles) because I feel very strongly about enjoying any work of art in its original form. But in the case of Ponyo, that won't be possible until the DVD is released domestically. This is a problem in the context of a movie review for a couple reasons: 1) The original Japanese language version of any anime (or for that matter, the original-language version of any movie) is almost always better than the dub, if for no other reason then because it's the original. 2) One of the producers of the dubbed Ponyo stated that: "It's not a direct translation. We have tweaked the story so it is an understandable story for our audience." This was upsetting when I first heard this, but supposedly any script changes made were given Miyazaki's blessing. As of now, I have no idea what these "tweaks" actually entail, and they very well could be negligible. I'm sure they kept the same basic story. Still, I don't support altering a movie so that it's "understandable for Americans." Anyhow, it is what it is, so my review will be based on my experience of the Disney dub. At least it's the complete uncut movie, right?
Here's my review of Ponyo:
Walt Disney Pictures Presents
A Studio Ghibli Film
PONYO
Rated G
1 Hour and 40 minutes
Written & Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Voice talents of Frankie Jonas, Noah Cyrus, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon
Opens (today) August 14th at a theater near you!
Ponyo is the latest animated film from world-renowned Japanese writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, and the most adorable movie to hit cinemas in a long time. This sweet fantasy tells the story of a little boy named Sosuke who stumbles upon a goldfish-girl trapped in a jar on the sea shore, and after freeing her from the glass entrapment, develops a loving bond with the funny little creature. He names her "Ponyo”—a cute and perky name for a perky little fish—and promises to protect her always. Ponyo's instant love for Sosuke makes her long to become human like him, so that they can be together forever.
The beautiful fairy tale that unfolds with this premise is decidedly a more simplistic work of art than Miyazaki's other films (I confess I haven’t seen all of them yet), but a thoroughly enchanting work of art nonetheless.
Ponyo once again proves the auteur’s ability to see the world through a child’s eyes, abandoning all realism in favor of a capricious sensibility. Like his previous two works (the Oscar-nominated
Howl’s Moving Castle and the Oscar-winning
Spirited Away), the story employs what some have called “dream logic,” but with fewer layers and more purity.
For instance, Ponyo's overprotective father Fujimoto is the sorcerer who lords over the ocean like a god of nature, and he won't have any of this disgusting human business. He fears it will upset the balance of nature, so he forces Ponyo back into the sea. However, the persistent little Ponyo taps into her own magical powers, grows a set of limbs, and frees herself from the ocean, all the while upsetting the balance of nature and thrusting the sea into a violent tsunami. Thus we see Fujimoto’s greatest fears come to fruition, but the connection between Ponyo and the ocean at large is never defined literally. It’s this kind of “dream logic” that exemplifies Miyazaki’s brand of surrealism: the connection is in the subtext, not in the plot, and Ponyo weaves its subtext innocently, delicately, and light-heartedly, without having something to prove.
It is clear in the style as much as in the content that Miyazaki intended to do something a little different this time around. Whereas the background paintings in his previous movies had an almost classical sense of realism (especially in Howl’s), he and his team of artists at Studio Ghibli infuse the artwork of Ponyo with the look and feel of a spectacularly illustrated children’s storybook, all without the help of computers. The rounded landscapes have a beautiful texture that makes them look like pastel drawings rendered with childlike whimsy. The new, more abstract artistic approach that Miyazaki explores in Ponyo is of course especially epitomized in the design for Ponyo herself: in her goldfish form, she is not drawn literally like a fish, but more like a 5-year-old boy like Sosuke might draw a fish. The look is both bizarre and charming.
The poetry on screen is matched, or perhaps surpassed, by
Joe Hisaishi’s glorious musical score for
Ponyo. Now, I admit I’m prone to hyperbole, but honestly, I believe Joe Hisaishi is one of the greatest composers alive today. He has composed the music for all of Miyazaki’s films since the 80’s, and when these two geniuses overlap their art forms, the result is a truly magical experience. And I daresay
Ponyo is Hisaishi’s best score yet. I’m no expert on music history or theory, but the way his layered compositions rise and fall, build and burst, wax and wane between the simplistic and the exuberant—sounds as wonderful as anything the classical composers of old could compose. Again, I hyperbolize, but it seems apparent that this is the kind of standard to which Joe Hisaishi aspires, and certainly Western classical music is a source of his inspiration. No other film composer, except perhaps John Williams, has composed a score so richly orchestrated, so varied in tone, and so downright joyous to the ear. I really hope it gets submitted to the Academy Awards next year, because it will win Best Original Score hands down. It has to.
Something about
Ponyo that may not be as joyous to the ear is the English dub voice acting. This comes as a great surprise, considering the all-star cast:
Tina Fey as Sosuke’s mother Lisa,
Liam Neeson as Fujimoto,
Matt Damon as Sosuke’s dad Koichi,
Cate Blanchett as Ponyo’s mystical mother Granmamarre,
Noah Cyrus as Ponyo, and
Frankie Jonas as Sosuke. I think the root of the problem for
Ponyo is that the Disney folks made the mistake of thinking great screen actors will make great voice actors. Alas, not necessarily so. Don’t get me wrong, the voice acting is not bad, it’s just not the best Miyazaki dub work. In fact, compared to the English dubs for
Howl’s Moving Castle and
Princess Mononoke, for example, the dub acting in
Ponyo is sub-standard. I do think that Neeson is decent as the eccentric Fujimoto, and Blanchett is perfection as the sea goddess that is Ponyo’s mother, but honestly all she had to do was talk like that Elf queen she played in Lord of the Rings. Cyrus actually pulled off the title character quite well, voicing her with an occasionally obnoxious but always adorable sense of childish spunk. Jonas sounded a bit too old to play a five-year-old, and his intonation lacked the variation and dynamism that would have served Sosuke well, but all-in-all he sounded just fine. The problem is, I’ve come to expect more than “just fine” for a Miyazaki movie—his work deserves an English dub that is no less than great.
At 68 years old, the master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has not lost his touch. In Ponyo, he unleashes a vision from his inner child enhanced by underlying sophisticated understanding that comes only with old age, and paints a wholesome, kid-friendly tale about innocent love and living in harmony with the natural world, as embodied by the deep blue sea. It has many of the marks of a Miyazaki story—environmental consciousness, brash female characters, mystical guardians of nature, and most of all that feeling of being in a daydream you don’t fully understand. Unlike American animated cinema, Ponyo’s sense of wonder and humor are not bogged down by modern cynicism or references to pop culture. No, this is a freer kind of storytelling with a Japanese aesthetic that isn’t calculated or contrived. It doesn’t try too hard to make you believe because realism or believability is not the point. Despite the storm brewing around them, Sosuke couldn't be happier to reunite with Ponyo after he lost her once to the sea, and even though she has somehow become a little human girl, he accepts her new form without question—as does his mother Lisa, declaring, “Life is mysterious and amazing.” This refreshing matter-of-factness pervades Miyazaki's childlike artistic vision—the vision of a world where anything is possible.
There’s so much more I could say about it, but I’ve already gotten carried away, just as you will be carried away in the imaginative simplicity of this movie. Take your kids, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, or whoever to see Ponyo!
Hey everyone! I've just spent a great deal of time catching up my blog on all the fun events of the summer so far. I hope you'll take the time to read them and comment! First of all, there's one for June 2 when I met David Archuleta, then there's my account of Adam Lambert's glamazing GlamNation concert on June 22, then there's an entry about the Pride Parade on June 27, and finally one about the incredible Japanese play I saw on July 8 called Musashi!
