At the end of the day, Hayo Miyazaki's latest film Ponyo really is a children's film. It is not as complex in character development as Spirited Away and lacks the quirky tone and humor of Howl's Moving Castle. Comparing it to this year's animated films, it doesn't have the emotional depth of Up or the eye candy of Coraline but it's well ahead of Monsters vs. Aliens in quality. With these comparisons, you'd think that I hated Ponyo. That is far from the truth. It is an excellent film, but it's a tad on the simple side.
Chuck Jones once said that with great animation, you can turn to sound off and still know exactly what's going on. Ponyo is an incredibly good example of this. In that regard, it's an excellent visual movie. The scenes focusing on the human characters (Ponyo in human form, Sosuke, Lisa, the elders) are pretty much standard anime style humans, perhaps that is intentional on Miyazaki's part but it imparts the tone of the movie perfectly with this normality of life contrasting with the fantastical wonder of the fish characters. Poyno in her goldfish form really is one of the cutest characters in an animated film I've seen in a long time, in every picture I see of her she always puts a smile on my face and I also loved the design of Fujimoto, Ponyo's father. The animals and other fish managed to combine cartoon-like qualities with a degree of realism, Studio Ghibli has always been great with that.
In regards to the English dub cast, Ponyo has gone all out with bringing in talent from all levels of the entertainment industry. Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas, the younger siblings of Disney recording artists Miley Cyrus and the Jonas brothers, voice Ponyo and Sosuke respectively. It is clear that these two are only in the movie for the sake of bringing in the Disney Channel crowd but it really is good casting. Jonas brings in the perfect tone that a little boy his age should have to the character, Cyrus' lines are for the most part yelling of words Ponyo picks up being around Sosuke and Lisa. Ponyo could have easily been voiced by any little kid but Cyrus does bring a degree of innocence into the character that makes her adorable. Other cast members include Tina Fey of TV's 30 Rock as Sosuke's mom Lisa who, while very entertaining, seems to be channeling Liz Lemon a bit too closely most of the time. But Liam Neeson steals the show as Fujimoto. He strikes as a great comedic actor who is very subtle but brings out the humor in the character. I sat there having a hard time believing this was the man who 16 years earlier was playing Oskar Schindler in what is probably one of the most heartbreaking movies out there.
I can't stress enough that this movie is as simple as simple can get. It's a Miyazaki movie for the Sesame Street set, but the rest of us will be extremely entertained by the free-spirited tone the movie has. It's a small movie, yes, but it's a fun ride. I give Ponyo a good 3 out of 4 stars.
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