"Ponyo loves Sosuke! I will be a human, too!"
Hayao Miyazaki is known for making movies that transcend the anime genre and are staples among an international audience. The same way someone may say, "I'm not a huge fan of sushi, but I'll gobble down a plate of California Rolls" or "I typically don't fancy myself a wine drinker, but give me a bottle of Night Train and a bag of Flamin' Hot Funyons and we got ourselves an evening!" is the same way many people, including myself, speak of his work. "I'm just not into anime, but that Totoro guy, what's his name? Miyazaki? Yeah, him. He's legit, I love that stuff." Most of the mainstream American audience was exposed to Miyazaki in 2002 through his Academy Award winning masterpiece, Spirited Away. His newest film, Ponyo, will surely make a splash when waves of fans swim into stores and purchase the two-disc Disney/Studio Ghibli Blu-Ray/DVD.
Ponyo is a retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Little Mermaid. Don't expect Ponyo to have many similarities to the 1989 Disney movie; drawing similarities between the two will be as difficult as convincing your sober friend that Darkside of the Moon “totally syncs up” with The Wizard of Oz. At its essence, Ponyo is the story of a confusingly-cute embryonic fish monster taking the form of a young girl to be with the love of her life, a young boy with a passion for Morse code who saved her from the unforgiving grasp of a mayonnaise jar. I know we've all seen this story a thousand times – boy meets fish monster, fish monster falls in love, fish monster upsets the balance of nature and magic blah blah blah – but really, Miyazaki's take on it is fresh and original. The movie is absolutely beautiful, has an amazing story and is, dare I say…touching.
Special Features
– Enter the Lands
"Enter the Lands" is kind of a cop-out; the menu screen looks great with animations tying together the world of Ghibli but the feature really lacks substance. You click on one of the areas that represents a film and are taken to a preview of the movie and the ability to watch two short clips from the film itself. Great menu and a potentially exciting feature, but there's not a lot to it.
– Behind the Studio
This is the real bulk of the special features and is actually incredibly interesting. There are numerous small documentaries about Hayao Miyazaki and the production of Ponyo, down to real locations featured in the film and original concept art. The only downside is watching the feature on the American voice actors. Knowing that the two main characters were played by the Jonas Brothers' brother and Miley Cyrus' sister somehow ruined the cute appeal of the children actors.
– Meet Ponyo
"Meet Ponyo" is a shorter, less in-depth featurette of the “Behind the Studio” segment.
– Storyboard Presentation of the Movie
This is a storyboard presentation of the movie.
Overall
For the Miyazaki initiated, Ponyo can be easily characterized as “somewhere between My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away”. For the uninitiated, the simplest way to put it is that its one of the few movies that legitimately appeals to all age groups. Not like “fun for the whole family” because it's a children's movie that makes three references that only adults will get and not like Dave Coulier's “Clean Guys of Comedy Tour” that appeals to absolutely nobody, it really is an incredible movie for just about anyone. Just buy the movie; seriously, buy it, it's magical.
ComicsOnline gives Ponyo on Blu-ray & DVD 5 out of 5 HAAAAAAAAAAMS.
Buy Ponyo on Blu-ray or DVD today!
Keep it here at ComicsOnline for more anime reviews and everything geek pop culture!
