Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 3.0
Miyazaki's '08 release is so enraptured with the sheer joy of animation that it has little room for much else: it's completely consumed with vibrant color, design, the image of a bubbling, purple ocean, glorious pastel-colored houses and fields and the marvelous detail of complex aquatic life. The script - about a little girl sea creature who washes shore and is befriended by a boy - isn't as developed as I'd have liked - Sea Dad and Sea Mom give up on their little girl in a hurry, and how the friendship/love (?) between Ponyo and the boy is supposed to promote ecological harmony doesn't make sense - but the prevailing love of the medium and fantastical quality of the images is sufficient to guide it to a cute conclusion. Miyazaki's themes are in there (the beauty of childhood dreams, friendship and loneliness, a powerful concern for the environment, the interest in strong, independent female characters), and as always with his pictures it's more about feeling than content.
