Hello and welcome to How Do You Say Ghibli, where I’ll be reviewing each and every Studio Ghibli film, most of which I’ll be watching for the first time.
First up is Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, because that was the only Ghibli film available at my local library last week when I was struck by a sudden need to watch one. For some background, my experience prior to this consisted of watching Kiki’s Delivery Service about a year ago, and seeing Spirited Away back when it was in theaters. Okay, so, Ponyo: The Short Review: |
This is basically going to be Everything I Love About Ponyo, so on that note, let me get my grievances out of the way up front: the ending makes very little sense and is pretty anticlimactic.
Vague Spoilers: I get that Love Saves the Day, and have no problem with that, but the lack of tension was a problem. It seemed like the idea was “Will Sosuke still love Ponyo even if she’s a fish?”, but then they just straight up ask him that, in the movie, and he’s like “yeah sure.” There’s no choice being made; it just felt a little cheap, especially after all the business with the flooding and the moon about to crash into the earth and ancient fish taking over the planet. End of Spoilers Also? The end credits song is bafflingly terrible, out of nowhere. The rest of the soundtrack is great, so I have no idea where that came from. So I was a little underwhelmed at the very end. Good thing everything else about this movie is perfect. 1. The Animation I mean, you guys don’t even need to read this one, right? It’s a Studio Ghibli movie, the animation is amazing. Highlights include Ponyo running in the storm, any time the mini-Ponyo fish are on screen, any time Lisa cooks anything, and a slow-motion jump-for-it shot that should’ve been included in the Voyager Golden Record instead of the Fibonacci sequence or whatever. 2. The Casting This is probably the best use of Liam Neeson in any movie, ever. His gravelly voice is perfect for the well-meaning Ocean Wizard who is dying to be taken seriously by anyone, ever. I guess he’s technically the villain? You’ll only ever be happy to see him on screen, though. |
Tina Fey is also perfectly cast, bringing us a great mom who is caring, funny, and obviously doing a great job raising her son, but who is also allowed to be frustrated and briefly (and endearingly) immature. Also, I love how her crazy (good) driving is just worked into the movie without feeling like it needs to be more than an additional character trait.
Also, Mat Damon’s in this movie? For literally three whole speaking lines???? ?????? Fun fact: Ponyo is voiced by Noah Cyrus, aka Miley Cyrus’ younger sister. Sosuke is voiced by Frankie Jonas, the Jonas brother who wasn’t a Jonas Brother, who frankly does a fantastic job here. 3. Sosuke Sosuke gets his own number, because he’s great for reasons beyond Frankie’s excellent voice work. Before Steven Universe was a twinkle in Rebecca Sugar’s eye, here was a young boy protagonist who saves the day, not by being clever, or brave, or strong, but by being kind. Seeing a male protagonist get to show emotions that aren’t Mad or Snark is just so dang refreshing. He cries openly a few times during the movie, and no one ever tells him to stop or to grow up. I felt for him, too; this movie does a brilliant job of capturing the feelings of childhood, good and bad. |
4. The Scene Where Sosuke’s Dad Doesn’t Come Home
It’s weird that this scene is my favorite, because it has essentially no impact on the rest of the movie. Sosuke has just lost his still-just-a-goldfish friend Ponyo, and he’s really bummed about it. His mom, on the other hand, is excited for his dad to get home (he’s the captain of a ship), only to hear from him that he’s gone out on another run and won’t be home that night. A lot of the credit for this scene's brilliance should go to Tina Fey’s pinpoint accuracy in voicing this young mother who’s just so excited for her husband to get home and subsequently pissed when he doesn’t; the fact that this scene contains some of the aforementioned amazing food animation doesn’t hurt either. Come to think of it, this scene also involves Sosuke comforting his mother, likening his father’s failure to keep his promise to his own failure to keep his promise to keep Ponyo safe, demonstrating a remarkable empathy for a five-year-old boy. So basically, this scene, although extraneous to the plot, is a microcosm of all the things I love about this movie. The only thing it’s missing is Liam Neeson. Also, there’s a bit where Sosuke’s dad sails past on his ship, and the three of them have a conversation in Morse code with a flashlight? It’s incredibly good. This is a wonderful movie. It’s the kind of children’s movie that makes me wish I had kids so I could watch this with them. Next up: NausicaäaäaAaAAAAAH GIANT BUGS Alternative review titles:
One last note: While google searching for that shot of fujimoto, one of the google search suggestions was “ponyo fujimoto x reader fanfic.” Good night, and good luck. |