Movie Magic

(Call them spoilers if you want, but there are certainly movie details ahead.)

As we settled into our seats waiting for Ponyo to begin, the audience was treated to a trailer for The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s latest bid to revive their 2D animation division.

To do it, they seem to be cashing in on “classic” Disney tropes. There’s a princess, a prince, an evil magical guy, transformation of some sort, and the lead character ends up in a poofy white dress at the end. Watching the trailer, I did almost get excited for the retro feel the movie seemed to have going for it…

But then Ponyo began.

Look at that cute little face!

For those who don’t know the work of Ponyo’s director, Hayao Miazaki, he’s often called “The Walt Disney of Japan.” When he appeared at the San Diego Comic Con this summer to promote the movie, he got a standing ovation from over 6000 people in attendance. Yeah, this guy’s got a following. And seeing a film like Ponyo— especially after watching trailers for a movie grasping at old ideas to manufacture new magic —you immediately understand why.

The film opens on an ocean filled with thousands of jellyfish. Fujimoto, an eccentric looking wizard is safe in a bubble of air on his submarine, covered in sea life. He is dripping tiny drops of a magic elixir into the sea, which then become jellyfish.

And we meet his daughter Ponyo, who starts the story not as a princess, but as a goldfish with a human face.

When she sneaks away from her father to go exploring, she ends up in the hands of Sosuke, a five year old boy. She then falls in love with him—the way children love one another— and decides she wants to become human. However, she has to give up something to do it. Like her father tells her: “You can’t be human and magic at the same time.”

The animation is, like all of Studio Ghibli’s work; superb. It’s lush and well-designed, and the way the characters and creatures move is a pleasure to watch. A scene where Ponyo is running on top of huge waves shaped like fish is exhilarating, helped by a Ravel-inspired score by Joe Hisaishi.

I always roll my eyes a bit at celebrity voice acting. Sure, they have interesting voices, but having only your voice to rely on makes acting a different ball game. Surprisingly, it’s the kids that really shine.

Noah Cyrus (Mylie’s younger sister) is bright and hilarious as Ponyo, and Jonas brother Frankie is just right at Sosuke. Both have amazing comic timing to boot, though I’m sure we have the dub director to thank for that. The film truly lives or dies with its two young leads, and they carry it well.

It’s so nice to watch an animated film where the comedy comes from what’s happening between characters and not from sardonic asides to the audience. Miyazaki mines his laughs from Ponyo’s obsession with eating more ham, or a staring contest she has with an infant. There’s no sarcastic sidekick or bumbling villain. In fact, there’s no villain at all. And that includes the adults.

While in most western kids fare, there’s often an adversarial relationship set up between children and grownups, this isn’t the case here. Miyazaki’s grownups have a huge capacity for accepting the unbelievable. Almost immediately Sosuke’s mother Lisa twigs to the fact there’s something strange about Ponyo, but is accepting and kind. There’s no shady adult who wants to exploit her “powers” or destroy her out of fear. Miyazaki offers us a much more optimistic view of humanity, even while including scenes of trash and fishing nets that nearly swallow up Ponyo at the beginning of the film.

Many of Miyazaki’s films lean heavy on environmental themes. This one is no different, with a sub-plot of Ponyo’s transformation somehow throwing life or the oceans out of balance. Not exactly clear, but not exactly important either. The film is about magic, where we find it and how we find it, even when we are human.

Though Ponyo doesn’t quite reach the heights of Miyazaki’s masterwork Spirited Away, it’s a welcome addition to his canon, and if you have kids, a nice change of pace from the calculated and manufactured children’s movies parents are used to. Watching Ponyo, the moments I laughed were the same ones kids in the audience were laughing too. And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

- Kitsune

See Ponyo’s trailer here; the film opens August 14.