Story (Spoilers!)
Ponyo opens on a man named Fujimoto doing science things with his daughter, Brunhilde and her younger sisters. Brunhilde hitches a ride on a jellyfish and is subsequently brought to shore in a bottle, which is found by Sosuke, a five-year-old boy. He breaks the bottle, cutting his thumb, and the newly-named Ponyo licks the blood, healing his wound. Fujimoto does not like this and recalls her to the sea. While in his submarine, she begins to force herself to evolve into a human, which Fujimoto dislikes due to his hatred of humans ruining the sea. He is unable to restrain her, so he cracks open a cold one without any of the boys, and Popeye’s her back into fish form. Fujimoto leaves to confront her mother, Cate Blanchett (who assumes her true form as a goddess), and she escapes, inadvertently drawing the moon way too close to the earth and flooding the planet, except for Sosuke’s mountaintop home. Ponyo, now human, is allowed to live with Sosuke and his mother deems it necessary to check on the old people she takes care of. This imbalance, Cate Blanchett says, can be resolved if Sosuke can pass a test. If not, she will turn into sea foam, as in the original version of The Little Mermaid, upon which this is based. Ponyo and Sosuke search for his mother until Ponyo’s magic runs out and she regresses to fish form. When this happens, Fujimoto takes them underwater to the old folks’ home and Cate Blanchett makes Sosuke prove that he will love Ponyo whether she is fish or human. He agrees, so Fujimoto takes them to the surface. Ponyo leaps out of her bowl, kisses Sosuke, turns into a human, and we roll credits.
My Review (Minor Spoilers)
The bulk of this film centers on unconditional love and the need for parents to accept that their children will grow up eventually. Fujimoto fears for Ponyo’s life above sea due to his observance that humans are dangerously stupid and loveless, especially for the environment. His fears are calmed, however, when Cate Blanchett makes him realize that Ponyo is growing up and should make her own conscious decisions based on love. As we have seen from the beginning of the film, she and Sosuke love each other, and she should be free to pursue that. So to that extent, love for each other is central to this film, and the theme that love of one’s child necessitates that they be free to choose is also central to it.
That said, this film is made for the main character’s demographic: five-year-olds. Thematically and visually, this film is both a wholly original take on The Little Mermaid and beautifully executed; however, this is one of the first times in my Miyazaki experience where it was made obvious that that man, that god, that absolute unit, does not work with a script. He allows his films, like Ponyo herself, to grow naturally out of his storyboarding into the final product that “it” wants to be rather than writing a script first. Sometimes that pays off for me personally, like My Neighbor Totoro, and sometimes it really doesn’t. I feel ambivalent toward this film. I don’t hate it, but it is undoubtedly my least favorite I have seen from him.
Despite this, I am not a five-year-old, nor did I see it when I was. I also don’t have children to apply the theme of this movie to. I don’t have a childhood attachment to this film, but I fully understand why some do. I wish I saw it as a kid because for what it is, a fundamentally children’s film, it is quite good. But as a 20-year-old, I feel nothing toward it. But I don’t base my scores on whether I like the film. That’s what my understanding of film language is for.
7/10
Hunter's Blog 