AND LASTLY, SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT : "PONYO ON THE CLIFFS BY THE SEA"

Well, we have covered a pretty large spectrum as far as animations are concerned this week. Computer animation, stop-motion animation, adaptations from a favorite story book and completely original stories… So I feel personally that skipping “anime”s would be something almost tantamount to a crime. I have mentioned on many previous occasions that I love animes. And since this is famous director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest work, well… You have to take a gander… Chances are you have heard of it already actually, this one has become rather famous, but anyway, here we go for the ones who haven’t…
This story is actually an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Little Mermaid. Ponyo is a little fish who lives under the sea with her father Fujimoto who is a sorcerer. Fujimoto doesn’t particularly like humans, an understandable predicament considering what we’ve done to the seas of the world but I digress. Ponyo is young, and she wants to see the world. Thus, she escapes and is captured by a five year old boy called Sosuke. Now, when I say young, I mean it, Ponyo is the same age as Sosuke. And the boy and fish become very attached to each other very quickly. Ponyo is adamant she will turn into a little girl and be Sosuke’s proper girlfriend. But there is a problem. By leaving the sea to live on the land Ponyo has upset the entire balance of the planet. Is there a way to save both the planet and Ponyo’s happiness? Or will Ponyo have to go back to being another “fish in the sea”? (Ho ho ho)
Ponyo is, in a word, adorable. Absolutely sweet. The DVD cover tells us “Welcome to a world where everything is possible”. I can’t think of any better way to describe the world of Miyazaki. But when we say magic, don’t go thinking Lord Of The Rings or something. No, here magic is, well, not less grand but less showy. The details of the film are wonderful and there is a story in every single detail. I don’t know, but it may be the fact that every frame is actually hand drawn that gives the film itself such a unique spirit. I love anime and Miyazaki but was not sure before I started this one. People around me have fallen in love with Ponyo to such a degree that I couldn’t help feeling as if she was some sort of fad. I don’t like fads. I appear to also be a person of very little faith. Ponyo is as sweet and as original as any Ghibli creation. I mean sure, there are some rather obvious messages about pollution. But fair is fair, the messages are correct, so I reckon the best thing to do is to grit one’s teeth and bare it with good grace.