Ponyo

When I think about children and movies, it is hard to know where to start.   Recently I reviewed “Up,”  which I loved, and my sister asked if her two year old would like it.   I honestly didn’t know how to answer – what do two year olds like?   She took her daughter to the movie, but it didn’t go well; my neice was too busy looking around to follow what was happening on the screen; even a kid’s movie required too much focused attention for a 2 year old.  I wonder what would happen if they went to see “Ponyo.”   She may not be able to follow the story, but I think she would probably enjoy the movie anyway – the sights, the sounds, the colors.   Making a movie for a 2 year olds harder than it sounds; I think Miyazaki may be the only director who is really thinking about kids, about how they think and what they can process, and letting that inform his filmmaking.

But I don’t want to give the impression that “Ponyo” will hold no interest for adults, or older children, or that it’s plotless or shallow.   It is essentially a retelling of the Little Mermaid myth, except this time the mermaid and the boy are 5 year olds.   Naturally, and thankfully, all the vaguely disturbing sexual undertones in the Disney version are nowhere to be found here.   It’s a story about friendship, and also about two worlds, the places where they intersect, and the danger they present to each other.   It has a mild ecological flavor, but is primarily concerned with an amazing world and the amazing, sometimes magical, always mysterious things in that world.

Sosuke (voiced by Frankie Jonas) is a little boy who lives in a town on the sea.  His mother cares for elderly people while he attends kindergarten next door.   One day he finds, or catches, or saves, a little fish; he thinks it’s a goldfish, but it’s really a mermaid.  He names her Ponyo.   Her father, the mystical, reclusive Fujimoto (Liam Neeson) comes to find her and take her home, reminding her that the humans are dirty; their air and water is dirty.   Fujimoto seems to be human; as typical with Miyazaki, we only get hints and bits of his backstory.

But Ponyo is smitten with her new friend, and has magical powers of her own.  She breaks free from her father, with the help of her little sisters, and manages to change herself into a little girl.   She finds Sosuke on the eve of a great storm; her transformation, in fact, may be the cause of the storm.

A lot of the movie involves the storm, and the aftereffects of the storm; we get the feeling of two separate worlds, one on land and one under the sea, and the uneasy , often dangerous, mixing of the two.   Sosuke’s mother leaves in the middle of the storm to care for the people at the elderly home, and Sosuke and Ponyo must go find her once the storm ends, relying on Sosuke’s resourcefulness and Ponyo’s magic.    But “Ponyo” never feels like stereotypical kid’s movie “child separated from parent” tiredness; instead, it feel like a child, and companion, embarking on an adventure that requires bravery and persistence.

Because his movies are animated, distributed by Disney, and generally star children, one might think that all of Hiyao Miyazaki’s movies are kid’s movies.   And yeah, I guess that’s true, though movies like “Princess Mononoke” and “Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind” have more complicated plots and conflicted characters than most everything with an “R” rating.   Miyazaki makes movies for kids that appeal to adults, which is an accomplishment in and of itself; I don’t think anyone this side of Pixar does a better job of turning out quality animated entertainment that holds up over time.

So when I say that, with “Ponyo,”  Hiyao Miyazaki’s made a great movie for little kids, I guess I need to explain what I mean.   “Ponyo” has more in common with “Fantasia” than with “Bolt.”   It’s more interested with bright colors, beautiful images, and sequences that I can only describe as primal than it is with plot, character, and conflict.   It is an absolutely beautiful movie, and it wouldn’t make a bad screensaver.    When it comes out on DVD, I might just put it on mute and let it play, washing the room with color and soothing, gentle movement.