Ponyo

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (2008) Starring: Noah Lindsey Cyrus, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas

Oh, ouch Netflix Instant only had the dub on Instant Watch.  They really should give options for this sort of thing.  That said, the dubbing here certainly could have been worse.  What I can never understand with studios when doing vocal casting is the weird insistence on using child-actors for acting roles.  That has succeeded maybe once in the history of animation, and that was the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  I also don’t really understand the need for celebrity casting at all in a film whose marketing is already limited with only select theaters getting it, but WHATEVER DISNEY!  Clearly, you do not have the best decision-making record in Hollywood.

To change gears and shift the focus over to the good things in Ponyo is enormously easy: Studio Ghibli has crafted another little beauty of a film, creating an especially gorgeous underwater world.  Sosuke (Jonas) [SIDEBAR: I'm sooo glad they made sure to pronounce the Japanese names right!] lives in a small seaside community, in a more-or-less self-sufficient house.  When he goes down to the water before school one day, he finds a goldfish and names her Ponyo (Cyrus).  However, by giving her human food and tasting human blood, via a small cut on Sosuke’s hand, Ponyo is able to develop human attributes.  After being re-captured by her father, Fujimoto (Neeson), Ponyo makes a break for it in order to become human, causing catastrophic weather along the coast.

Storywise, it’s certainly not one of Ghibli’s better fare, but since it was described to me as Super Environmentalist, I was pretty surprised to see how little environmentalism played into the plot.  If anything, it was much more subtle and kept in-theme with other products by Ghibli, and it melded nicely with the adaptation of The Little Mermaid fairytale.

It is cuter-than-cute and I was able to write off the weird inexplicable stuff as just that–weird and inexplicable.  Such as when the fish that should be long extinct have resurfaced with the high waters in the second half.  There isn’t really a point to it, besides to show how the waters have begun reclaiming the land.  The animation in those scenes is just so pristine that I didn’t care– leaves on the trees were as visible as the fish floating under them.

The real issue I had with Ponyo was the rushed resolution.  Well, more like all-over pacing issues.  While we’ve got a fairly slow introduction to the characters and the crazy weather inspires a really dramatic car ride, there’s a slow aftermath where not much happens.  They’re on a boat and greet others who are on boats, and it does not seem like the disaster it would be, THEN BAM RESOLUTION!

It’s fun and it’s pretty as hell, but it’s not the best Miyazaki film.

 

Howl’s Moving Castle

dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2004) Produced by Studio Ghibli.  Voices of: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura

When I think of anything Miyazaki, I think about that superb animation style.  It’s unique, even in the world of anime, and while there are scenes full of detail, we also have rather simple character design.  If there’s something wrong with Howl’s, it’s certainly not going to be how it looks on screen.

This was the first theatrical release by Miyazaki after he won the Oscar for Spirited Away.  It had very important vocal talents brought in for the English dub, although a relatively limited release compared to other Disney-related fare.

Probably the biggest Miyazaki friend I know, Angela, pointed out the clear weakness in Howl’s Moving Castle.  Which isn’t so much of a problem, as how you approached the story.  I had read the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, while she had seen the movie first, and I came to the conclusion that the book is much better since it has the chance to explain more of the plot and Howl’s character was more interesting and Sophie had her own magic powers.

Angela preferred the film because it’s still a Miyazaki movie and the visuals are beautiful.  The music is absolutely gorgeous!  The characters are more cute, etc etc.

Which brings up a question about seeing the movie or reading the book first for adaptations?  I saw the trailer for Never Let Me Go today ignoring Keira Knightley and thought “That’s gorgeous! I should… read the book?”  Regardless of how many adaptations are made, I think the first time you come in contact with a story ends up being the yardstick all other adaptations get measured to, including the original material.

This review is inevitably tinged by the fact that I had decided to read the novel first, which is excellent.  Diana Wynne Jones is one of the master fantasy writers alive and the novel has some of the best subtle hints and build ups for the big reveal at the end.  It’s absolutely fantastic, but a lot of it I understand can’t be as well expressed through film.

So for the animation?  Superb.  Music?  Some of the best I’ve heard.  Actual Plot?  Stripped down from the original, unfortunately, which ends up feeling like they were cutting corners and characterizations.