Monday Review: Ponyo

I'm definitely a sucker for Myazaki films. One of my all-time favorite movies is still Spirited Away... aside from the beautiful memories I have surrounding its USA release, I still think it's Myazaki's best film... just so incredibly gorgeous.

Last week I went to see his latest film, Ponyo. It's about a little fish who wants to become a human after a little boy saves her from the litter that almost killed her (Myazaki is big on environmental themes). She has to defy her father, a former human who helps maintain the balance of the waters on earth, who would prefer she remain in the sea with him. After causing a huge upheaval in the structure of the planetary functions, the little boy accepts the charge to truly love Ponyo as she is (fish or human) granting her the power to stay human and grow up with him.

That is pretty much all that happens.

But, that is the Myazaki way. He gives you a very simple story and makes it as real as possible. He wants you to be able to relate despite the fantastic elements of the story. He'll add little details to every scene... the way a little kid likes to hoard and loot their stuff, the crazy way some people drive, the way a disappointed mother and wife of a man in the service sometimes loses it, the relief a mother feels when she has a smart, sensitive little boy to cheer her up, etc. One of my favorite of these moments happens when Ponyo has turned into a human and has her first meal. Sosuke's mother makes noodle soup in these bowls that looked a lot like the ones my grandmother used. She poured hot water over the hard noodles and covered the bowls with the matching lids. Sosuke instructed Ponyo that it takes three minutes and he smiles as he waits while Ponyo fidgets with impatience. These sorts of human realities run rampant in all of Myazaki's films so that you feel as though you are in the same position as these people (or have been at one point or another).

In the beginning, Ponyo is a red goldfish who just wants some time to herself sunning on the top of a jellyfish... now, for those of you who have been stung by jellyfish, I don't mean to rub it in... but I have been fascinated with jellyfish for years. There's something about the way they glisten and dance in the water... such a peaceful image for something so potentially harmful. The very start of the movie is this amazing display of all kinds of fish. Gigantic ones, tiny ones, squids, octopi, crustaceans... it's a visual feast of sea life. I could probably watch the beginning of the film over and over again just to see the mini universe of fish.

Ponyo gets in over her head. Almost literally. As a fishing boat is collecting fish, it also drags up the litter, the pollution, that humans have dumped into the waters. Ponyo gets her head stuck in a glass jar as the net drags along the shallow sea floor. She helplessly floats to shore where a little boy named Sosuke sees her limp body dangling from the jar. He takes off his shoes and wades into the shallow water to pull her out. He's unable to simply pull her from the jar, so he breaks the glass with a rock cutting his finger. He realizes two things after this incident: Ponyo licks his bleeding finger, so Sosuke is relieved to see that she is alive. Later, after he takes her home and places her in a bucket of water, he notices that his wound had healed completely.... which is the first thing to alert him to the idea that Ponyo is a magical creature.

While Myazaki has added elements of fantasy to this scenario, it feels very familiar to me. As young children, I bet a lot of us believed that our first pets needed us, loved us, and perhaps had powers known only to us. This is going to sound absurd, because it is, but I had a tarantula that I believed had feelings for me based on "our dance". I would place my two pointer fingers on the glass aquarium, and he would lift his two front legs to meet them. If I moved one finger, he moved his leg with it. If I moved the other finger, the other leg moved with it... and so on. He was probably agitated or hoping I was a part of a flesh-toned bug he could eat... but at the time, I thought we had this mystical connection that I didn't even understand.

Ponyo sees a whole new world with Sosuke... and vice versa. Outside the vastness of the ocean, she prefers the delicate, domestic details (and food) of human living. Her father manages to steal her away and lectures her about the humans... what they've done to the planet... and how she would have to give up her magic powers if she decides to join their race. He subdues her temporarily, but her determination results in her learning to grow legs, arms, feet, and hands. She departs from the waters looking like a human and goes in search for her friend on the surface.

Problem is, her departure from the sea disturbs the serene equilibrium her father works hard to maintain. The moon moves closer to earth and the waters grow taller, wilder, and more violent. Soon, most of the island is covered in water. Sosuke worries for his mother who has gone to help the elderly in a care center across town (Myazaki probably reminding us of the value of the elderly). He and Ponyo go in search for the mother, after the storms calm down, using Ponyo's magic and Sosuke's practical skills (brave little man lets her sleep after the motor in their magically grown boat dies and gets in the water kicking his legs to propel the kid-sized vessel forward). Each of them show each other portions of one another's world... as though only by combining their knowledge would they be able to find Sosuke's mother.

It's a happy ending with the order restored and Ponyo receiving her wish to become human and grow up with her friend. Maybe this sounds like a light version of The Little Mermaid... if it is, I like this better. My only complaint, I think, is that Myazaki sort of lets a signifcant theme go. His advocating for being kinder to the planet gets left behind in a few grumbling lines from Ponyo's father. It might have tied it up better if there was some deal proposed... if Ponyo were given some task maybe to teach people to clean up their messes or restore health to the waters. Then the ends would be neatly tied. But, as it is, the little girl fish gets her way and keeps her feet... and whatever. That's cute, uplifting, and something I can feel comfortable showing to children.

(Images from www.newyork-tokyo.com, www.chinapost.com, http://wearemoviegeeks.com, http://moviesmedia.ign.com)