The Case for Aquagirl

I have not had comments on my blog for quite a while now, it seems. Not surprising, considering I have not really said anything terribly controversial. Nor interesting either, I suppose! No problems – I am happy enough just to write. A future intended blog on the excellent series on the History channel, Racism: A History, may generate a response – but then again, maybe not.

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Short and sweet. That was the idea behind seeing Ponyo, a guaranteed good film from the masters of Japanese animated movies Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

It says something when the English voice cast includes actors of the calibre of the legendary golden girl Betty White, the legendary comedienne Lilly Tomlin, the luminous Cate Blanchett, the tall Liam Neeson, the hilarious Tina Fey, the “Matt Damon” Matt Damon and Noah Cyrus (probably Miley’s brother – I can’t be bothered googling to see if that connection is true, as it would just depress me); and that something is that Miyazaki’s films, like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, have attracted a lot of attention and a lot of acclaim. Of course, the Paramount was decent enough to screen the Japanese version of the film – with subtitles for people as ignorant of the tongue as myself (I know (excuse my spelling) arigato, sayonara, mushi mushi and onigiri but that is about it), as I always think there is something… more when watching a film as it was intended. Even (or perhaps especially) with an animated film, there are cultural nuances that are hard to translate by dubbing, with actors stamping characters with a Western style, a style that might not really mesh with the one that was intended.

In the end, I was not really prepared for Ponyo. Howl’s Moving Castle was a long movie with some themes for more mature audiences, and the young girl being turned into an old woman struck me as particularly poignant. So I was a bit surprised when Ponyo turned out to be entirely aimed at children. There is no dark undercurrent, no disturbing imagery, and everyone turns out to be rather nice in the end. It’s not even as dark as the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale (that I adore) from which this film draws a lot of its inspiration.

What there is though is a beautifully crafted story of a young boy and a magical fish that wants to be a girl. And I can’t say much more than that, as there isn’t a huge amount more. The story is simple, and while the cynic in me sometimes thought of the darker or more disturbing implications of some of what goes on, the film stays light and bright, with childish wonder and innocence and niceness, and with a strong streak of universally understood humour. Of course, the childish, innocent side got a bit too much for myself and the audience as the theme song started playing over the final credits, the subtitles telling us the lyrics were all about rubbing Ponyo’s tummy, which we all found sweetly amusing, if on a “this is slightly wrong” level.

Verdict: A beautiful film of childish wonder and brilliant animation (if you like the Miyazaki style), Ponyo is definitely one the kids will enjoy, though they would probably prefer the dubbed English version. 7 fish out of 10.