Drawing on classical fairytales like Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest Japanimated creation follows the adventures of Ponyo (Noah Cyrus), the girl-faced goldfish daughter of Guranmamare (Cate Blanchett), a sea goddess, and Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), a human-hating, embittered wizard who resembles an androgynous eighties glam rocker. Tired of life under the sea and under the watchful eye of her father, Ponyo escapes and befriends a young boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas). After she transforms into a human using Fujimoto’s magical potions, she reunites with her new friend, inadvertently causing a flood incited by her father’s wrath. Not nearly as multi-faceted as Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997) or Spirited Away (2001), Ponyo still manages to enchant with its rich color palette, painstakingly hand-drawn animation, and beautiful original score by Joe Hisaishi. Nevertheless, despite the imaginative world where goldfish-turned-girls can run on the crests of waves and toy boats transform into real-life seafaring vessels, some of the magic is inevitably lost in translation due to the talented yet overwhelmingly Westernized cast. (Liesl Swanbeck)
Opens Nationwide Friday, August 14th
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