Ponyo

Today is 4/20, a day that makes me wish I smoked marijuana, but alas, I do not. Oh, well. I kept to myself today. Drove for a few hours (just to drive, it's a hobby of mine), took a nap in the sunshine and fresh breeze, woke up to a growling stomach (I forgot to eat all day, again), ordered cashew chicken, brought it home, and put a movie on to watch. Which movie? Ponyo, of course. I can't even wait till the end of the animated film to talk about it. It is based off of Hans Christian Anderson's original story The Little Mermaid. With that title, you can already grasp an idea of how the movie flows, (no pun intended.) I couldn't believe how many elements the movie possessed. From the voice casting, the mixing of Japanese drawing styles, the script, and the tiered leveled themes. I am dually impressed, and it hasn't even finished yet.

To begin, it starts very slow. Painfully, and even quietly so. I was getting the sinking feeling (again, no pun intended) it was going to be one of those movies, with barely any dialogue. However, within a few minutes, the beginning credits finish and the movie speeds up in a building crescendo of a span of ten to fifteen minutes. Ponyo is one of the many fish-children of a man that lives in the ocean on a boat. She manages to run away, or rather swim away, on the back of a jellyfish. She ends up on the coast where a little boy finds her trapped in a mason jar and saves her. He claims she is a goldfish and puts her in his sand bucket with water and takes her home with him. He lives with his mom in a house on a top of a hill, and his dad is always away at sea. Meanwhile, her ocean father, voiced by Liam Neeson ventures onto dry land to find her. I must comment how ironic it is that Liam Neeson has fallen once again into the "father finding his daughter" character, especially since he recently finished starring in the acclaimed Taken.

The scripting was inventive, the characters engaging, and even if bordering cheesy, is enjoyable. It isn't too long of a movie, but definitely running on the longer side. It is chock full of touching moments that in the simplicity of it, you realize how profound the parallels are. There is a scene where the boy loses Ponyo, as he calls his goldfish, and he's extremely sad. His mom tries to console him with the fact his father will be home that night. He does cheer up, but then his dad calls to say he can't make it because he has to go finish one more catch of fish. The mom gets upset, and the boy trying to console his mom tells her, don't worry, I know Dad breaks his promises a lot, but he loves us, and will come home. He then wonders out loud to himself, I hope Ponyo is o.k. I hope she doesn't think I've abandoned her; I love her and will find her. The mom sits up and looks at her son and hugs him and tells him how smart he is; and that, Ponyo will be ok, and of course she knows he loves her. The fact that the two characters in love are children makes up for the fact that at times it becomes cheesy. It captures the honesty and innocence we have as children, and that most of us lose on the way to adulthood. I will watch it again, when I'm in the mood for something light and sweet to watch.