Ponyo

She said:

My brother and I are a big fans of Hayao Miyazaki, we almost always know when and what his next movie coming out. I was super excited about Howl’s Moving Castle, but it seemed like I was the only person that knew about even my friends in college (that’s when it came out) didn’t know it was coming out or have even heard of it, darn Disney for not advertising it till the last minute.

Now when I heard about Ponyo it was actually just cruising around the internet but then they didn’t have very much information about it. Okay I thought something more was going to come out on it.

Then last month while I was watching the Disney channel (it’s really my go to channel when there is nothing on the TiVo, well that and Food Network) they actually had a little short on it, because the bonus Jonas was playing the little boy’s voice.

To be honest it didn’t look that good…

But it’s by Miyazaki! It has to be wonderful… right?

Anyways I really really really wanted to watch it when it came out. Patrick… on the other hand was kind of on the fence about it. Well he didn’t want to see so I was okay not seeing because you know when you’re in a relationship you have to pick your battles.

Patrick did insist we go since I seem to really want to see it and it’s a movie he wouldn’t mind, so we ended up going on the Tuesday night after it came out.

The first half of the movie was really very Miyazaki, the visual affects were just wonderful. Though it was kind of confusing, which is okay that’s kind of Miyazaki too, he usually wraps it up at the end.

Then there was the second half of the movie… a lot stranger than the first half… and then it just kind of ended out of no where… without even attempting to tie any loose ends.

We think what happened was Miyazaki was going about making this movie doing his magic and when he realized his first half was so long and he was no where near finishing up the movie he just kind of was like “oh s***” and pulled something together for the last part of the movie.

All in all it was a good movie… very magic and visually pleasing I would totally recommend it to all my friends to see it… and I will probably want to watch it again when it comes out on video… but paying for it in the movie theaters again… probably not.

He Said:

Who here likes Mayaziki? Anyone? Who here even knows who Hayao Miyazaki is?

As an anime fan, it's been basically drilled in my head that I should love anything by Miyazaki. He's really considered a god in most anime crowds. Well, to be honest, I don't really see the appeal. Sure, I thought Princess Mononoke was pretty good. I saw Nausicaa and enjoyed it. I just don't see the "masterpiece" that the movie critics see. Granted, I'm not really an artsy type of person, so some of the meaning is probably lost on me. Ah, well...

Anyway, that brings us to Ponyo. Like the other Miyazaki films, the visuals and animations are incredible. There are tons of moving little pieces that fill up the screen. The animation is really smooth. The character designs are classic Miyazaki.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! Don't say I didn't warn you!

The story is kinda weird. Ponyo is a fish ... I think. Probably the weirdest looking fish I've ever seen. Her father is a creepy looking man who lives underwater. Or, he's formerly human. I'm not sure. Ponyo's mother is a beautiful sea goddess. Hmmm, creepy looking man plus beautiful sea goddess equals little, strange fish thingy. That makes sense to me!

At the start, Ponyo's dad is collecting some magic potions by... uh, actually I don't know what he's doing. Pointing some thingy at the fishes swimming by, I guess. He seems really upset about the humans who are messing up the ocean and seems to be plotting to destroy humanity . . . or at least he mentions it. Then Ponyo accidentally gets washed on shore with all the waste and trash dumped in the ocean by the human (environmental message, anyone?). She gets influenced by a boy named Sosuke and, by chance, tastes his blood. This apparently make her able to turn into a human girl with magical powers. She gets taken back by her father, but now wants to go back to land and see Sosuke again. She escapes, causing some dangerous magic potions to be spilled into the ocean. Oh my, what's going to happen???

So, the beginning of the movie start off well enough. There are the element of the Ponyo's dad wanting to destroy humanity. What are these potions? What was he doing at the beginning? Well, by the end of the movie, all these elements seem to have been dropped. When I walked out of the theater, Melody and I started talking about all these things that seemed to be important at the beginning, that were completely glossed over by the end. It felt a little incomplete.

That's not to say it was a bad movie, though. There is still a core story of friendship between Ponyo and Sosuke that is very sweet and cute. However, a lot of it just didn't make sense.

If you are looking for a cute movie for the kids, go and see it. If you are looking for more, or something that makes sense, you might want to wait till it comes out on video.

Breakdown :

She said : Nay
He said : Nay