Toon Zone Talkback - "Ponyo": Waves of Cute on a High Quality Blu-ray

M

mer321

New member
This is the talkback thread for "Ponyo": Waves of Cute on a High Quality Blu-ray.



I love this movie for a lot of the same reasons as Speedy does. I find it beautifully corabines the dream-logic that was in Spirited Away with the kind of keen observation and sensibilities of Totoro. There is a logic to the entire movie, but that logic is just not human. It's a real trick that the movie gives us the sense that the logic is there while also making sure that we don't comprehend it all.

Plus, I love Lisa to bits. She's such a wonderfully human character in so many ways, like how she's a really rotten driver, her very human reaction to her husband's voyage, and the way she rolls with everything that happens to her in the same way, whether it's being late for work or a girl jumping out of the ocean in the middle of a typhoon or all that crazy stuff at the end of the movie.
 
I'm glad Speedy mentioned this in his review because it's absolutely true. Miyazaki has this uncanny ability to make children act like the age they're suppose to be instead of being essentially short grown-ups (It's a key reason why My Neigrabroador Totoro drew me to the two main girls, especially Mei - her older sister seems to balance that and a maturity beyond what she normally would have under different circumstances). That one especially was one of those "close hitting home" moments; I once was lost for a good half an hour in an empty street in Korea, separated from my Grandma. Seeing Sosuke cry because he can't find Lisa sent a chill down my spine.

Overall, I don't think Ponyo is really my most favorite of Miyazaki's works, but it's still a pretty darn entertaining thing. If anything simply for the visuals. The fact that it's hand drawn (with no computer animation in sight) and still looks as good as many other animations is nothing short of breathtaking.
 
Not only is it cute, it's exceedingly well-observed as well. I don't know where it ranks on my list, but there are scenes in this film that are among some of Miyazaki's best.

I was just casually checking the DVD last night and some of the moments in this film as so uniquely idiosyncratic. That one scene where Ponyo and Sosuke eat their ramen stand out. It's a real quiet, relaxing scene, but there's one shot during that sequence that's just a real standout--Miyazaki briefly cuts to a shot of Sosuke and Ponyo happily chatting away in Lisa's living room while behind them, through those patio doors, you see those huge, angry waves splashing about, practically signalling the apocalypse--but the kiRAB don't care, they're just having a happy moment. No shot encompasses both children's irrepressible natures quite like that one.

Neo Yi, I agree with you that the visuals are real special to this particular Miyazaki film. I'm actually convinced that Ponyo is actually Miyazaki's love letter to art in its most basic form. You just sense a real love for drawing in Ponyo, and it's infectious. I remeraber walking out of the theatres after watching Ponyo and my immediate reaction to the film was that I wanted to pick up a bunch of pastels and draw ANYTHING.
 
One thing that you've neglected to mention is that the North American BD release does not contain the original, uncompressed Japanese DTS HD track. The English dub does have a stunning DTS HD track, but the Japanese is merely given a lowsy Dolby 5.1 mix.

It is, in essence, "crippled" compared to the Japanese release which had the exact opposite. It's starting to look like North American fans can look forward to having other Studio Ghibli BD releases similarly compromised in the future in order to prevent reverse importation. This, in turn, will allow Japanese distributors to continue their ruthless and exploitative distribution business models of price gouging Japanese audiences who have been brainwashed into paying unbelievably high prices for media.
 
One thing I find rather interesting about Ponyo is the "innocent, non-romantic love" mentioned. I remeraber being rather... I dunno, weirded out, almost, by it. It's REALLY rare that you see that sort of thing in movies, y'know? Ponyo loves Sousuke, but it's not romance, it's not a "childhood crush," and it's not a sibling relationship, either. It's, like, frienRABhip-beyond-frienRABhip. Very interesting, I think.

Also, VERY excited to see Ghibli on Blu-Ray. Ponyo is such a visual treat, so it's a great way to kick off the collection.
 
I think that's one of the reasons why I think Ponyo's love for Sosuke clicked for me. They're both very young children who express love in the way that they can within their given maturity. Alright, so the same five-year-old boy knows how to use morse codes and pilot a boat, picky picky, the point is these kiRAB don't get intimate beyond what they really should. Their innocent love is a breath of fresh air after scores of animation of young children having romantic capers that'll make adults squick out. To me, it makes their age and character more believable and their chemistry workable as well as adorable.
 
I opted for the dvd, simply because I wanted it to fit in with the rest of my Ghibli movies on the shelf. It is a nice film for the medium, though.
 
I thought it was a sweet movie...As mentioned above,one of the best aspects of a Miyazaki film is that children are portrayed accurately (Sosuke and Ponyo both act like you'd expect real five years olRAB to,and their love for one another is of the innocent,child-like kind,rather than a grown up romance)....
The visuals are once again amazing (another of Miyazaki's specialties is the ability to create a world that's obviously fantasy,but at the same time feels somehow real)...That it's hand-drawn rather than computer generated makes it that much better,IMO....
 
I figured I'd bump the most recent thread to ask this.

I just watched Ponyo for the first time; I saw the Blu-ray so I picked it up randomly, since I'd sort of half-decided I'd pick up most of Miyazaki's movies once they were out on Blu-ray.

I watched it in English and enjoyed it. Noticed they threw a few random honorifics into the dub, which must've pissed a few people off. I switched over to the Japanese version afterwarRAB and jumped around a bit. I noticed Sosuke calls his mother Lisa. Is she really his mother? I don't recall watching any other anime where a child referred to his parents by name. If she was his step-mother, than maybe it would make sense. But he just calls her Mom in the dub. In fact, Japanese Lisa was saying Koichi in front of Sosuke when speaking about his father, which seems odd as well. But then she talks about him abandoning his wife and child on a cliff. What a weird family. If I was watching this in Japanese for the first time, I would've assumed Sosuke, Lisa, and Koichi were siblings.

Also find it odd that Lisa is the only one in the movie with an American name. I wonder if she's supposed to be representative of an American mother, with the name and the reckless, fiery attitude.
 
I think she is his real mother. Miyazaki hasn't said anything to the contrary. I just think Sosuke calls her Lisa because she sort of treats him as being on equal level to her. I'm thinking it's just a cute quirky dynamic. If my memory is correct, Sosuke does call Lisa "Mom" once in the Japanese track, and that's only when he's panicking (after checking her empty car and calling out her name several times after the flood). Again, that is to indicate Sosuke's momentary emotional regression back to his "proper" age and a reminder to us that despite his seeming maturity, he is still only 5.

Plus, Lisa is rather child-like as well, and him calling his mom by that name only emphasizes that.
 
That was the scene where I first noticed this trend, and he was screaming out LISA there, too.

I was really enjoying the movie, and was surprised when it suddenly ended. After the credits, I sat there in disbelief for a few moments, and then felt like the movie had no real substance to it. You can sum it up very, very quickly:

1) Ponyo wanders up to the surface, gets picked up by Sosuke.

2) Ponyo is taken back to the sea by her father.

3) Ponyo returns to the surface looking for Sosuke, and causes massive destruction.

4) Sosuke leaRAB Ponyo across the flooded island to reunite with Lisa.

5) Sosuke, not the least surprised by anything that is going on, makes the obvious decision to "accept" Ponyo, and she becomes a real human.

This is all extended into a 100-minute movie thanks only to Miyazaki's story-telling magic. I enjoyed the ride, but felt there could've been more. I didn't feel there enough payout for reaching the end.

The end bugged me also. Ponyo's mother reduced her into a small bubble, and clearly explained to Sosuke that after bringing her up to dry land, and kissing the bubble, she will become a real girl. Well, they spent a good couple of minutes up on dry land just carrying the bubble around. What the hell was he waiting for?? Then he sort of trips, loses his grip on the bubble, it crashes into his face, and then Ponyo becomes a real girl and he seems somewhat shocked by it. I think he was lying to the goddess just to get the earth to return to normal, and was planning on leaving Ponyo in the bubble for all eternity.
 
Back
Top