The hyperbole well tends to run dry when talking about Hayao
Miyazaki, the Japanese master animator whose films such as Kiki’s
Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro feature an unbeatable mixture
of noncloying messages, towering action set pieces, and, above all,
gentle humanism. Ponyo, Miyazaki’s first feature-length movie since
2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle, is, it must be said, several notches below
his aforementioned masterworks, which makes it only, oh, super-duper
wonderful. A loose retelling of The Little Mermaid, it makes big magic,
seemingly effortlessly.
Beginning with an awe-inspiring sequence featuring all manner of
hand-drawn undersea critters (Trilobites!), the story follows Ponyo, a
goldfish princess who yearns to experience life above the waves,
despite warnings from her sorcerer father that her actions will throw
the world out of balance. Throughout, Miyazaki’s patented combo of
charming emotional beats and large-scale scenes of nature in
chaos—check out that typhoon—remains intact, while the
American vocal dub supervised by Pixar guru John Lasseter puts the
likes of Liam Neeson and Tina Fey to good, nondistracting use. (Best of
all is Cate Blanchett, who imbues her role as the Goddess of the Sea
with plummy Marlene Dietrich tones.)
The spell cast by the film is so entrancing, honestly, that only
later does one realize that the essential theme of sacrifice which runs
through so many fairy tales is here almost entirely minimalized: The
heroine moves between worlds with barely a hint of an internal
struggle. Whether an oversight or a conscious decision to avoid
alarming juvenile audiences, it makes the narrative feel a little
slight. Such critical quibbling feels almost petty, though, when
compared to the sheer, blissful amount of goodwill the film generates.
Perhaps the best measure of Miyazaki’s talents is this: When the screen
briefly went black during the packed preview screening, it not only
happened precisely during a scene where the electricity went out in the
movie, but the majority of the kids in the audience stayed firmly in
their seats. Dude’s got powers. 
Yeah but where is it playing in Seattle? When does it start?
For those who don’t appreciate american celebrity voice-acting dubbed over their Miyazaki films, Scarecrow Video has the Japanese language DVD with English subtitles in stock as of a couple weeks ago fyi.
this film so good ,i have enjoy it several months ago
@2: When I saw the trailer last week, at the end I thought, “What the hell is this movie about?” All I knew were how many celebrities were in it, because that was the whole trailer. CATE BLANCHETT! LIAM NEESON! COME TO THIS MOVIE BECAUSE IT HAS PEOPLE YOU KNOW!
It’s playing at Metro right now in the U District (on the 44 bus route, or near the 49).
I took the wife and kids to see it over the weekend and we all loved it. The only people who would be scared are the parents over how much responsibility is given to the kids in the story.
Although I still don’t love English dubs, this one is much better than average. The voice talents are quality and they blend in with the dialog and story quite well. Mercifully, they seem to have gone for actors who really bring the characters to life rather than just for their name recognition.
uh, all animated films are dubbed…also, despite hipster love for Miyazaki, this IS a children’s film. How are non-Japanese speaking 5 year olds supposed to read subtitles?
Saw this Saturday. It’s very sweet, but definitely meant for very young children…it’s NOT Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.
The English voice actors were fine, except for Liam Neeson who was miscast.
thanks for the head-ups on dubbing, i’ll look for it on dvd because I studied Japanese for years both at the HS and university level and dubbed movies always loses the feeling that was intended for it in the movie’s native language. yea yea. call me a purist
This is a great movie for kids and I think most adults who aren’t assholes will enjoy it too.