“Ponyo”, the latest animated masterpiece from legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, excels in entertaining both cynical adults and bright-eyed adolescents.
Miyazaki is responsible for many critically acclaimed animated films such as “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Princess Mononoke”, and the Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature, “Spirited Away”.

However, “Ponyo” seems to evoke Miyazaki’s earlier, more youthful works such as “My Neighbor Tortoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service”.

Based on Hans Christian Anderson’s beloved fairy-tale, “The Little Mermaid”, the story is portrayed by Miyazaki with a much sweeter, lighter tone. The film begins with Ponyo, a sort of magical goldfish, escaping from her underwater home to travel to the shore for the first time. There she meets and befriends a small boy named Sosuke, who quickly learns that Ponyo isn’t an ordinary goldfish after she magically cures a scrape on his finger.

After Ponyo is retrieved by her father (the ruler of their aquatic world), a series of cataclysmic events are triggered by her own transformation into a human, upsetting the balance between land and sea. This imbalance leads Ponyo and Sosuke on many adventures through both worlds.

Truly, Miyazaki’s masterful use of animation is utterly breathtaking. The story unfolds almost like a picture book, with gorgeous scenes filled with myriads of colors and intricately drawn characters. A particularly stunning scene includes Ponyo, in human form, sprinting across waves of the stormy sea, as the waves morph into massive forms of fish.

As the sea rises in search of the missing child, it floods Sosuke’s town, revealing remarkable views of prehistoric creatures eerily gliding along sunken streets. Clearly, demonstrated in this film particularly, Miyazaki’s artistic vision is top notch.

The English-dubbed “Ponyo” includes a star-studded, talented cast of voices. This includes Liam Neeson as Ponyo’s father, Cate Blanchett as Ponyo’s brilliantly animated goddess-mother, and Tina Fey as Sosuke’s mother. New voices include Frankie Jonas as Sosuke and Noah Cyrus as Ponyo, both siblings of Disney stars – the “Jonas Brothers” and Miley Cyrus.

Much like a story-book tale, the film expresses beautiful, subtle messages. Most notably is the theme of motherhood. Sosuke’s mother sympathetically acts as a single parent while her husband is away as Captain of a ship.

The bond between Sosuke and his mother strikes a chord in the hearts of viewers as they face troubles. Ponyo’s mother, the brilliant and all-powerful goddess of the sea, exhibits a profound presence, fully understanding her daughter’s wish to be human as her husband could not.

“Ponyo”, truly, is a stunning visual feast. With a plot that has both subtle complexity and delicate simplicity, “Ponyo” never fails to entertain a wide range of ages. Miyazaki, as expected, gets everything right in this light-hearted, beautiful film.