崖の上のポニョ
Japanese Title: 崖の上のポニョ (Gake no Ue no Ponyo)
English Title: Ponyo on the Cliff by Sea
Release Date:
Japan … July 19, 2008
United States … August 14, 2009
Australia … August 27, 2009
United Kingdom … February 5, 2010
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Running Time:
100 minutes (Japan)
103 minutes (US)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by: Toshio Suzuki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Official Website (jp): www.ghibli.jp/ponyo/
Official Website (us): disney.go.com/Ponyo/
Sypnosis: (Credit to wikipedia) Contains major spoiler!!!
Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Gake no Ue no Ponyo), also known as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is a 2008 Japanese animated film by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is Miyazaki's eighth film for Ghibli, and his tenth overall. The plot centers on a goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke, and wants to become a human girl.
The film has won several awards, including the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. It was released in Japan on July 19, 2008 and August 14, 2009 in the US and Canada, where it reached #9 in the box office charts for its opening weekend.
The plot is centered on a fish-girl who lives in an aquarium in her father's underwater castle with numerous smaller sisters. When her father takes her and her siblings on an outing in his four-flippered submarine, she is driven by a desire to see even more of the world and swims away. She ends up stranded on the shore of a small fishing town, and is rescued by a boy named Sōsuke. After taking a great liking to her, Sōsuke names her Ponyo and promises to protect her forever. Meanwhile, her father, Fujimoto, is looking for his daughter, upset that she ran away and believes the humans kidnapped her. He calls his wave spirits to return Ponyo to him. Sōsuke is heartbroken by this, and goes home with his mother, Lisa (or "Risa" in some translations), who tries to cheer him up, but to no avail. Ponyo and her father have a confrontation, where Ponyo refuses to let her father call her "Brunhilda". She declares her name to be Ponyo, and voices her desire to become human because she has started to fall in love with Sōsuke. Her father silences her with difficulty and goes to summon Ponyo's mother. Meanwhile, Ponyo, with the help of her sisters, breaks away from her father, and uses his magic to make herself human. This causes an imbalance in the world, which in turn results in a huge storm. Riding on the waves of the storm, Ponyo goes back to visit Sōsuke. Lisa, Sōsuke, and Ponyo stay the night at Sōsuke's house, hoping the storm will be over, whereupon Lisa leaves the house to check up on the residents of the nursing home where she works.
Granmamare, Ponyo's mother, arrives at Fujimoto's submarine. Fujimoto notices the moon has come out of its orbit and the satellites are falling like shooting stars. Granmamare declares that if Sōsuke can pass a test, Ponyo can live as a human and the world order will be restored. If he fails, Ponyo will turn into sea foam. Sōsuke and Ponyo wake up to find that most of the land around where the house has been covered by the ocean. Lisa has not come home yet, so with the help of Ponyo's magic, they make Sōsuke's toy boat life-size and set out to find Lisa. While traveling they see ancient extinct fish swimming, such as the Gogonasus and Licosus. After landing and finding Lisa's empty car, Ponyo and Sōsuke go through a tunnel. There Ponyo loses her human form and resumes the form of a fish. Sōsuke and Ponyo are taken by Fujimoto into the ocean and down to the protected nursing home where they're reunited with Lisa and meet Granmamare, both of whom had just had a long private conversation. Granmamare asks Sōsuke if he can love Ponyo even if she is a fish or human. Sōsuke replies that he "loves all the Ponyos". Granmamare then allows Ponyo to become human once Ponyo kisses Sōsuke on the surface. The film ends with Ponyo jumping up and kissing Sosuke, turning while still in the air into a little girl.
Personal Review:
さすが宮崎駿様です！！
Another big hit from Hayao Miyazaki sama.. Ponyo is a very cute animation movie once again from the biggest Japanese animator known internationally. The animation was superbly nicely done. You can always feel the Hayao Miyazaki-ness from each of the frame. The touching story about a little boy's mysterious adventure ever since he met this little "goldfish". The scenes in the movie was full of beautifulness of the sea. Every scene was nicely done with details we can't really see in other animation movie now a days.. The music also very much perfectly suitable for the movie. The ending was really cute!
If you love Hayao Miyazaki's past works, this is something you definetely can not miss!!
Personal Rating: ★★★★★