I love Ponyo
Sun, February 28, 2010 at 20:32 
I forgot to post this one.
It was my daughters inset day the other week, so as I had a few spare day's holiday I dutifully took a day off to spend some quality daddy/eldest daughter time together.
I decided to offer a few activities to her. She chose the ice skating as predicted as she had been watching the 2010 Olympics and also liked on the odd occasion, the dancing on ice programme on terrestrial TV.
But secretly I had checked the film times and planned to take her to the cinema to see the underdog film of the half term holiday called Ponyo.
Thankfully I had listened the Mark Kermodes comments on the film and was sure I could convince her this was not another hollow Hollywood animation in the vein of Bolt etc and was more captivating.
We sped from the ice rink in record time to the most expensive multiplex cinema in the area. Gun Wharf Quays Vue Cinema.
Armed with £20's worth of refreshment (crap) we quickly passed the ceiling high posters of Wolfman which created a barrage of questions from my daughter about "that film is about a man who is a wolf isn't it dad" to screen number 10 and an audience of 10 people.
We sat down just in time to see an advert about child abuse. I swear the gods were against me that day.
Firstly I need to make sure my daughter does not get nightmares about people who turn into wolves and next I am readying myself for light explainations about child abuse and how there are some people who abuse litle children, thus causing more nightmares.
Crying out loud I just want to huddle up, consume to some unknown pork substance in a roll and wash it down with a large cup of diet nastiness whilst managing to watch my first Anime on the big screen.
The film is about a boy who finds a goldfish (Ponyo) that turns into a girl and the adventures of the two as they avoid Ponyo's fathers wishes to stay in the sea with the other brothers and sisters of Ponyo. Yes bizzare I know.
I was not let down.
Although I have not seen Hayao Miyazaki's other work which I am led to believe is just as impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I mean I really was awe struck by the tale, the animation and the draw into the simple plot.
It has been a while since I have seen Anime, but it all flooded back to me. The styling of the animation was very simple and soft. There was no striving to try and accurately recreate real life a'la Pixar.
You very quickly accepted the weird and wonderful world Hayao Miyazaki had created. Its weirdness and slight departure from real world.
I instantly wanted to be the little boy living with his mum on the cliff top house running down the path to sail his boat on the ocean. It was all very idealic and allowed you to forget about real life for the duration of the film.
My 5yr old daughter also enjoyed it and was not bored in the slightest compared to seeing other films like Bolt or Monsters vs Aliens, which although visually were a lot more full on tended to not hold my daughters attention so much. In fact she asked no questions at all about what was going on in the film. She just accepted it.
My advice live a little forget the normal Disney fare (of course Disney have Ponyo in the arsenal) and let go and slip into the world of Ponyo. You will not feel the 101mins.
Reader Comments (2)
Jap animation has some amazing films out there. Sift throught the robots, demons and gore and there are some great childrens films.
My Neighbourhood Totoro
Howls moving castle
are two that are very good and child friendly.
Worth adding to your love film list.
What was the one with the horses. I shall take note and add to my lovefilm.com list. Thanks for the tip