PONYO is Mayao Hiyazaki's take on THE LITTLE MERMAID. It is a beautiful and fun anime from a visual genius.
Ponyo is a little goldfish who ignores her father's wishes and leaves home. She meets a five year old boy, Sosuke, and wants to be a human girl. In doing so, she lets loose a wild set of events
including teh oceans rising and the moon moving closer to Earth. Can Ponyo become a human girl or will the world suffer
because of what she wants?
PONYO is a delightful film and the English language track is
matched with a wonderful cast of voices (Liam Nesson is a delight as Ponyo's father Fujimoto). I would say families
can ejoy this film together. It has teh magic that some of the best animated films have. PONYO does have
some ambiguity to it as to who is right or wrong, but the film sometimes does have an awkward enviromental message which is
a little too forced.
SPECIAL FETAURES:
The first disc has a MEET PONYO featurette which has the producers
discussing how they adapted the filmf or English audiences (they got the scriptwriter of ET to write the English script for
the film).
The second disc features an interactive experience with ENTER
THE LANDS which gives info and quizes on various Miyazaki films. Then you have BEHIND THE STUDIO which looks at the
making of PONYO and the inspiration for it through various featurettes. Wrapping up of disc two extras is a storyboard
version of the film.
The first disc of the DVD is included in the Blu-ray combo pack.
FINAL ANALYSIS: PONYO is a fun and imaginative take on
THE LITTLE MERMAID. Fun for the whole family.
This DVD review is (c)3-8-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be
reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
