Ponyo (2008)

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Tina Fey, Liam Neeson

***

Its unfortunately that I have to begin this review with such negativity but if anyone ever reads this please take into consideration the fact that it is a huge mistake to dub a foreign film into English. Never do it. Ever! It doesn't matter if Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett all agree to do it, it should never happen.

If you don't know... here's why. Even a dubbing done well (that is, one that if you didn't know was done, you wouldn't be able to tell) gives you a film in something other than the way it was intended to be shown. Imagine watching a color movie in black and white or vice versa. It might still be good but its not how its supposed to be. Ponyo lost a lot thanks to its translation to English. There is something about Japanese anime that doesn't seem to require good voice performances however, while I know very little about the Japanese language, hearing it in Japanese works perfectly... hearing it in English sound really strange. Its almost as if the translation was too direct, which is very much a possibility. Everything is just slightly off and it takes away from the real beauty of this story. The voices of Fey, Neeson, Damon and Blanchett didn't help either and only served as further distractions.

Miyazaki really is a master of anime. I can't explain what he does that makes his stories so magical (aside from the obvious magic within the story). His images are so simple, yet so sophisticated that they create perfect feelings of triumph, sadness, love and so on. I'm convinced I could have enjoyed this movie more with out the translation and without even reading subtitles. His whole story is in his visuals, the English dialogue was just distracting. But that aside, somewhere, there is a very meaningful story.

Ponyo is a fish...with a human face. She's the daughter of a one time human, who fed up with his fellow man moves into the sea and proclaims himself the protector of the earth, the sea and everything in it. Yet, he's kind of the villian. Despite Ponyo's desire to be a human, he does whatever he must to keep her from that life. But the love of Ponyo and Soske...two five year olds, is too much with which to combat. Love conquers all.

Its a take on Hans Christian Andersen's, The Little Mermaid but the "magical world of Disney" style is replaced with a much more powerful and intruiging magical world of Hayao Miyazaki.

This film did one thing beyond anything else and that is that it made me want to see it in Japanese. I'm certain not only that I'd like it more but that the magic that clearly exists would feel much more real or fantastical. The characters would be more motivated and the story would just work better... or should I say correctly.