Sunday, April 19, 2009

Hayao Miyazaki's new animated movie " Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea " is a wonder !



"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is the title of Hayao Miyazaki - the genius Japanese animated movie director - last movie. It was released last year in Japan where Miyazaki is almost a god, and as usual the movie had a tremendous success. "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" will be released in the U.S in August, but it was released this week in France! In two words - well, three, actually - it's a wonder, and let me tell you why.

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is somehow inspired by the story of the Little Mermaid. Yes, that's right, the same story that inspired Disney's classic animated. But Miyazaki transform all of it in a Japanese tale, so i think we can say that the Little Mermaid inspiration is not that obvious. Which is not the problem, as Miyazaki's tale is wonderful.



Please note that from now on, as i am going to tell you more about the story, there will be some spoilers. If you want to avoid them, just look at the pictures and the trailer at the end of the article.

"Ponyo" is a 2D animated movie, just like in the good old days of animation. The very beginning of the movie is a gorgeous scene showing life under sea.




"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" tells the story of a 5 years old boy - called Suzuke - living with his mother on a house located at the top of a cliff. One morning, as he goes down on the beach to play with his little boat...



...he find - stuck in a bottle - a fish, half fish-half human who will be called "Ponyo", who also have magical gifts.



Ponyo - in fact a girl - is the daughter of Fujimoto - a kind of "sorcerer" living in the deep ocean who left the world of humans, disgusted by how humans keep destroying the sea's ecological system.



Her mother is a kind of Goddess of the sea.



Ponyo also have dozens of "little" sisters...



...all excited to see Ponyo's transgression of the undersea world rules.



Suzuke, the young boy, will try to keep Ponyo, feeding her - she loves ham! or playing with her...





Suzuke's mother watch all this closely...



...but Fujimoto the sorcerer will try to get Ponyo back undersea...

This is only the first twenty minutes of the movie, and from that point lot of great scenes awaits you, like a stunning typhoon-tsunami sequence, an animation wonder, and many other scenes that transform the movie in a waking dream, sublimated by the gorgeous score of Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's regular composer.



The whole movie is full of poetry and at first sight it seems to be an animated film for young children. But as always with Miyazaki it's more complicated than that. The ecological message is obvious and grown-ups will be amazed by the inside beauty of the movie, precisely coming from its incredible childhood's purity.

In a recent interview, Miyazaki explained why Suzuke, the young boy, is 5 years old: "It's a personal theory, i think that at 5 years old a young child is still at the border between human and god. When a baby is born he's godlike and then become ordinary, mortal, but individual..."




Ce service vous est apporté par Filmtrailer.com


Hayao Miyazaki, now 68 years old, keep saying that Ponyo is his last movie, let's hope not. How could we live without a new Miyazaki's masterpiece?



All pictures and french trailer video: copyright Studio Ghibli

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

J'ai été très deçu par le film. Je le trouve trop confus, on ne rentre pas l'histoire, trop "d'artifices" autour des personnages, l'animation parait deja vieille et on a l'impression que le film a été fait dans les années 80 (certains diront que ca fait son charme...). On est loin en tout cas des Toroto, Chihiro... aussi bien sur la narration, la réalisation, que l'animation. Dommage...

Anonymous said...

I've seen them all because I feel obligated, but Japanimation fails to impress me on any level. I'll take the Muppets-like humor of Astro Boy any day.

Anonymous said...

I would be truly sad if this was his last masterpiece but it looks amazing, this film. And anyone who does not respect this mans work, does not have any taste and should not be allowed to step FOOT into a movie theather ever again...

Tony Henderson of Spring Lake, MI

runner56 said...

i love his movies and i hope he never stops making films. its magical and unexpected with all that will blow u away with his masterpieces. good work!

Anonymous said...

Miyazaki is the highlight of my life, and to hear that this is his last movie is heartbreaking. That there are some people out there who would rather the "Muppets-like humor of Astro Boy" (see above) confuses me

chihiro said...

last movie...
NOOOO!!!
miyazaki san, ur my buddy, how could you do this to meeee!!!
(well, at least u end it all with a little mermaid movie,.. its amazing, cuz my fav movies since i was five have always been the little mermaid and spirited away..
and now heres ponyo..
kinda of a mix of the two!!!

- sad face, no more amazingly
weird yet awesome movie
... happy face, cuz ponyo comes out in theatres tommorow!!!

Anonymous said...

Saw the movie yesterday and it was fabulous, just like all of Miyazaki-san's works.
["Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" tells the story of a 5 years old boy - called Suzuke] Uh.. Wasn't his name Sosuke?

Anonymous said...

Its not his last movie. He has another one and it kind of is like the game tales of symphonia. About a boy names Alan and he has two personalities.

Anonymous said...

The movie is really good. If nobody likes it, then forget them! I'm pretty sure this isn't his last movie.

Anonymous said...

Please keep making the movies!!!!!!!!!!!! They are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! You are so talented!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Is this his last movie?! I hope not!

Destiny said...

I love all of Miyazaki's moives. Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro are two of my favorite moives ever. No movie maker with any amount of computer graphics or famous actors could make such imaginative and just plain wonderful moives, in my opinion.