Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea – Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008)

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki | 100 minutes | animation, family, romance, fantasy | Dutch voice cast: Valentijn Sohier, Lydia Algera, Frans Limburg, Hymke de Vries, Nathalie Haneveld | Original voice cast: Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Jôji Tokoro, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Yuki Amami, Kazushige Nagashima, Akiko Yano, Shinichi Hatori, Tokie Hidari, Rumi Hîragi, Emi Hiraoka, Tomoko Naraoka, Nozomi Ohashi, Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Hayao Miyazaki is the man in Japan. There he has been famous and loved for years as director of the most beautiful hand-made animation films such as ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ (1989) and ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997). Disney smelled money and produced his international mega-hit ‘Spirited Away’ (2001), which broke all records in Japan and also put Miyazaki on the map internationally as one of the best animators of our time. His latest animated film ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea’ immediately did well in Japan, grossing nearly $100 million in its first month of release (it was released in about five hundred cinemas!).

Miyazaki may have become a commercial cash cow for the Japanese economy, but he is also seen as an ambassador of Japanese (manga) culture and does not seem to suffer that much from commercial expectations. He invariably refuses to surrender completely to the digital age. Ponyo was made in a year and a half by a team of seventy people who, under the close watchful eye of the master himself, together made about 170,000 drawings. The final finishing was done with the computer, apparently you can’t get around that. As the fans of Miyazaki know, the familiar style and theme return time and again in his films. There is always a stubborn girl in the story, supported by a boy (or vice versa), they are always fairly young, they are (almost) always flown in, fantastic machines play a major role, as does the beautiful music, which is always romantically compelling. is, with a recognizable, recurring theme, usually sung by a woman. It’s all about fantasy, love and overcoming evil, usually shaped into ancient wizards or witches, who don’t necessarily look like that at first. Everything looks so beautiful and imaginative that you can just sit and watch the images breathlessly, without following anything of the story.

Ponyo is no exception, quite the contrary. Everything is as usual, only this time the intended audience seems a little younger. Especially because the main characters are very young this time. It must be said that Susuke also has a lot to offer for a five-year-old, but hey, maybe people grow up quickly in Japan. At the same time, the film is a bit on the long side for the little ones. They can marvel at the beauty, but things are so overwhelming and the plot twists and turns; at some point, the attention will inevitably wane, even in adults.

The threat of the water plays an important role in the story and despite the fairytale theme and the fairytale interpretation, the colors, the music, all the fantastic events, this film has quite a serious and oppressive undertone. After all, for Japan (and also for the Netherlands) that threat is quite real. In Japan people are very much affected by impressive storms and in the Netherlands the water hazard is a hot issue (we are more than five meters below sea level in many places). The main characters deal with it fairly laconic, but Miyazaki has drawn it in such a way that you can almost feel the water coming up to your chin, nice, but also quite scary. With that we have had the minuses and we can talk again about the genius of Hayao Miyazaki, who goes a bit over the top with ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea’, but at the same time proves that he has not yet found his superior in limitless fantasy and enviable craftsmanship. Watch the Dutch version with children!