DISNEY - PONYO(2008)
Another Disney presentation of the great Miyazaki!!
Really aimed at the younger set, this is still quite cute
even for adults!! B
A review from Amazon:
As a long-time fan of Studio Ghibli and especially Hayao
Miyazaki films, I went to the film right on the opening day.
When I went out of the theater I had this strange feeling
that something was missing, this "magical" feeling I was
experiencing in all Miyazaki films before, but I couldn't
say why it failed this time. After I thought about the other
Ghibli movies, I may know the reason: this film had most
of the elements of a great Miyazaki anime: cute characters,
wonderful key animation, a great soundtrack composed
by Joe Hisaishi and the warm story telling giving you the
feeling of watching a high quality Japanese animation film.
However, two elements were lacking: a deep story and
dramaturgy. The purpose of this film was obviously to
entertain small children with a simple story line as in case
of "Totoro", so a complicated story as been told in "Spirited
Away" or "Princess Mononoke" is not really necessary, but
on the other hand, this story was simply too superficial.
I could not connect to the main characters, because there
was no character development, dramatic scenes were only
limited and did not last very long. I really hate to give only 7
stars for a Miyazaki film, because I would give 10 stars to
all previous movies right away, but this time it was simply
not this wonderful "ghibli experience". - dave-it