Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Four years after the release of Howl's Moving Castle, Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki has finally released a new work, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. It is a completely hand-drawn animated feature that uses no computer graphics.
In a small town by the sea, five-year-old Sosuke lives high on a cliff overlooking the Inland Sea. One morning, he discovers a mermaid, while playing on the rocky beach below his house. Her head is stuck in a jar of jam and Sosuke rescues her and keeps her in a plastic bucket, naming her Ponyo. The two are fascinated with each other. But the near romance ends in tears, when Ponyo's father, a sorcerer called Fujimoto who lives under the sea, sends his wave demons to get her, forcing her to return to the ocean.
Determined to become a human and make her way back to Sosuke, Ponyo escapes, but not before emptying the Water of Life, Fujimoto's precious store of magical elixir, into the ocean. The result is huge storms and rising waters that make Sosuke's little town sink beneath the waves. Reunited amid the disaster, Sosuke and Ponyo go on a journey to find Sosuke's mother and to make Ponyo human.
Without using computer animation, Miyazaki has succeeded in making a film that feels both familiar and dynamic. He has paid special attention to the depiction of the sea and waves.
As always, the original score to Miyazaki's animated feature is a treat and composed by Miyazaki collaborator, Joe Hisaishi. Since the release of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in 1984, Hisaishi has composed more than 50 Japanese and foreign film soundtracks, including My Neighbour Totoro in 1988 and Princess Mononoke in 1997.
