Featuring the voices of: Hiroki Doi, Yuria Nara, Tomoko Yamaguchi (Japanese version); Kam Ching-tung, Jacky Wong Shu-hei, Kay Tse On-kay (Cantonese version)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Category: I (Japanese and Cantonese versions)
With its simple storyline, cute protagonists and a near absence of the complex cultural symbolism he is known for, Hayao Miyazaki's first film in four years seems to be one of the most child-friendly in the 68-year-old animator's career. But Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is more nuanced than appearances suggest. Beneath the straightforward narrative lies a frenzied mixture of inspiration, with Miyazaki blending his own aesthetics - simple pastoral scenery set over Joe Hisaishi's sweeping musical score - that is as much inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid as it is by Richard Wagner's Rings cycle, and traditional Japanese woodcut art.
Combined with Miyazaki's rejection of computer-generated imagery - this animation is entirely hand-drawn - Ponyo is at once warm, charming and utterly frantic. In the film's opening sequence, for example, Ponyo, who begins the film as a baby fish, is seen making her way from her deep-water home to the surface of the sea, with the hope of catching a glimpse of the human world, only to find herself swept up by a trawler and stuck in a glass jar.
In 10 dialogue-free minutes, the film conjures up scenes which could rival Jean Painleve's underwater documentaries or WALL-E. Hearts will melt at the endearing view of Ponyo using a jellyfish as her cot, sweetly dozing on her way to the human world.