Ponyo - The Great Adventure by the Sea

Even if his style seems rather old-fashioned, hardly any other artist is as groundbreaking for contemporary animated films as the Japanese Hayao Miyazaki. The director, who once wielded the pencil for animated series such as "Heidi", has in recent years with films such as "Princess Mononoke" or "Chihiro's Journey to Wonderland" repeatedly created worlds that are rooted in reality, but still have a tremendous magic and imagination. And that's exactly what he's managed to do with his free adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid".

In the middle of the ocean lives a little goldfish girl who dreams of learning about the world on the surface of the sea. Her father, the wizard Fujimoto, wants to prevent this at all costs. But the little fish girl manages to swim to the surface, where she is found by five-year-old Sosuke and christened Ponyo. Sure enough, she then transforms into a little girl and explores the world on land with Sosuke. But the powers she has unleashed through her transformation upset the balance of the ocean, causing a terrible storm that threatens to destroy Sosuke's home village...

"Ponyo - The Great Adventure by the Sea" is quite an enchanting film that stands out from contemporary animated films generated primarily on computers, not only with its very traditional draftsmanship. The world Miyazaki creates here is also filled with magic in a very special, sometimes surprisingly dark, way. How child-friendly humor is mixed with traditional myths, a modern story with an old fairy tale and suspense with imaginative spirituality is simply great.

However, it must be feared that Miyazaki's latest work might have a hard time in this country. Children and their parents are too much conditioned to colorful, fast animated films, preferably in 3D, to be interested in an animated film that not only doesn't look ultra-modern, but also tells a rather traditional story, which sometimes also asks to think - because after all, there is a highly ecological message behind the whole thing. It really only remains to hope that as many as possible, given the choice between some yapping animals, uninspired 3D material battles and "Ponyo", will opt for the latter. That's because the film doesn't think its target audience is completely limited, and it tells them a very nice story in great visuals. It may not be Miyazaki's best film, but it is definitely one of the most beautiful children's films currently in the cinema - and therefore also: absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp