Friday, August 7, 2020

Ponyo

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ponyo!


Original image located here. Accessed 7th August 2020

Once again, we take a trip to the anime and once again it's Studio Ghibli film.
I must confess: I have always had a degree of caution with Hayao Miyazaki - or to be more precise, everything that has followed since his first final movie Princess Mononoke. Sure I love Miyazaki's work as much as the next person, but for all his movies made after Princess Mononoke and all his announcements of retiring that never seem to last long, there is a sense of how long he can keep going. Are Miyazaki's advancing years catching up to him? Can anyone keep a winning streak of movies up for so long? He's gotta produce a dud movie at some point (thereby proving he is indeed human like the rest of us), right?

Well it won't be this time around. Okay, so yes this may be aimed at a younger audience, yes there are some issues around the plot, yes there are some abrupt developments narrative-wise but I am willing to forgive all of this for the truly wonderful animation. As expected in a Ghibli there are some astonishing high level of animation with some staggering attention to detail.
Is it a dud? No. Is it one of Miyazaki's lesser works? Yes. Is it ultimately a blotch on an otherwise illustrious track-record? of course not.

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