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Plot

Fujimoto, a former human magician, and scientist lives underwater with his daughter Brunilde and her numerous younger sisters. Brunilde gets lost while she and her brothers are out with their father in his submarine, and she ends up on the shore of a little fishing village stuck in a glass jar. A five-year-old kid named Sosuke rescues her from the jar. Sosuke hurts herself when using a stone to smash the jar; however, Brunilde's licking of the wound causes it to heal almost immediately. She is given the name Ponyo by Sosuke, who also swears to look out for her. Meanwhile, Ponyo is brought home by Fujimoto.
In a confrontation with Fujimoto, Ponyo reveals that Brunilde is no longer her name and states her wish to take the name "Ponyo" and to become human. She makes her getaway, goes back to Sosuke, and starts a fantastic adventure.

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Why you should watch it?

Ponyo on the Cliff by the sea, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is based on the short novel Iya Iya En by Japanese author Rieko Nakagawa and has a number of historical contributors on the soundtrack, including Joe Hisaishi. At the Japanese box office during the year of its release, it was the most profitable movie.

No technological assistance is used; instead, a formidable group of seventy artists create hundreds of hand-drawn plates ( more than 170,000 pencil drawings were used, favoring the traditional technique over the computerized one) that frame in pastel colors the imaginations of Miyazaki. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is an animated fairy tale that enchants and moves with its purity and that predilection for essentiality that best captures the complexity of suggestions and sentiments of a story caught between dream and reality.

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Stunning illustrations, lovely backgrounds, expressive colors, and most all, jaw-dropping animations that bring everything on the screen to life provide us with a truly visual masterpiece. The beauty of an ocean that has never been so accurately portrayed, as well as the variety of creatures that call it home, capture the attention of the viewer from the very first minutes.
With its waves, the sea takes on a central role, depicting the tension between man and nature—a relationship tainted by pollution but one that must exist for a life to be genuinely healthy. As per usual, Miyazaki finds the environmental issue to be particularly significant. He continues to explore it without ever sounding rhetorical or pointless, inspiring thoughtful considerations on the direction in which our world—which is more in danger of losing its color—is moving.

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A very strong theme of this animated movie is the strength of love. Love of parents for their kids, as in the case of Risa, a dynamic all-around mother who is constantly there but never intrusive out of love for her son.

She is the one who persuaded Sosuke to hold Ponyo when she was still a small fish, and she will always be the one to take her in as she grows into a child. Love is the motivation for the story.

The devoted love of Ponyo's mother Mammare, a sea goddess who respects her daughter's right to free will and believes in the affectionate bonds between children, and the protective love of Fujimoto, the protagonist's father, who is worried about his daughter's decision to want to grow up and live in a world that he himself has left behind by becoming an alchemist of the sea kingdom.

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Love can also be thought of as obligation to others around us.
But the protagonists' love, which is love in its most innocent form—childhood love—is also the strength of the love the movie tells about. Unconditional love exists between two youngsters who, while coming from different worlds, accept each other for who they are and will stop at nothing to stay together. In fact, Ponyo will choose to transform into a young girl because of this love. When Sosuke discovers Ponyo on the beach, he immediately takes care of her and shows her how to exist in a new world that is not hers. This is love as a responsibility to the people around us.

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Although it features a smaller and more realistic range of characters and situations than his greatest works, the movie matches the theme and sensibility of Hayao Miyazaki's filmography. Ponyo on the Cliff by the sea actually features many mystical beings and natural powers, but it concentrates especially on how the world's severe pollution affects people's daily lives. In this way, Miyazaki concentrates on a domestic and less sensational dimension than in the splendors of, for example, Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind, emphasizing the small gestures that daily end up harming the entire planet. The village of Sosuke and Risa, his mother, is a realistic village populated by realistic inhabitants.

Conclusion

Ponyo on the Cliff by the sea is a magnificent contemporary fairy tale that Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki created with skill. A movie that honors the innocence and sincerity of young love, expertly shown in the endearing romance between Ponyo and Sosuke, and seasoned with other issues like environmentalism and the bond between parents and children. A major motion picture that stands out among Ghibli's body of work in terms of visual splendor. I wholeheartedly recommend this little masterpiece.

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Rating

My personal vote is:

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8.5/10

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