The story begins in the sea near Japan. Fujimoto (Liam Neeson) is a humanoid scientist obsessed with restoring ocean life to its prehistoric variety. His presumed wife is Granmammare (Cate Blanchett), an all-powerful goddess who can assume a comely humanoid form. They are the "parents" of smart little fish with human faces, one of which is precocious Ponyo (Noah Cyrus).
Ponyo has a desire to see the world, and gets her wish when she is captured by a five-year-old Japanese boy, Sosuke (Frankie Jonas). Because Ponyo has various magic powers, she begins to grow and assume human form like her parents.
Despite the strong bond between Sosuke and Ponyo, Fujimoto is determined to "rescue" Ponyo and return her to the sea. The battle of wills between Fujimoto and Ponyo leads to a resurgence of the sea that threatens life on land, i.e. humanity.
Thus, Sosuke and his pretty young mother Lisa (Tina Fey) are imperiled, as well as Sosuke's ship captain father Koichi (Matt Damon), and the elderly residents of the nursing home that employs Lisa. Chief among the aged are grumpy Toki (Lily Tomlin) and the more easy-going Yoshie (Betty White) and Noriko (Cloris Leachman).
How others will see it. Miyazaki's lofty reputation no doubt aided critical reception of Ponyo. It was nominated for Best Director and Best Film at the Asian Film Awards. At the box office, the movie had a highly successful run in its native Japan, but was something of a stiff here in the States, despite a wide distribution of 927 screens.
However, at imdb.com, the film has a fairly large number of user votes (currently 22K) and very high user ratings. There is a slight drop with advancing ages from 8.1 out of 10 under age 18 to 7.5 over age 45. Women like the film slightly more than do men. Its intellectual pretensions and absence of slapstick humor limit the appeal to small children.
How I felt about it. The obvious yardstick for Ponyo is Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki's career breakthrough. By that high standard, Ponyo is a good effort but falls somewhat short of the mark. Princess Mononoke has a more complex and involving plot, and the characters are more interesting. Both movies have much in common, including an environmental theme better executed in Princess Mononoke.
But it is perhaps unfair to compare every film of a director to his best work. It is like comparing the looks of every high school student to the king and queen of the prom. How does Ponyo hold up when separated from Miyazaki's prior work?
The effort is there. The animation is painstaking. The script and story never condescends to its audience. The characters are likable. The closest thing to a villain is Fujimoto, who appears at one point to be harboring a scheme to wipe out humanity in favor of a monolithic ocean filled with fish from all eras of Earth history. But once the crisis arrives, he seeks to restore a balance between man and the ocean.
But the film does have its problems. The characters are too perfect. Sosuke is supposed to be five, but he has the maturity and intellect of an adolescent. Lisa is ridiculously heroic in her quest to power up the lighthouse and rescue the senior citizens (as well as Sosuke and Ponyo) despite a raging storm.
Ponyo, like Sosuke, never expresses the selfish or petulant behavior endemic to young children. No wonder that every adult Sosuke meets knows who he is, and treats him as if he is the son of the mayor.
Finally, the magic element is not well explained. Even if we presume that "true love" is attainable between two five-year-olds (is it possible between people of any age?), why does this event have anything to do with making the moon closer or further away? And if the moon moves closer, would that really cause the oceans to wash over all of the land?