When the opportunity for me to watch this arose, I didn’t really greet it enthusiastically, more like, “sure, why not?” I loved Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and a couple of his earlier movies but even by the time it got to Howl’s Moving Castle I’d kind of lost any fandom I had and that movie didn’t do a lot to rekindle the passion for me (it could just be because I only saw the Pixar dub of that one, I just realised; Pixar do great dubs but it’s very possible I would’ve liked the original dialogue more, gotta be fair). If you read the synopsis of this one – about a fish that wants to become human – it’s very easy to be slightly underwhelmed at best, and at worst go all the way to, umm, didn’t Disney do that already?

Well, again, as with Watchmen (which I will review when I see it again … I really need to see it again, though if you must know, I kinda loved it), within 5-10 minutes, whoosh, those thoughts were just swept away one by one. This is an unbelievably cute movie, very much the Miyazaki I was once crazy about, and not at all like the Disney movie at first glance it seems to resemble. It’s at once a cute story of puppy love – say, imagine that Eric and Ariel were 6 lol – yet also urges you not to dismiss the power of love on account of the characters ages … at the same time as having a much larger story about the world as a whole.

I can’t wait to see it again, and yes, it will be in the Pixar dubbed version. I just heard yesterday that Noah Cyrus, Miley’s little sister, is doing the voice of Ponyo so basically, I’m sold lol.

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