Gake no ue no Ponyo

Ponyo rantakalliolla / Ponyo på klippan vid havet / Ponyo. JP (c) 2008 Studio Ghibli. Hand-drawn and painted anime D+SC: Hayao Miyazaki. 101 min. Released by Cinema Mondo both in an original version and an edition dubbed into Finnish (Pekka Lehtosaari). Viewed at Tennispalatsi 3, 26 Sep 2009 (dubbed version). - An analogue look. - Hayao Miyazaki belongs also to the film artists whose new film I always look forward to, and Ponyo is no disappointment. - Miyazaki tells now a more simple and elemental fairy-tale, which is also suitable for quite small children. - The elements now include the sea and the wind. - The metamorphosis of the little goldfish Ponyo that turns human upsets the balance of the world. This is the story of the great flood, the tsunami. The little boy Sosuke plays a crucial role in it. - The story seems quite original despite the official inspiration of H.C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid. To a Finnish viewer it also brings to mind Tove Jansson's first Moomin story The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945). - A great fairy-tale, for keeps. - It's a pleasure to see traditional animation in an era of too much digital.