Ponyo

Family, Animated
*Review written by my friend, Diane…
Ponyo is a Japanese animated film and the animation is marvelous. Ponyo is a goldfish, daughter of a once-human wizard who is trying to restore the earth and sea to their pristine conditions. Ponyo meets Sosuke and, to her father's distress, wants to become a human girl. Sosuke and his mother live on a hill, remote from his school and her work in a senior home, conveniently his school and her senior home are in close proximity to one another and they commute together every day. Ponyo finally succeeds in becoming a girl, capable of wizardry as her father is, and she and Sosuke (both 6) love each other. She does not want to revert to her former state. A terrible typhoon blows up and Sosuke and Ponyo are separated from Sosuke's mother. Ponyo's mother enters the scene and decides that Ponyo should be able to choose a human state if Sosuke demonstrates that he can take care of her. It is quite sweet and has its scary moments, but none too scary for young children. Quinn and Shea are 7 and 5 respectively and they said that they liked it, but did not discuss it beyond that. There were very young children in the theater and they giggled and expressed awe in appropriate spots.