Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo is a wonderfully inventive, creative foray into another universe. The story follows a young boy named Sosuke (Jonas) and a magical goldfish creature (Cyrus) that he saves and names Ponyo. Sosuke lives with his mother (Fey) in a seaside village, alone on a cliff, while his father (Damon) is out at sea. Ponyo's father (Neeson) wants to get his daughter back because the future of the world depends on it. And so begins their magical story together.The best part about Miyazaki's directing is by far the fantastic world he creates, the characters that inhabit it, and the rules they live by. It is fully-realized and awe-inspiring, and it is something I have never seen before. Much like Tim Burton's works, the movie has the potential to frighten and terrify, but instead benevolently lets us enjoy the triumphs over the catastrophes. However, the directing and the movie as a whole suffer from a few problems as well. There is no real conflict to consider except perhaps that nobody really knows what's going on, so they might "make a mistake" and cause the world to be destroyed. In fact, the audience doesn't know what's going on at all either because the background story isn't fleshed-out enough for anybody's to comprehend it. Side stories seem to be picked up and ignored almost haphazardly. And Fey's voice acting was sometimes good, sometimes downright bad--I'm sorry to report--but mostly just distracting. Overall, however, these flaws aren't that bad. If you're a Miyazaki fan, this will definitely not disappoint.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/