What The Eff Studio Ghibli?? (*Ponyo Kinda-Spoilers*)

Let me start off by saying I am a big Studio Ghibli fan. I first fell in love when I watched Princess Mononoke. Spirited Away was fantastic, Howl's Moving Castle phenomenal, and Kiki's Delivery Service was adorable. When I finally got around to watching Castle in the Sky, I was convinced that Studio Ghibli had made some sort of pact with the devil. How else would they be able to come out with such beautiful, endearing works of art? So I think it is understandable that, when I popped Ponyo into the DVD player after an hour of trying to put the baby to sleep, I was expecting to lose myself in a world of magic, wonder, and fabulous execution.

Yeah. Not so much.

Now, the film was beautiful. The character design was a little bizarre at times, but that's par for the course with Studio Ghibli animation. The music was lovely, and the voice acting was superb. In fact, Tina Fey voicing Sosuke's mother was one of the only things that redeemed her character in my eyes (shallow, I know, but I love Tina Fey!). I wanted to love this movie, I really did. There was just one little problem.

It didn't make sense. Or, I should say, the pacing is atrocious. Nothing made sense to me until near the end, and even after the credits rolled, I was still scratching my head about some aspects of the story.

I think what really got to me was the reckless child endangerment present throughout the entire film. Sosuke's mother, while driving 50 mph down a narrow winding road, actually leans over to eat some of her son's ice cream cone while she dodges oncoming cars. Um. Then, most disturbing of all, she insists on driving home during a dangerous storm and then proceeds to abandon her child! Um?? It reminds me of the stories I used to write back in middle school. I killed off the parents because it was simply too inconvenient to incorporate reasonable adults into a child's limitless fantasy world. To an extent, I understand. But. He's. Five. At least in Princess Mononoke she was being raised by wolves after being abandoned (or her parents were killed...I can't remember). Sosuke had to navigate ridiculously flooded streets with only a neurotic little fish person to help him. Maybe I'm just more sensitive because I'm a mother now.

Overall, it is a cute story of childhood love. It's just so bogged down with irresponsible characters and a convoluted plot that it is difficult to really sit back and enjoy what should really be a simple and sweet journey.

UPDATE: Watching the movie today with Alex, it makes a whole lot more sense because I already know what's happening. But the logic of those elixirs, that well, and the motivation of the father continue to elude me. So, good on a second watch-though, but still not as great as previous films.