Ponyo (2008) 

* * * 

A Studio Ghibli take on The Little Mermaid and in true fashion there are adorable characters and bizarre villains (if villain is the right word).

This film started out strong and the relationship between Sosuke and the fish version of Ponyo was sweet and believable. However as Ponyo became more obsessed with Sosuke the film seemed to take a weird turn by trying to form a love connection between two 5 year olds, one who is part fish. Taking a love story and imparting it on young children seems like an odd decision to me.

One character who was very strong the sort-of villain Fujimoto, I partly liked him as he was voiced by Liam Neeson but, aside from that, the character was also multi-dimensional, which is quite difficult to create in a cartoon. The other characters were fairly typical of Studio Ghibli: a sweet and friendly lead, eccentric friends and a supportive parent figure.  

Although Studio Ghibli often uses more simplistic drawing styles the underwater art was lovely and their aquatic creatures and wave monsters were very imaginative. Especially their storms scene involved both artistic skill and the child-like wonder that is in all their animations.