Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Ponyo Review

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Cinema

Geeks as we continue our Heyo use Autograph perspective.

Today we will be reviewing his 2008 film, Hon

-Yo. Joining me today as always is Kevin Optimus

Solo. How's it going? Not too bad. And hard candy,

Mandy? Hey, what's up, Dan? Not much, not much.

And of course, Matt Fridley said, how's it going?

Hello. Oh, hello, hello. Yes, we have been going

through the career of Hayao Miyazaki. We are

nearing the end. We have a few films down. But

if you've not listened to the previous episodes,

go back. We started with his very first film

way back when, I think nearly a year ago at this

point, with The Castle of Calliostro. And now,

decades later, we are now in Tapanio with only

one more film to go after this. It's crazy. It's

been a crazy journey. Some ups and downs, mostly

all ups, I would say. But I think Ponyo is certainly

an interesting film looking past his filmography

and some of the movies we got to at this point.

I think for most of us, except for Matt, this

was a first time watch, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, first time for me. All righty. All right.

Well, I guess, Kevin, we'll start with you then.

What were your thoughts on Ponyo? I think Ponyo

is visually a very Interesting film in a very

almost I don't know if awe inspiring is the right

word But I think there's a lot of very cool visuals

in the film. So I think it's a very pretty film

to look at And I think it does contain lot of

the elements that we have come to love from Hayao

Miyazaki during the spotlight that we've seen

you know in different movies and there's obviously

some comparisons that can be made to probably

one strand of his films versus another as we've

kind of seen that divide whether it's kind of

one lane or the other but I don't I think this

is gonna be the first time that I might come

I might seem like I'm gonna come down a little

bit more negative than positive for the spotlight

this is probably for me the first one that really

didn't work for me totally and we can get into

why maybe a little bit later, but I was just

I Liked it. I didn't hate it. I you know, I enjoyed

watching it But when I'm comparing it to the

other things we've watched to me, it didn't live

up So I guess that's where I'll start interesting

interesting Amanda. Are you are along the same

lines? Are you did is it are you? Maybe a little

bit more negative than the past films or the

point you work for you I would say that I agree

a lot with Kevin on this one. I think she was

more negative than I was actually. I wasn't impressed

at all really. I think that it had some definitely

creative and cool looking elements that we're

used to getting from Miyazaki. But the story

and things that were happening just didn't live

up to anything for me. Interesting interesting

in Matt, how about you if I'm not mistaken I

thought previous episodes you you mentioned this

is one of your favorites if I'm not wrong might

be Yeah, yeah, I mean I think you are wrong um

But that said I think I feel fit field Felt very

similar to Amanda and Kevin the first time I

saw this like I've only seen this one. I think

twice the first time I remember not really enjoying

it barely remembering anything but upon rewatching

I say I like it a lot more than I thought I did

and Just you know after last night. I was like,

you know, this one's a real good one And maybe

I might start suggesting this one to people Yeah

Well, I guess I well, I don't know if it'll be

more positive map, but I think I certainly settled

it on Enjoying it what I say. It's top echelon

of Miyazaki Not necessarily. I mean, I know we're

coming off films like Spirited Away and, uh,

P -P -P -Petanokia, and even, uh, House Moving

Castle. I don't necessarily think it's -it's

that level. I think it's probably the first time

in his filmography in a while that he got back

to maybe a more simpler film, like Reminding

We're Torture -O. Uh, like, I -I don't disagree

with you that it -it's not ha -it does certainly

not have as much going for it as those films.

Um, it does... Think previous retrospective episodes

we talked about how Miyazaki he doesn't storyboards

his His movies he kind of goes along like he

creates them as he goes and this one it felt

that I think more than others It just just the

way things go and it felt like certain plot threads

Began and kind of fizzled out at the end, but

I just I think the heart of it what worked for

me What was that relationship with? Ponyo and

So okay, so sky yes, I can't I embedded voices

are knowing knowing the names of people but I

Enjoyed that relationship. It was Swedes and

basic and Innocent and I think that's what what

kind of drew me to the movie I did have some

some some questions regarding some of the choices

Characters made this may have my favorite line

of any Miyazaki films, which I believe went as

if I could find someone to lick me, that would

get me out of this wheelchair, which was unexpected.

Wow, that's that went a direction I was not expecting

to see. But to be fair, when I when I'm saying

sorry to interject, but I do think this is a

good film overall, and I do think I would recommend

it, especially to people that were interested

in in this. whether it be Miyazaki or Studio

Ghibli or anime films in general, I think it's

a film worth watching. I guess what I'm saying

didn't live up, that's in comparison to some

of the great films that we've been watching.

So I guess I just want to throw that out there

that I'm not necessarily overly negative, but

like if we're doing this in a kind of a vacuum

with just Miyazaki films, that's when I would

say that it's like. towards the bottom echelon

for me. Interesting. So I guess let's go to that.

So what about it do you think didn't work as

well as some of the past films we've talked about?

It has a lot of the elements that I've liked

in other films and that we've seen over and over

again Like, you know, you have the the argument

about you know Man's relationship to nature and

man's relationship to the planet We've seen that

played out numerous times, but I think more effectively

in the other films here. It went back to Kind

of some of his earlier films where it's much

more Hitting it right on the head and a little

more blatant with it that you know, they wrote

reference weed killer you know over and over

Liam Neeson's character is talking about and

I'm sorry I'm gonna use actors names when possible

because these names are getting hard for me to

remember but you know humans as disgusting you

know the waste the filth and stuff like that

so that was all there and it didn't you know

it's been elements that I've really liked in

some of his films and been more lukewarm and

other ones I like it when it's a little bit more

subtle than it is in this one so that one was

weird for me and I don't know, there was just

a few things, even though I really did enjoy

the visuals overall and especially like the undersea

visuals with the wave monsters and all the creatures

that are living under the sea and especially

the way Liam Neeson's character moves within

or using the waves and water to kind of direct

him. So there's a lot of elements like that visually

that I did like. I don't like the visual of Ponyo

herself. It's just weird to me, that character

design. So that was kind of a bit to get over

it. And then I like the relationship as far as

Sosuke and Ponyo as friends, but it seemed like

they were doing more of a romantic angle with

that at times. And these are like super young

characters. So that was a little bit weird for

me to kind of reconcile. And I don't know, there

was also a few... Food kind of mentions when

they were doing some of the more nature thing

and humans and then they also took it to a realm

as far as I guess origins of human beings And

the seafoam angle and a few things like that

I just thought some of that stuff was just a

little bit too on the on the nose for me So that's

kind of took me out of the film at different

Times, I guess interesting and how many you said

you probably liked it Less even than Kevin did

was or anything specifically that he didn't bring

up that that also you found was not as effective

Um, I think it's because I have a little bias

When it comes to a movie called the Little Mermaid

And I was like, this is not as cool at all and

I was like Triton ripoff and like all this stuff

going on that I'm like this is like Paralleling

almost to the Little Mermaid story, but having

You know its own different tweaks to it So I

was kind of like taken out of it because I was

like man This is like trying to be Little Mermaid

but like way smarter than Little Mermaid and

I'm not digging it I didn't even like that didn't

even cross my mind at all. That's that's funny

Did you know that Triton had red hair when he

was younger before he got white hair? See, I

didn't pick up on that either until after the

movie and she said something and then I was thinking

about it and I'm like, well, that lines up, that

lines up, that lines up. I'm like, I guess you

can see some parallels there. I didn't know.

Yeah, that's where Ariel gets it. The Little

Mermaid, what is the resident genius here? I

think that this was definitely something geared

towards younger children and I think maybe if

I was younger I would have liked it a little

bit more but it just When I said I was trying

to be like a smart little mermaid it still wasn't

smart enough for me and Dan you're right. There's

a huge like plot point I think that kind of fizzles

out when it especially you know when the gee

there's this well and he's like pouring these

like special things into the well and he's like

oh if any creature gets in here and then like

a minute later a thousand creatures are in there

and it has this catastrophic event but you never

go back to like they never try to like go close

that well up or they never talk about the well

again like it's just happened and they made this

huge deal about you know making sure that nobody

gets in this this well or nobody gets in this

room or not even a single living organism and

then this catastrophic event happens where they

do get all up in this well and they never come

back and like say oh yeah we we're gonna put

this right door and you think it's all the the

climax and the resolution to this catastrophic

event just didn't seem like it was a big enough

event to counter the catastrophic event that

happened So I think it was I don't know I took

that more as it was catastrophic in Liam Neeson's

character's mind and No, look what I did to the

whole freaking ocean Yeah, I mean with it was

at the cause of the moon getting closer. Yeah

all that because like tides are rising everything

so There I don't know shit. Can I are we doing

like spoilers there? Can I not say I don't think

it's really movie I mean, I guess you could technically

spoil it, but I think Go for it Yes, so when

they're like, you know the climax and they're

like all you have to do is say you accept Ponyo

for who she is Like he was never really not ever

accepting her for who she was. He loved her when

she's a fish He liked her as a human when she

was like this little more thing with like a fish

face and chicken feet like he was still all about

it and I never felt like he was like Man, I'd

like you better if you were just a human. And

he always was taking everything in stride. I

mean, first, he had her as a fish and loved her

as a fish. And I think he would have still loved

her if she was still just a fish. See, and I

think that, I guess, will make a couple more

Disney connections, because it's almost like

the opposite of what we got with something like

Beauty and the Beast, where the curse is put

on because... Because you can't see someone's

inner beauty because the the prince is clearly,

you know Not accepting of anybody that has outward

flaws in his mind So the lesson is that he has

to learn how to love somebody, you know inside

and out where I agree with Amanda You know, Sosuke

is accepting of Ponyo the entire time So there

wasn't like there was a lesson or something that

he had to do to change. He was already an innocent

Individual that was full of acceptance and love

from that fact and it almost echoed too much

of a Disney film where The resolution is, you

know, you have to kiss the girl or you have to

accept the girl or you have to love her for who

it's and it almost became more artificial and

I'm not used to that in a Miyazaki film. I would

expect that in a Disney film, but I don't expect

that in a Miyazaki film. So that kind of threw

me off. So I kind of see where Amanda's coming

from with that. I guess I didn't see it as within

them trying to, I looked at it as more Liam Neeson's

character accepting them more so than I keep

taking his name wrong. Sosuke. Sosuke, excepting

Ponyo. I looked at more of them being able to

have trust that, you know, trust man or trust

this child that what he feels is real, that he

actually cares about this creature in any way

that is true. So I necessarily saw it as more

so. development of them but more so the outside

of them becoming to that acceptance of Feeling

comfortable of letting go and that that pony

would be in a place where it should be accepted

and felt Part of the world even if she was different

so that's that was Little mermaid which is little

mermaid Trident had to accept the fact that not

all humans were bad and that his daughter going

to live with the humans with this boy Was gonna

be okay and loved and accepted and blah blah

blah So like if we if we talked about the fact

that in the opening credits and the ending credits

it says based on the Han, Christian, Madison

story of the Little Mermaid because like this

isn't like this isn't like a out of nowhere It's

on the cover of the DVD box even like I rented

it. I didn't see that on the cover Yeah, we didn't

see the cover of the DVD box It might be it might

be printed on the DVD. Like they throw it down

your throat Oh, yeah, we missed that. Sorry like

it it was too much like it and I it wasn't smart

enough on its own I'm not saying like it wasn't

he wasn't smart that's why he you know use that

story but it didn't do enough of its own stuff

to make me not think of oh god this is a little

mermaid the whole time I don't know if it's and

I like I didn't think about that during the film

I didn't think about that until after she said

it so I and that was more realization after the

fact that didn't In effect my take on the film

so to speak interesting before we go on though

Matt What was your take on the the resolution

of that and and who needed to accept to or have

tolerance? Um, I felt like the like the ending

was more like less of So in my initial reaction,

I didn't feel like it was a love thing or not

a romantic love thing and I didn't think of it

in terms of who accepting who, although I do

think post now Dan might. I like Dan's that it

like because the person who has the most trouble

coming to terms with it is clearly the Liam Neeson

character. But I thought of it more of like,

hey, like this is a person. This is a person

from the magical world begat by someone not from

the magical world, leaving the magical world.

And there are a bunch of. rules because of all

of these that we need to let this boy know even

though he's only five and that you know if your

heart isn't true your best friend's sister lover

whatever have you is going to die um and that's

you know we just need to make sure you're aware

of it you got to feed it before midnight and

don't get it wet um but um like as soon as the

credits rolled amy my wife had had a really good

comment about how like they just did a wedding

Ceremony at the end of that like like literally

like and it was a very one -sided the Man has

to do all the vows and then it's like hey you

may kiss your bride roll credits Which I think

is a little problematic, but not nearly didn't

really feel like that watching it Interesting

creepy five -year -old weddings what? It has

all of the beats of a wedding much like it has

all the beats of Little Mermaid Damn, I'm sorry.

You were saying something before though when

I just wanted to get Matt's take on that real

quick before we went on to something else Yeah,

I forget exactly what I was saying, but One of

the issues I did have was like I didn't feel

like the parents in this or like the worst parents

ever I literally have that written down Yeah,

so like, you know, there's a specific sequence

in which they have to go they're going home after

like when it started raining and it's like she's

so Determined to get to their house But I don't

know why like they didn't have to get to their

house and like she's like putting her son's life

at risk Because of this I'm like this seems really

You know, there was a fun sequence, but the the

base of it of it. Well, I'm like, this is really

bad parenting In every way possible. So that's

that kind of then they get to the yeah, they

get to the house and immediately she wants to

leave Like that's still Didn't make sense like

she was so badly wanted to get home and she gets

them home and then she's like well I need to

go to the senior center. I think it was more

of a like that was the highest place in town

and it's like I need to drop the kids off in

the safest spot during this flood and now that

I've done that I need to worry about the elderly

like I think it came from a good place even if

it wasn't necessarily the best decisions. I mean

who's deciding the best things on the fly? I

think she's not half as bad as the Silent Hill

mom who's like really has infinite time to think

and is like still I'm gonna drag her across the

country to this murder town. True, true. She

is the worst driver in a Miyazaki film since

the Castle of Cagliostro though. I mean she handled

those waves like I would have been crashing so

I gotta give her that. She also did not have

the kid buckled up during that time. And did

she get drunk and pass out in front of her five

-year -old? Is that a thing was that was that

was implied or she packed open a beer I'm pretty

sure I Don't know. I agree with Dan. I think

there's some questionable parenting going on

here She's like I'm gonna leave you at home by

yourself with this kid. I just found and you're

five. You're gonna be good It's pretty self -sufficient

guys What one of the best lines I thought was

when he has Ponyo as a goldfish and he takes

her to school and then he's standing by the door

and his little friends come up and he's like,

I'm busy. She's like, you're busy, but you're

five. Like five -year -olds aren't busy. That

was a cute moment to kind of solidify, you know,

their age. I thought it was definitely some cute

banter between the little kids. And it definitely

made me think that this is for younger guys,

the little ones. Mean something that did like

I did like all the you know, the old ladies at

the senior center I mean had some pretty notable

names from Clarice Leachman to Think Betty White

if I'm not mistaken so Yeah, so I I enjoyed them

I know that you met you said you'd like this

more on a second watch So what were some things

you felt like work more this time maybe than

the first time we watched it? The it's hard to

answer that question because I don't remember

the first time I watched it And that's why I

feel like I didn't care like I feel I have I

don't have the best memory like I think that's

been a running theme in my life But when I don't

remember something that's usually because it

wasn't very good and I remember the night I watched

the first pony or the first time because it was

Amy and I's anniversary, like two years together

or something like that. And I remember all of

that night, except I don't really remember any

of the events of the movie. It does not stand

out to me in any way. So last night, or this

past week watching it, a lot of things stuck

out to me. I really loved the animation and stuff.

And I thought Pony was a lot more enjoyable as

a character than I originally can remember at

all. And so it just stood out more to me as far

as I could re -watch. That's just because Netflix

and chill doesn't mean we actually watch Netflix,

okay? That's why you didn't remember from the

first time on your anniversary night, just saying

that. I'm not gonna speak to that. I do know

that I got to the end of the movie, though. I

agree with Matt, though. I think the strength

of this movie, at least for me, is the animation,

is the visuals, is the design of everything outside

of Ponyo. I have a problem with the design of

her, but everything else I thought was fantastic.

And like I said, I think the highlight for me

was a lot of the undersea and the waves. how

they were used. I thought that was a really clever

and cool idea to kind of have those waves as

like your minions or your transportation as far

as Liam Neeson's character went. I also do like

the point that they talked about, you know, another

focus besides the humans versus the earth and

things like that. I did like the themes that

were going as far as... idea of growing up the

idea of staying innocent or staying pure or it

wasn't really coming of age but it was more so

just kind of an exploration and maybe a highlighting

of a time period in everybody's life where everything

is you know pure innocent good etc and where

you are so much more accepting and tolerant of

things no matter how ridiculous they may be but

maybe the the fish child was not that ridiculous

because no one seemed to think anything of This

weird -looking goldfish like everybody was just

like yeah, that's that's a goldfish I guess I've

come to accept that with with me is hockey films

where there are all these weird things happening

And people are just like yeah, you know, it's

Japan people are just used to that. Yeah, right

The one lady was like, oh this is bad luck to

have a fish with a human face Probably means

you killed somebody and then I've seen the grudge.

All right, it probably stems from A fish with

a poodle face. The harken on the idea of this

being a good film, it was the first G -rated

film he had since like 1988 when he had Kiki's

delivery service. So I definitely think this

is a huge change of pace for him based upon everything

that we were going up for previous to this. So

it is somewhat like... I think that simplicity

of it may seem out of place compared to what

we watched previously, but I don't disagree with

what you guys are saying regarding some of the

issues, but I just guess I felt the simplicity

of it and just, I don't know, it just moved nicely

for me pacing -wise and it was just a simple...

romp, I guess you would say, and it had some

good moments and good beats. The fact that it

didn't have this grandiose scope and it wasn't

going for some huge thematic resonance was just

basically straight into the point. I guess I

kind of felt... That it was almost needed at

this point looking at some of the movies we got

to like we needed something like this to be a

good Palaclanter to be kind of asked back to

the basics I guess that's why I got him worked

for me Like I wouldn't you know if we're two

if we do rank his movies I wouldn't make it near

near the top echelon But I think it's effective

at what it's trying to accomplish even if maybe

what it's trying to accomplish isn't as grandiose

some of the other films I Agree with everything

you're Saying I think it is an easy watch. I

think it does move along at a pretty brisk pace

As far as that goes and I think it is a little

bit lighter tone and we talked about how it's

good to have some of these lighter Toned films

like this and Totoro and Kiki's to kind of mix

into some of the you know Nausicaa's and Mononoke's

and stuff like that. It breaks it up fairly.

Well, I think for me though the difference was

as You know a 30 plus year old male watching

it right now. I just found less to relate to

or to take away than I did some of the other

light stories that he's done and I think it's

probably the same reason why you know back when

we were watching we were Totoro and Kiki's and

we kind of did some comparisons and I had kind

of said that keys had not worked for me the same

level at Totoro did it's kind of a similar aspect

In both Kiki's and in Ponyo, I just have a little

bit less that I can grasp want to personally

but that does not take it away take away from

the overall effectiveness of The film for what

it was trying to be that's just judging it on

a more of a personal standpoint if I'm judging

it as a film I don't necessarily think there's

too much wrong with it Yeah, and I don't disagree

and I think Like I wouldn't say it's as strong

as my name or torture because like my name or

torture or had that really strong relationship

like Relationship with the mom and it dealt with

some more serious issues I think a little bit

more eloquently then this didn't really approach

that territory which is why I think maybe it's

not as strong of a film but I Guess like like

the animation it was interesting. This was the

first hand -drawn or the singles whatever you

call it like, you know wasn't computer -enhanced

like the previous films since Princess Man, okay,

so I think it felt more old -school in that way

And I don't know if the choice that choice was

because of they were going more towards the the

kid audience But the animation did feel it was

great But I think it had a different look than

even something compared to you like how was moving

castle? Which little looked a little bit more

modern compared to this? Yeah, I agree. I didn't

think about that as much but now Now that you're

saying that, that does make sense. It does remind

me of something that you would have seen in a

much earlier time period as far as animation

went, but I think it worked for what they were

doing and I think it adds to the uniqueness of

this film if you're trying to separate it out

from some of the other films that we've seen.

Anything else someone wanted to bring up regarding

Ponyo? I think one of the cool things... Things

that would be super cool for us to have here.

And I'm hoping that they really do have these

in real life. And it's those things that clean

up the garbage from the ocean floor. Did you

guys see that? Yeah. That was legit. I'm like,

if we don't have this in real life, this should

be a thing. I thought that that was one of the

most breathtaking animation moments too. Like

the way the dust was settling. And the way things

interacted with each other I'd like like that

one right off the bat goes This is this is going

to be a better movie than maybe you know if you're

not watching just Miyazaki movies back -to -back

you like can tell immediately Like this is gonna

be a better quality of animation and a better

eye for fine detail Then you're gonna see in

almost any other animated movie like just immediately

with that garbage scooper. It was pretty cool

looking um also I think one of the scenes that

has a little bit of a nod towards parents who

are watching this probably is when he's, when

Lee Nisen first gets Ponyo back and gets her

down to the ocean and like forces her to revert

back to her goldfish state. And he's like squeezing

her and he's like, revert, revert. And it was,

it was almost like what parents would want to

do to their kids to keep them from like growing

up. Like they all want to keep them young, innocent.

And he was like physically doing that. And I

was like, I bet all parents inside are like wishing

they could squeeze their kid back into a smaller

form of themselves. I thought that was kind of

a cool moment. That was probably for parents.

But other than that, I don't know. I think that's

everything I have, you guys. I was curious what

you guys thought about, because in a lot of these

films, a lot of Miyazaki's films, you have like

a lot of like we've seen it with like little

spirits or little you know different things where

you have like a multitude of characters in some

type of smaller form or whatever that aid the

story and obviously in this one we get I would

guess you'd call them Ponyo's siblings. The little

Ponyo's? The little Ponyo's that are a key element

throughout the the story. I was wondering how

those worked for you guys or how they worked

in comparison to what we've seen in similar aspects

in other Miyazaki. I don't know if anybody had

any thoughts on that or not. I don't think they

were as cool by any means I think they were definitely

a tool To help push some stuff along literally

sometimes But I think what was even Cooler going

back to what Matt was touching on with some really

awesome animation Was Ponyo's mom? Like how crazy

cool was she and like seeing her? Yeah, I thought

she was pretty cool, too. I actually did like

the sibling so I thought it was It was cool to

see how they were just, you know, fiercely loyal

and fiercely supportive of Ponyo. You know, you

have this, I guess you could see it almost as,

and I didn't think about this, I guess as I was

watching the movie, but you can almost see it

as a child that was rebelling from the way that

her world was or the way that it was being brought

up. And sometimes you see in... Entertainment

or TV's or movies where the rest of the siblings

kind of shunned the that person as well And I

thought it was cool that the all the siblings

were just kind of like yeah We're gonna support

you and we're gonna help you in any way we can

achieve what you want to do and Your dream I

guess if you for lack of a better term, but Matt

what did you think of the the Ponyo's siblings

compared to like Similar types of characters.

We've seen another me as doc you homes. I guess

I didn't think about it how how a lot of places

you'll see your siblings will turn their backs

on them. Although I don't know if that's a thing

in any Miyazaki movie, right? Because Miyazaki's

families are fricking tight. It's obvious in,

say, a My Neighbor Totoro, but even... Except

for Kiki's delivery service. Her family wasn't

there, that's why. Wasn't there one where the

sisters were not in favor of? Maybe I'm getting

them mixed up. The Little Mermaid Sisters. They

was hatin'. I was gonna say, because like, Spirited

Away's whole theme is like, she's gotta always

remember her parents. I feel like family's just

the tightest thing in Miyazaki mind. That said,

I thought they were a lot of fun. I didn't pay

him nearly as much mind as you did, clearly,

but they didn't bother me in any way. and like

since I didn't mind the animation of the swimming

ponies like they didn't bother me visually I

thought they were fun and funny and I enjoyed

the things they did okay when I first saw them

I thought they were like ponies ponies kids I'm

like wow ponies kind of a deadbeat mom just leaving

her kids there dang I'm like jeez like that's

not cool uh but so I mean they they honestly

yeah someone with Matt they didn't really strike

me animation wise I did love the and when you

see them transform into those giant fish and

like her kind of going on the fish but they kind

of look like water and and why not that was that

was really great to see but compared to like

say like the What if they were like little dust

bunnies from? Okay, something like that. They

aren't to me as memorable No, I agree with that.

And by the way, just as the last note I had this

film does contain one of the other animated babies

I've ever seen in my life When they get up to

that boat, yes, my baby likes you I thought that

was hilarious. It was funny, but I was just like

this is a disturbed baby right here Yeah, and

it's so true to life though. It's like babies

judge babies are judges. Let's be honest Looking

at you there judge you little faces All right

That's all I had. Nice. Matt, anything else you

wanted to bring up that we didn't get a chance

to talk about? Oh, man. Nothing springs to mind.

I really enjoyed the way when Ponyo would shift,

like, she essentially had three different forms,

as we mentioned, and then she would shift from

one to the next. It would, like, she'd get more

detailed and more, like, as she became more realistic

as a character, she would look more realistic

on screen. And so, like, as she You'd like user

magic and her face would spread out and become

less defined like I loved that quality Because

I'm just gonna keep hitting home that I really

enjoyed the animation in this movie Agreed very

cool. Alrighty, Kevin. We'll start with you final

thoughts and score for pornea Yeah, I would just

you know everything I'm saying I would take with

a little bit of grain of salt because I'm saying

most of it's from more of a personal standpoint

of what I could take away from it. I'm not dissing

the movie or the execution or the, you know,

the different parts that went into it. I just

think overall it doesn't hit home with me similar

to what I said about Kiki's delivery service.

So for me, I'm probably going to be down a little

bit on this grade wise just to help me try to

figure out all the grades and all the rankings

with Miyazaki as we get this thing close to being

wrapped up. I'm going to give it like a six out

of 10. That's probably a little harsh. I'm in

it. How about you? I'm also gonna give it us.

I'm gonna give a six to just based on my enjoyment

level I'm right in there with you Matt final

thoughts and great for Ponyo man like When Amanda

gives it a six you gotta remember that's like

this same score sheet gave silent hill my friends

that is not a good number um i would say eight

like i like it better than uh than some but not

better than most of the miyazaki movies um and

i kind of want to start showing it to people

to see what their reactions are now yeah for

me like it's i would say i like it more than

like kiki's olivia's service and uh I can't think

of the movie with the flying pig This one works

a little bit better for me, so it's to me it's

like a seven out of ten It's like I said, it's

it's good at what it achieves to do It's a good

like I think family film but it doesn't have

that extra bit that you get from like in my name

a torture Oh and doesn't have the scope from

some of the the top echelon of Mizaki films,

but like Matt said still has Some of the best

animation you're gonna see so it's uh, you know,

you can't go wrong I think at this point watching

any of his movies, but obviously to varying degrees

but With that said we are nearing the end of

this retrospective. We only have one movie left

to go With the one rises which at this point

is supposed to be his last film. We'll see I

think uh means um Princess Manonoke was supposed

to be his last film and that was like six movies

ago So but as of right now as of right now as

we speak that is the last one we'll talk about

that next time But we'd like to hear what your

thoughts on this retrospective so far this episode

and to do that You can contact us a number of

different ways. You can email us at feedback

at you cast for you calm We're on Facebook and

Twitter as well. The show has a show Twitter

at cinema geek cast And I know you guys are also

on Twitter. What are your Twitter names Kevin?

We get to start with you Mine's Optimus Solo

and I just wanted to mention real quick that

we did get a little bit of feedback too based

on our last episode with Howl's Moving Castle.

Epicurious of Sidium, I don't know if I'm saying

that right, commented on the website. He said

he actually has read Howl's Moving Castle's book

and he's telling us to not bother reading it.

He said it is so much more complicated and not

as heartfelt. Stick with the movie, it's much

better. So one opinion since we brought it up

last episode and he's saying in this case...

It'll be over book, I guess. So, but yeah, I'm

at Optimus Solo. Amanda, any comments to talk

about in your Twitter name? I have no comments

because we were already done, Kevin. You can

find me at Hard Candy Mandy, eyes no eyes. Matt?

Hey, if you think that this is better than the

actual Little Mermaid book, let us know, huh?

Oh, snaps. And I am at Fridley Sen. Or the Disney.

A version of Little Mermaid, maybe. Don't get

it made to start. I wasn't gonna throw that gauntlet.

I gotta go with it, but if you wanna get me,

I am at movie revolt. But we'd like to thank

you for listening to this retrospective. Like

I said, we'll be back very shortly as we talk

about The Wind Rises. Till then, thanks for listening.