Ponyo

Ponyo is basically The Little Mermaid again. I knew it the moment the credits started rolling. Fish girl wants to be human, falls for a boy, her father loses his mind trying to drag her back. Same story we’ve been told a hundred times.

But Ponyo herself—she’s small and red-haired and full of fury. She doesn’t pine to be human, doesn’t sing about it. She just decides. Breaks free, finds Sosuke and his mother, settles into their house like she owns it. Her father tears the ocean apart trying to get her back. No melodrama, just stubbornness on both sides.

What Miyazaki does is build a world around this old shape. The animation feels like water and dream. Colors shift mid-frame. Details pile up until it all feels real in a way you don’t expect from something this fantastical. Sosuke’s mother is just kind. No plot reason, just genuine goodness.

I kept waiting for it to disappoint me the way remakes do. It didn’t.