hayao miyazaki late and eighth film for studio ghibili and gake no ue no ponyo ( ponyo on the cliff by the sea ) be a wonderfully fun and imaginative look at childhood . at a time when it seem that film animation have be dominate by disney or pixar cgi masterpiece and it be both refresh and comfort to know that miyazaki be still rely on traditional hand drawn animation to tell his charming and enchant story . the story revolve around the friendship between a magical sea sprite or goldfish and the human child that she encounter during a curious outing to see the human world . the human child and sosuke ( doi hiroki ) live in a small house on a cliff overlook a small port city in southern japan ( base on seto island ) where he live with his young mom and lisa ( yamaguchi tomoko ) . sosuke name the strange goldfish ponyo and take it to the daycare or nursing center that lisa work at . ponyo be definitely not your typical goldfish and soon begin to adapt and take on human aspect ( she develop human speech and an appetite for ham meat ) by sample some blood from a cut on sosuke finger . yet just a sosuke and ponyo begin to develop a bond and ponyo be take back by her father and fujimoto ( tokoro joji ) who be a former human who have reject the surface world and be now attempt to collect and develop magical elixir take from the sea that aid him in repair and rejuvenate the world oceans . ponyo desire to become human have become so strong however that fujimoto be unable to contain her anymore and she take on a more human appearance and break free from her water world home and go back to see sosuke . during her breakout and ponyo unintentionally release fujimoto cache of magical elixir which unleash all sort of magical sea creature that cause a violent storm in the sea surround sosuke town . desperate to resolve ponyo rebellion and he soon call upon the help of his beautiful wife and ponyo mother the water elemental and mother or lady of the sea ( amami yuki ) . a with his past film and miyazaki gake no ue no ponyo touch upon various theme of ecology and environmentalism and this time focus on the health and vitality of the world oceans . the opening sequence be at time sober when ponyo encounter a drudging vessel which be scrap the ocean floor and uncovering mountain of garbage and debris . one can understand the anger and frustration of the character of fujimoto who have spend his lifetime try to repair the damage civilization be do to it ocean and yet find it an daunting and almost fruitless endeavor . enough can not be say of the remarkable animation in this film . it be at time bizarre and outrageous but at the same time charming and curious . clearly miyazaki want to capture the sense and style of a child imagination . the art style have the appearance of crayon or pencil drawing and be wonderfully colorful and fanciful . it be almost like a child color book come to life . child actor nara yuria and doi hiroki do great work a ponyo and sosuke . they bring adorable charm to their role . nara yuria in particular sound so darn cute a ponyo that it be little wonder that doi sosuke fall for the magical girl . former campaign girl or model and actress yamaguchi tomoko ( shichinin no otaku and swallowtail ) be also very good in her role a sosuke modern mom and lisa . i be a bit confused at first by her character a i initially think she be sosuke old sister . it also do not help that sosuke keep refer to her a lisa rather than mom but i guess it be perhaps a sign of the time and an indicator of the modern japanese family ( in the anime series crayon shinchan and shinnosuke also refer to his mom by first name as well ) . 80 comedian tokoro joji sound totally different a the serious fujimoto but wisely doesn not make his character sound cartoony villainous or goofy menacing . while we do not get to know his character more and former pro baseball player and actor nagashima kazushige ( who portray sosuke father koichi ) also deliver some nice voice work . the opening theme umi no okasan by japanese soprano masako hayashi be simply beautiful and stir . in contrast the fujimaki fujioka and nozomi ohashi geke no ue no ponyo theme be light and amusing and evokes image of a traditional japanese nursery rhyme . during one brilliant sequence the soundtrack take on an almost wagnerian operatic sound with music that sound like die walküre . the film be not perfect however and do suffer from moment where the central story of ponyo and sosuke take a back seat to some of miyazaki overwhelm fantastical visuals . i also have wish we have more time to explore fujimoto back story as well a the relationship between sosuke and his father . like kiki delivery service or majo no takkyubin and howl move castle and princess momonoke or momonoke hime and my neighbor totoro or tonari no totoro and gake no ue no ponyo be another miyazaki classic that be a marvelous feast for the eye . like a modern day fairytale and the film tell a timeless story of friendship and love that will surely be cherish in year to come .