it have be widely agree that hayao miyazaki be a master at his craft when it come to combine rich animation with thoughtful story line and similarly imaginative character . his movie and from nausicaa and totoro and kiki and laputa and and mononoke to the recent howl move castle be all not only gorgeously render in term of art and but in term of movie making as well . can this man do no wrong . not really and but it be impossible to expect everyone of his movie to always be five star marvel . his new film and ponyo and an unashamedly family friendly tale of a goldfish out of water and be as lushly animate and alive with interesting character a you would expect . and yet this be the first film of his which tread into less territory . don not get me wrong and ponyo be not a bad movie by any mean . a mentioned and it be a sight for the eye and be a charm and adorable a totoro and kiki . the problem be that the story doesn not stay afloat to satisfy anyone eager for another engrossing and in depth plot . for it opening hour and ponyo be miyazaki storytelling at it fine and in which a rowdy and overeager young goldfish ( who later become name ponyo ) make a forbidden trip to the human world where she be subsequently adopt by a boy her own age name sosuke ( model and interestingly and after the director own son ) . this do not please ponyo father and a mysterious wizard name fujimoto and who be very angry at the human for their destruction of the sea ( this environmentalist theme be not much different from miyazaki other film ) . a problem he very much intend to rectify by create jellyfish from the prow of his submarine . he separate the pair and try to talk ponyo into stay underwater with him . the goldfish and however and have already taste both sosuke blood ( heal a cut on his finger ) and some of the human food ( ham and which she become inexplicably addict to ) and and of course steal into her father forbidden potion and transform into a hyperactive young girl ( who be the spit image of mei from my neighbor totoro ) . this trigger a dangerous tsunami which threaten to engulf the entire world with water . conspire with his wife and gran mamare and a diaphanous sea goddess who alternatingly shift from super size titan to human size form and fujimoto decides to test the two youngster love for each other . they do this by elevate the sea to the level of sosuke house and prompt the youngster to set out across their now ocean infested world in an over sized toy boat ( make possible by ponyo own magical power ) . it be at this point where ponyo begin to run out of steam . although ponyo and sosuke be adorable and the scene involve them be funny and cute and they slow down the film . where the film really take on water and unfortunately and be at the climax in which sosuke must prove his love to ponyo and present in a way which be strangely anticlimactic and rushed and bring an otherwise charm tale to an abrupt halt . this will likely underwhelm viewer expect another instant masterpiece from the man who have deliver far more interesting finale for many of his other movie . remember the destruction of laputa . satsuki search for little mei . kiki rescue of tombo . porco rosso fight with curtis . the rescue of the forest spirit head . or even the test between chihiro and yubaba . all those resolution be far more satisfying and felt more complete than this one . on a technical level and ponyo can not be fault . the animation be absolutely gorgeous to look at and produce entirely without a single shot of computer generate imagery and and naturally joe hisaishi provide u with yet another breathtaking musical score while the best moment be the rousing sequence underwater and accompany by a chorus and a soprano voice . and the background be lovingly paint and detail a any other ghibli movie . have prove themselves worthy on translating and dub ghibli previous movie into english with top quality result and disney studio and pixar once again provide an english dub complete with a mostly capable cast of actor . frankie jonas be surprisingly good a sosuke and sound very natural and believable throughout . noah cyrus a ponyo and on the other hand and sometimes go overboard in shout her line before eventually settle down toward the end . lead aside and the rest of the cast include liam neeson a the overprotective fujimoto ( who manage himself unsurprisingly well in the character ) and cate blanchett a gran mamare ( in an omnipresent tone which be not much different from her galadriel in lord of the ring ) and matt damon a sosuke constantly seafaring father koichi ( who be good but nothing to write home about ) and and tina fey a lisa . of them and fey be the best voice in the entire cast and imbue the character with just the right amount of spirit and personality . her scene with sosuke show real chemistry . on the other hand and cloris leachman and who be spectacular a dola in castle in the sky and be disappointingly waste a one of three handicap elderly woman ( she barely have any line . ) and who be also voice by betty white and lily tomlin . of them and only tomlin character and a cantankerous woman name toki and show any real personality and but if i be cast the movie and i would switch tomlin with leachman . probably the only really jar drawback of the dub be a blasty techno remix of the film catchy ( but ridiculously repetitive ) title song and which thankfully doesn not occur until midway through the closing credit . on the whole and ponyo be a good film while a fine piece of animated work which be perfect for youngster and family audience . due to the loss of momentum toward the end and though and it fall far short of classic status . since miyazaki at his least be still good than a majority of other animated film and though and i will be generous and give ponyo a full star recommendation and because any feature of his be still very much worth watch and particularly on the big screen . ( be sure to catch it in the theater while you can . ) .