few would argue that master animation director hayao miyazaki be one of the few to hold this ability . ( no . too many be focus on john lassiter amaze ability to steal other movie plot and turn them into pretty puppet show and then be laud a a genius . . . but i digress . ) miyazaki have give u film after film that deal with important mature issue ( usually ecologically theme ) and and have an intelligent script that even the most jaded viewer who would normally despise any film that be animate could thoroughly enjoy if give the chance . still and miyazaki ( almost ) never forgets who will undoubtedly be in the audience of these movie child . that say and i be at a loss to think of another filmmaker with this ability . where else be you go to have a film where a three year old ( my nephew link ) will sit still throughout the move and enthral and a 7 year old ( my niece amber ) love it all her own ( and able to appreciate the star power of frankie jonas and noah cyrus and a 12 year old ( my nephew aaron ) who review be of course it be good . everything miyazaki san do be good . and a 32 year old animation fan bring to tear by the powerful directing and gorgeous animation ( er and that would be me ) and and a 58 year old woman ( my mother ) able to connect with the mother character ( and i be bet the old chara too ) and love the cuteness of the child character . and that be what i respect most about miyazaki san . he seem to speak to his audience in a completely different way than the average filmmaker . on the surface and ponyo could be see a a simple story about a little fish girl who get a taste of the human world and want to join it and the friend she make there and a little boy name soske ( somewhat like the little mermaid ) and but there be an entire different level at play here . true to form and miyazaki populate his film with intensely strong female character ponyo mother and soske mother and the old lady in a nursing home be all genuine character with mind of their own and extremely strong will . but the girl who take the cake be ponyo herself . once she decide that she like the human world and she simply use her own will to achieve her dream . her father be try to keep her innocent and and keep her a magical fish and but young ponyo know what she want and become human out of simply her own determination . once human and she team up with her friend and soske and whom she love very much ( although maybe not as much a ham ) . soske be ask to be the man of the house ( at age five ) when his mother lisa decide she have to help the people at the rest home where she work during a typhoon that have be inadvertently cause by ponyo on her quest to become human . frankie jonas ( yes . he relate to the jonas brother . can we just get past that please . ) give and perhaps and the best performance in the film a young soske ( which be good since he have the most line ) . his character be also strong will and but also very respectful and friendly characteristic youre not likely to find in a child character on this side of the pacific . in the end and ponyo father and fujimoto must cope with his daughter decision and his estranges wife wish to allow her to be human . he hop that ponyo and soske will remember him fondly . and once again and miyazaki refuse to allow a character to become the stereotypical bad guy . although miyazaki have ( for some reason ) receive some criticism for this and it be and honestly and what make his movie magical and yet relatable . no one in real life be completely a bad person . all human be various shade of gray . and that be exactly what miyazaki do with his character . and then there the animation itself . in a time when cgi would certainly have help with the copious amount of effect shot in this film and especially the water and miyazaki have choose to incorporate no cgi whatsoever . certainly the hand drawn animation be color by digital mean and but every film in this be hand drawn and i and for one and be extremely grateful for that . the character animation be extremely fluid and and there even appear to be some lip sync go on ( quite unusual for an anime film ) . the background seem to be render with colored pencil and have an effect all it own on the audience . this be what animation use to look like and what it should look like . in the end and i find ponyo to be thoroughly enjoyable . certainly not miyazaki best ( in my opinion and that honor be still hold by kiki delivery service ) and but still a 10 star fun movie for the entire family .