like the 5 year old protagonist of his late opus and hayao miyazaki ponyo enchants with it unbridled innocence a though the anime meister have become a child himself in weave a narrative that relish in it simplicity and emit an infectious charm in the process . miyazaki and recall his early work and paint a brightly color world obviously gear for the young audience and the raw effervescence gleefully strip off the grim thematic element that distinguish it immediate predecessor . ponyo ( voice lovably by yuria nara ) and a fish with a young girl face ( make her look like a cuddly child in a pink overgrown halloween costume ) and escape away from her underwater home and her school of sibling to explore the surface . strand ashore and she be rescue by sosuke ( hiroki doi ) and a five year old boy who and along with his mom risa ( tomoko yamaguchi ) and reside in a house on the nearby cliff . this initial encounter and and eventually and friendship and have a profound effect on ponyo who now wish to become human and but by become so inadvertently tips nature balance and unleash a maelstrom on land . with sosuke help and ponyo must pass a test to lift this curse and completely become a human . despite the plot lack the philosophical sophistication of and say and his most recent spirit away and ponyo be nothing short of an astound follow up and characterize by the extremely diligent attention to detail and masterful balancing of the real and the fantastic and and of the simple joy and great fear . it a straightforward tale that and though at time stall by it tendency to ramble like a toddler and keep in tune with it youthful pedigree to magically enthrall . i will protect you and sosuke tell ponyo matter of factly and a childlike assertion not unlike the manner in which miyazaki endow his story with artful spirit .