Ponyo: A movie, an event

Ponyo is a great movie. Let me say that now. Let me also say that since Hayao Miyazaki is getting old this could be your last chance to see a Miyazaki film in the cinemas, so if you can, grab your friends and beg them to see it while it’s still showing.

Why? Because this is an anime meant to be watched with the pleasant company of family and friends. It’s a tale of a fish who dreams of being human, kind of like a Japanese version of The Little Mermaid only it’s got Liam Neeson, typecast again as a badass who wants his daughter back. Gee, this plot sounds familiar, replace slave traders with a little boy, and you’ve got yourself a Liam Neeson role.

It is a spectacularly visual experience, and the plot structure is more akin to My Neighbour Totoro than some of Miyazaki’s other recent work. Magic and wonder are abound, it’s as vintage Disney as a film can get without being Disney or CGI. A children’s film it is, but in that sense it will have you AW-ing and BAW-ing like a child you might think is more suited to the audience of this film. It is a film for all ages. Don’t let that put you off. There will exist parents who are grateful that there’s a film they can take their kids to that won’t scare the crap out of them. This film is as much for them as it is for you older anime fans who love watching those wacky Japanese cartoons.

I’m not going to spoil any more of the plot, because it really has to be experienced yourself to appreciate it. Instead, I’m going to tell you about the event of me hanging out with my new schoolfriends while meeting up to see this beautiful and charming movie.

Two of my new schoolfriends, Seamus and Libby, are moderate anime fans/appreciators of awesome films. I decided to try and see Ponyo with them, and planning a meet-up at the Queen Victoria Building, we were greeted to the place by the sound of a talking statue dog who claimed to be the friend of Queen Victoria. Trust me, if you haven’t been to the QVB in a long time, or are a new tourist, it freaks you the hell out to hear that talking dog the first time before you realise what it is. Maybe it was the mocha latte I had earlier, but I was having a whack trip trying to figure out the source of the noise.

Some guy wanted his photo taken near it, so I helped him out since he had a better camera than I was used to working with. Opportunities to practice photography with a flashy camera are rare for me, so I helped him out by taking a few shots. Then Libby was five minutes late and she got startled by the talking dog statue. The madness of it all enveloped us, so I didn’t order another coffee at one of the QVB’s many cafes, choosing a Coke instead. Libby had a Mother energy drink to wake her up, since it was the forsaken Sunday morning hour of 10:35 am, Sydney time. No person our age willingly gets up that early unless they want something bad enough.

We sat in the cafe and talked about our lives swapping stories in the Queen Victoria’s emerald and crimson painted, sunlight canopied womb. Shamus and Libby hadn’t been out of the house for a while because of studies. Neither had I, for the same reason. The sunlight of the morning pierced our eyes as if it was an invader, something unnatural or something alien to pasty skinned Year 12 students. Shamus and Libby spoke of the Cannibal Corpse concert which I did not attend. It’s not my kind of band, but it was fun hearing them share stories. I told both of them the small talk of how my work was going, and how my university application was making me consider the harsh reality that none of us would be in high school much longer.

After we had finished our first cafe meal, I proposed we would go to Hobbyco in the QVB since Seamus said it had relocated to the QVB since I had last visited. It was music to my ears, since I had been trying to locate the damn place for a very long time. Perhaps months had I wondered whether I would ever see its blessed array of creative hobby supplies ever again. We took an antique lift upstairs that looked like it wouldn’t seem out of place in a Jeremy Irons TV series. They don’t make them like this anymore. This building preserves some class this wretched city filled with smoke and smog has lost. This building reminds us what this city once was, what could yet be if the local planning from the Mayor would clean up the place.

Hobbyco itself unfolded like a dream. Sometimes I actually have dreamt of entering a shop like this in this location, perhaps I’d been there before. Must investigate further. In any case, my friends and I were floored by the amount of hobby materials the first floor alone contained. Transformers toys that were G1, instead of Michael Bay-formers. Impressive. One of them turned into a plane. Gundam model kits with effeminate easy to make fun of male characters on the box art. A man who looks like he’s wearing armour that gives him breasts is no man at all. Maybe, he is a trap. Pink Gundam looked amusing, no, not merely amusing. Beautiful. Upstairs was the Lego and Meccano section.

I located several Lego kits I found it difficult to track down. Fairly recent kits, but most appealed to me. A blue Volkswagen Beetle Lego kit seemed like the perfect Christmas Lego project for me and my brother to work on, since my brother once owned a blue Volkswagen Beetle just like it. We had to sell it because it stalled all the time. A Lego replacement would either make him happy or sad to construct. I noted the kit for my list of awesome things I would try and save for later.

The movie was on in half an hour so we made our way to the cinema and bought our tickets. Theatre mostly deserted on a Sunday afternoon. Very rare. A lazy day for going to see a movie. We took our seats, not knowing really what to expect. Children squealing enhanced rather than detracted from the experience, not that annoying unlike usual.

Movie was a reminder of beauty in this world that we forget is there. Miyazaki delivers yet again, but some will think it is too childish. It is not. More mature than many kid’s movies this Spring. Makes me wonder if Hayao Miyazaki will retire. If he does, I will be saddened. Plot is simple, a goldfish who wishes to be human nearly causes the apocalypse. More maritime creatures than H.P. Lovecraft could handle. Liam Neeson genuinely good in voice acting role, compensates for Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

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Copyright © Jacob Martin 2009. All Rights Reserved.