"Ponyo" is an absolutely adorable and fun movie to watch. There is never a second here that is not filled with energy or wonder. It is a great example of what the power of animated films can bring that live-action can't.

Like any Miyazaki film the animation here is beautiful in every shot with every frame being beautifully drawn. From the animation of how the two main characters, who are both five years old, run and walk around to a school of fish swimming there is always attention into how they would move in their environments. I love the energy in how Lisa is driving her car like she is a character in Initial D there. The environments look amazing too and make you always want to jump into their world to see and marvel at it all.

Also, as a showcase of how great the animation is, we get a scene where the two kids eat instant ramen, which they made to look very delicious. That has to be illegal to draw instant ramen to look so tasty.

All the characters are as lively as the animation. They all exude energy from the kids that just fill your heart with joy, to the nice old ladies at the retirement home, to Lisa being an incredible mother and great moment where she gets annoyed at her husband for staying longer on the ship instead of returning and her calling him an idiot with morse code.

I know a lot of people compare this movie to "My Neighbour Totoro", but I think that mostly has to do with how both are very child-friendly movies that feature two main characters that are kids and don't go deep into talking about Miyazaki's believes. But I think a more apt comparison is to "Princess Mononoke", it's just that the latter is way less "appropriate" for younger kids. The reason for me thinking that is how there is a very obvious theme about the relation between humanity and nature. Both movies talk about how humanity's technology creates pollution and destroys nature, so some humans have abandoned their "humanity" to join nature. Yet, both movies don't condemn technology as evil for doing that and end with the idea that there must be some harmony between humanity's technology and nature. Also, both movies have lead characters that come from opposite sides and in the end there is a romance developing between them.

A thing that's missing from this movie is a focus on airplanes or any airborne vehicle or a flying animal (another similarity with Princess Mononoke) that we are accustomed to see in Miyazaki films. This is why I want to point out how there are a lot of shots on the propellers on different ships in movie. The movie even plays "Flight of the Valkyries" during a scene where a school of giant fish are swimming. With both things in mind, I think it's clear that Miyazaki is drawing a parallel between the sky and ocean and maybe even testing himself in showing the greatness of the ocean as he has done with the sky in his other movies.