I watched Ponyo on the cliff by the sea last night. When I saw the jellyfish early in the beginning of the film, I immediately thought of Finding Nemo.
Both are animated films featuring the sea. Both films have a father character reluctant to let their offspring go.
In Finding Nemo, Marlin says that he promised he'd never let anything happen to his son Nemo. When Dory hears that, she disagrees with him because then that nothing would ever happen to him and he wouldn't have any fun.
After watching the Finding Nemo DVD, I know that animation of water and underwater scenes is no mean feat. The Pixar guys literally immersed themselves in their work with visits to aquariums and diving trips for "research".
I really enjoyed the music and animation in Ponyo, apparently Miyazaki hand-drew many images himself. The film score enhanced the various scenarios and I can hum the opening bars of the song played during the end credits.
Ponyo's father Fujimoto does not want Ponyo to become human as she will lose her magical powers and risk becoming sea foam if Sosuke's love for her is not true.
I loved Miyazaki's allusion to Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid story. (I'm definitely going to be re-reading Anderson's stories sometime soon)
Miyazaki's depiction of Ponyo is distinctly different from the Western stereotype of a mermaid. The film has a happy ending unlike the The Little Mermaid which ends in tragedy.
Ponyo looked so cute turning somersaults in Sosuke's pail, I only wished she was not stuck in the pail and had more space to swim in.
I couldn't help being struck by the irony of hordes of people who began buying clownfish to rear as pets after watching Finding Nemo, despite the negative portrayal of fish as pets in the film.
