While I agree that this is one of Miyazaki's weaker films, I do have a couple of caveats:
-Sosuke's mom wanted to get home to get Sosuke home. Then she had to get back to work because she was needed there (and because devotion to work is a cultural ideal). This isn't so much a plot hole as Values Dissonance. -Ponyo's mom is the sea. If you're not afraid of the ocean (even a little bit), you haven't really thought about how dangerous it can be.
You nailed it, reviewer. In some ways, I believe many people overlooked the film's problems because it's a Miyazaki film; had another, non-Ghibli studio produced this as a children's film with the same pacing issues, the reviews would have probably been less forgiving. As horrible as that may sound, and while this film isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, I feel it's the truth.
Good review. The entire movie felt like a really long first act with a rushed second and third act. Plus, Sosuke's "test" has to be the worst test of character I've ever seen.
Unlike you, however, I do think it's better than Howl's Moving Castle. While Ponyo is a poorly-paced, poorly written story; it is at least a comprehensible one. Howl's Moving Castle, on the other hand, is a confusing mess (no offense to anyone who liked it).
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Doesnt Mesure Up
Miyazaki's been slumping since his last great film, Spirited Away. Howls was pretty good, but not great, and Ponyo decends even further into the realm of inadaquecy, and comes with a whole mess of holes. Just because the film is aimed at kids doesnt mean that the adults in it suddenly have license to not question anything that happens, no matter how bizzare. Why even did Sosuke's mom want to get home so bad only to leave and get back to her job? Was that just an excuse for a car chase? While Ponyo acts like a five year old, I dont beleive that Sosuke is at all, "responsible" five year old or no. And I KNOW Miyazaki can write little kids well, just look at how convincing the children from Tororo were! Fujimoto, the token villain, has a contradictory goal of destroying the world because its evil and polluted, but apparently doesnt want to do it right NOW. And to be honest, it doesnt hold a lot of cleverness in visual style. The startoff is gorgeous, and the sight of Fujimoto's "weed killer" hose thing is just brilliant, and there are still those little touches with movement that really catch you. But as the film wears on holes start to pop up in the patchwork, the story and the style get more convulted, generic, repetitive, and the whole idea starts to wobble a little. Ponyo's mom actually scared me more than her dad when she's supposed to instill a sense of awe.
Kids movie does not mean excuse to be sloppy, and this is definitly one of Miyazaki's weakest films, both visually and story-wise.