Review: Ponyo (On A Cliff By The Sea)

When I reviewed "Howl's Moving Castle," long, long time ago, I stated my hopes for Miyazaki to push the boundaries a little more and offer a movie that's a little different than his recent fare. Then he went and made Ponyo. Ponyo is basically a story of a young fish-girl who falls in love with a boy and using her father's wizard elixirs to become a human girl, only to upset the natural balance of the world.

Okay, so "basically" isn't going to really cover it here. But the audience is thrown head first into the world of Ponyo, and what an imaginative world it is. As usual, the movie is covered with detail, all hand-animated in that familiar Miyazaki fashion. There are a few moments where the animation strays away from this, to become a simplistic child-like rendering, mostly for Ponyo herself.

While the animation is as solid as always, the story is a little weak. It opens strong, but Miyazaki seemed to have written himself into a corner by the second half of the film. The ending comes off anti-climatic, with little reason as to how the world is righted besides Ponyo's mother, the Deux Ex Machina, that happens to just fix everything. It may not help that Disney's English translation suffers from over-explanations and big-budget cast that probably wasn't needed.

But the real soul of the movie was the music of Joe Hisaishi. No words can describe the sheer majesty and deft Hisaishi brought to this film. It is the emotional foundation that brings the movie alive.

Is this the next Princess Mononoke? No. Does it affirm the wonder and innocence of children in a society that no longer emphasizes that? Yes. Yes, it does. B+

Review: G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra

I've never liked the term "brainless fun" or "something you can just turn off your brain and watch." Nevertheless, it is exactly the definition of the summer blockbuster. This summer, things haven't gone so well for Hollywood from the lackluster Wolverine spin-off to the bloated Transformers sequel. To end the season, Hasbro's other toyline-related movie, G.I. Joe was released this month.

G.I. Joe is an elite multi-national organization created to fight Cobra, an evil terrorist cell bent on world domination. Only the movie presents the origins of Cobra in the most convoluted of ways. Basically, both teams fight over a MacGuffin which ends up destroying the Eiffel Tower. There are a few twists (that really hurts the film, to be honest) but it's mostly a straight good-vs-evil action film.

With lots of explosions. Not to mention cars being tossed around and a giant underwater battle that reminded me of Star Wars. The film is chocked full of gadgets and vehicles. And why not? They are trying to sell toys for Hasbro. My favorite is the tricked out Hummer that Cobra used to literally plow through Paris. You know, the kind of crazy car chases you no longer see in a James Bond movie. (Not to mention the one-liners.)

Ironically, the villains have the most appeal in the movie. The movie accurately captured the duplicitous nature and fragile alliances that make up the would-be Cobra, each scheming behind the other's back. Sienna Miller is easily the stand-out, and it's hard for her not to be, being the main antagonist. She gets all the cool gadgets and the best lines. It's this reason that makes the twist ending all the harder to swallow. I was really surprised by Chris Eccleston as Destro. I can't say why (maybe low expectations) but he really did a good job. Byung-hun Lee made for a menacing Storm Shadow, but Zartan's almost more of a cameo. If Joseph Gordon-Levitt is responsible for the voice of "The Doctor," then kudos to him as well.

Unfortunately, the Joes don't fair as well. The movie does set up Duke and Rip Cord as long-long friends, and Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans make it very believable. After that, there's not much characterization. Let's see, there's the mute ninja, the redhead with the crossbow, the muscleman, and the computer guy. I don't even remember if they were ever formally introduced to the audience,, meaning if you didn't buy the toys, you wouldn't know who they are. (The villains, on the other hand, were very good at referring to each other by name.) Snake-Eyes's and Storm Shadow's rivalry could have been fleshed out more to give the final battle between them more meaning.

It's a fun movie, don't get me wrong, but coming out of the theater, I wasn't "buzzing" about the film either. Of course, it's been a long time since I've gotten really excited about a movie I just saw. B