Within the first ten minutes of watching Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film, ”Ponyo,” audiences can already predict what the story will be about. Fish meets boy, fish turns into girl and reunites with boy.

I like Japanese anime movies. Most of the time the productions of Studio Ghibli look stunning, have charming stories and characters and make me feel all warm and happy inside. (With the exception of ...

For everyone else, though, “Ponyo” will seem beautiful but surprisingly boring: a children’s film that’s at once overly simplistic and needlessly nonsensical. The hand-drawn images can be wondrous and ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... In “Ponyo,” boy meets goldfish. Yes, it’s a love story. From the first moments in which undulating jellyfish make their way across the screen and the score ...

Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo is a very loose adaptation of The Little Mermaid, and it's more straightforward and kiddie-friendly than such multilayered masterpieces as his Spirited Away. But in some ways ...

Here's a telling difference between Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki and (he says with a pointedly raised eyebrow) the folks on the movie production line at Disney. Both have made films about ...

Studio Ghibli frequently incorporates fairy tale themes in its fantasy films. Even side characters sometimes have character arcs and romantic subplots that are fairy tale retellings. Ponyo follows a ...

Hayao Miyazaki’s magical “Ponyo” blends fantasy with just a drop of reality, and the result is irresistible. Midway through the movie, two small children are left alone in a hilltop house as a ...

Ireland’s hardest working actor Liam Neeson, 57, rules from beneath the ocean waves this weekend. Neeson's new movie "Ponyo," sees the actor taking on the role of wizard in this animated fairy tale.

The first of two feature-length animated films to be presented in competition at Venice, Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is a refreshing thirst-quencher. By The Associated Press More ...