Release Date: 29/12/2009
Audio tracks: English 5.1, Japanese 5.1
Languages: ENGLISH & JAPANESE
Genre: Anime, Family, Fantasy
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Subtitles: ENGLISH subtitles
Runtime: 100.0 mins

The most recent release from the folks at Studio Ghibli is the tale of Ponyo, a particularly special fish.

Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus, younger sister of Miley) is a fish with magical powers. She is the daughter of Fujimoto (voiced by Liam Neeson) and Gran Mamare (voiced by Cate Blanchett) – both of whom have their own special powers.

Fujimoto is an eccentric sorcerer who was once a human himself, but he now detests them and lives in the ocean. He tries to prevent Ponyo and her siblings from escaping his possession – he is a little overprotective I guess.

One day Ponyo manages to escape, hitching a ride on a jellyfish heading towards land. Just as she breaks through the waters surface, a ship comes racing towards her. It has a net attached which is being dragged across the ocean floor to collect any rubbish residing there. Ponyo gets caught in this mess and ends up with her head stuck in a jar. She manages to to get free of the net and makes her way to shore – still stuck in the jar.

On a cliff above, there is a house where a young boy named Sosuke (voiced by Frankie Jonas, sibling of the Jonas Brothers) lives with his mother Lisa (Tina Fey) and his father Koichi (Matt Damon). Sosuke likes playing with his toy boat in the ocean, and this is how he comes to meet Ponyo.

Sosuke is meant to be going to school, and in the final stages of leaving he runs down the cliff side to have a quick play. Lisa is almost ready for work, and calls out that she’s starting the car up just as Sosuke finds Ponyo floating in the water.

Sosuke races Ponyo to his house where he helps Ponyo escape from the jar and then fills a bucket with water to place her in. Lisa is still trying to get moving and Sosuke rushes to the car – bucket in hand. He thinks Ponyo is a goldfish, and gives her the name “Ponyo” during the car ride. Her name was actually “Brunhilda” before, but we don’t know that until later.

Lisa works right next door to Sosuke’s school in a Seniors Centre. Sosuke is well-known to the residents and is friends with the women named Noriko (Betty White), Yoshie (Cloris Leachman) and Toki (Lily Tomlin). Noriko and Yoshie are kind ladies who treat Sosuke’s new friend as a wonderful event, however Toki (the crankier of the lot) sees the fish as a bad omen due to Ponyo actually having a human face. She fears a tsunami will head their way.

Ponyo isn’t exactly pleased with this and spits water on Toki. As Toki gets upset, Sosuke escapes down to the ocean shore with Ponyo. Unfortunately, just as Ponyo begins to speak, she is snatched back by her father into the sea. Worried about her, Sosuke tries to search in the water but can’t find her. Lisa retrieves him from the water, crying and upset over the disappearance of his new friend.

On their way home, Lisa tells Sosuke that his father is coming home that night. Koichi is Captain of a large sea vessel, and is gone for days at a time. Unfortunately, he rings to let them know that something has come up and he won’t make it home. This news dampens their spirits a little more.

Koichi did say he would sail past though, and would signal them from the ship. Lisa is not happy and doesn’t want to participate in the Morse code light exchange. After a period of back and forth between Koichi and Sosuke, she lets Koichi know she’s upset. Sosuke cheers her up after Koichi has sailed off, and all is right for the night.

Back at Fujimoto’s, Ponyo is determined to return to Sosuke. She even sprouts legs and arms in an attempt to make herself human – much to her fathers disapproval. He manages to overpower her and return her to her original form. She falls asleep from all the use of power, and her father leaves her alone with her siblings. When the coast is clear, her siblings help her awaken which leads to her turning human again and making another escape.

A huge amount of power is used in this escape which causes an imbalance in nature. The Moon is drawn closer to Earth which causse the waters to rise incredibly high – submerging most of the town. Ponyo manages to catch up with Sosuke at his house. Lisa and Sosuke had just raced through the crazy rainstorm to return home, when Ponyo appears on the road behind them. They shelter her from the storm at their house.

Worried about the Seniors, Lisa leaves Sosuke with Ponyo knowing they’ll be safe on the cliff top. In the morning they find that the water has risen to the back door. Lisa hasn’t returned home and Sosuke wants to go find her. Ponyo helps out by making his toy boat large enough for the both of them to ride in. So off they go to find Lisa.

As Ponyo is powering both her own physical state and the size of the boat, it isn’t long before Ponyo tuckers out. Luckily they are close enough to land to walk the rest of the way to the Seniors Centre. By the time they reach their destination, Ponyo has reverted back to a fish. They also find that the Seniors Centre is submerged, and a set of empty wheelchairs are sitting on a hill sticking out of the water.

They also come face to face with Fujimoto who tries to convince Sosuke to allow Fujimoto to take the pair to his mother and the other seniors. Toki is camped on the hill and calls out to Sosuke warning him not to go with Fujimoto. She believes Fujimoto tricked the others into going with him, and encourages Sosuke to cross the water and join her. Just as Sosuke makes the leap into Toki’s arms, Fujimoto catches them all and takes them underwater.

At the submerged Seniors Centre, the residents are all enjoying themselves. They are able to breathe and delighted that they can also walk again without pain, free from their wheelchairs. Lisa has been engaged in a conversation with Gran Mamare all night. To seafaring folk, Gran Mamare is known as the Goddess of Mercy.

When Sosuke, Ponyo and Toki appear, the conversation between the two mothers had just finished. Sosuke is introduced to Ponyo’s mother and told that for the imbalance to be corrected, he must show that his feelings of love for Ponyo are genuine. And Ponyo must agree to give up her magic if she wants to continue to live as a human. Will they?

Special Features include:

• Alternative Angle Storyboards
• Japanese trailers for Ponyo
• Trailers for other Studio Ghibli releases available from Madman

Ponyo is a majestic and sweet movie for all ages. The voice cast were excellent, with Cate Blanchett almost unrecognisable and the younger cast performing incredibly well. No surprise really considering their family ties, but they even sang the closing song – and it’s freaking catchy!

I absolutely loved this, and it is now one of my favourite Ghibli films. Go out and get it for your family or yourself – you definitely won’t regret it!

Review product was provided by Madman Entertainment, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

News from our friends at Madman is that Australians can expect a release of the film on DVD, just after Christmas on the 29^th December 2009. The DVD will feature the Disney Pixar produced English language dub and Japanese language (with subtitles) audio, as well as creator interviews, ‘The Five Geniuses Who Created Ponyo’ featurette, Japanese TV Spots and Trailers, Textless Songs and more. The English voice cast includes the voices of Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Frankie Jonas, Cloris Leachman, Betty White, Lily Tomlin and Noah Cyrus as Ponyo.

If you aren’t clear on the story behind PONYO, here’s the synopsis:

In a small town by the sea, high on a cliff, lives 5-year-old Sosuke. One morning, while playing on the rocky beach below his house, he discovers a goldfish named Ponyo, her head stuck in a jam jar. Sosuke rescues Ponyo and keeps her in a green plastic bucket. Both Ponyo and Sosuke are fascinated by each other and promise to stay firm friends until Ponyo’s father, a sorcerer who lives deep under the sea, forces her to return with him to the ocean depths. What follows is an amazing underwater adventure for all ages.

Need more fPONYO? Maybe you would like to read The Art of Ponyo, Ponyo Picture Book and Ponyo Film Comics that are available now from Madman Manga. Or perhaps you need to complete your Studio Ghibli collection by getting some of the other DVD releases you may have missed, by purchasing their Studio Ghibli-related books such as The Art of Spirited Away, The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle and Hayao Miyazaki’s autobiography Starting Point 1979 – 1996? All of those are available at www.madman.com.au/studioghibli.

PONYO will be available on DVD in Australia from December 29^th 2009, and can be expected to cost $34.95.

Platform: Nintendo Wii/Wiiware
ESRB: E10+
Genre: Real-time Strategy
Number of Players: 1-2
Developer: Ronimo Games
Release Date: May 15^th 2009 (PAL), June 8^th 2009 (NA)
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Swords & Soldiers website: http://www.swordsandsoldiers.com

Those of you who are looking for their next Wiiware download may be interested to know about this game. “Swords & Soldiers” is being touted as a must for your collection by many sites and magazines, and I can see why.

“Swords & Soldiers” is a real-time strategy game, but for me it was more like a “point & click”. However, considering that most Wiiware releases don’t really make use of much else apart from the Wiimote, I guess you could say they were all like that.

The animation for the game is 2D, and this gives it a light-hearted cartoon feeling. The music and sound effects mainly clear and appropriate for each setting – although you may find instances where you’ll scratch your head in confusion.

There are 4 menu options once you chosen your save file slot: Single Player, Multiplayer, Options, and Credits. Click on Single Player and you get a new menu: Campaign, Skirmish, Challenges, and Achievements.

Campaign allows you to choose between Vikings, Aztecs or Chinese and carry out their stories. All are trying to outdo each other in the power and glory stakes – all of which I have gotten myself stuck trying to finish.

Skirmish allows you to duke it out against the computer, where you can pit Vikings against Vikings and battle each other to the death. You get to choose the size of the map, and in the options you pick what amount of gold, mana and workers you start out with, as well as your handicap.

Challenges allow you 3 choices: Survival, Berserker Run, and Boulder. Survival has you playing to keep your team alive for as long as you can by collecting resources and building your army as quickly as possible to fend off attackers – the longer you play the better. Berserker Run sees you guiding “Arnie the Berserker” across the map, trying to keep him alive for as long as possible. Like Survival, the aim is to stay alive longer to achieve a better score, however the score is determined by how many yards you reach before Arnie meets his demise. Finally, Boulder – I am sad to say I have not unlocked it yet so I am unable to tell you about it.

Achievements gives you the opportunity to have a look at all of the things you have yet to achieve – for instance, there’s one called “Where Are The Kangaroos?” which you achieve by completing a particular Viking level.

Back to the very first menu, and Multiplayer is next. Multiplayer requires 2 Wiimotes to be connected before you are able to choose it. Once you do, you’ll see that it’s just the same as Skirmish for single player mode with the exception of you playing versus your friend rather than the computer. You are also able to pick what colour you want your team to be as well.

Options allows you to change the language, music and FX volumes, and game speed options to your liking. Credits are as you would expect – a roll call of all the ladies and gents involved in making the game, as well as people and places that gave them help and inspiration (e.g. MC Hammer, Matt Damon and Chun Li to name a few). You need to press a button to end it playing though, otherwise it keeps going… and going …

Usually we mention what the female aspect of the game would be. In this game the only female portion I found was in the Viking settings – where they are buxom blonde gold-diggers. Nice.

The team behind this game have done a good job with this Wiiware release – although at times I found it frustrating clicking, waiting, building resources, clicking, waiting … I think you get the idea.

Often the length of time given to gather a certain amount of resources to forge your troops wasn’t long enough before your enemies came by – but, you could probably overlook it with the humorous dialogue used in Campaign mode. Let me just say I would never have thought of making Thor (the God of Thunder, above) speak like Mr T – to quote: “Enough of this jibba-jabba!”

For the majority of this game I enjoyed playing it – that was until I got stuck. I loved the humour in the dialogue and the characters were all unique (including the bratty child Chinese Emperor), although there were a lot of stereotypes at the same time. I would say give it a go, and if you’re unsure then check out some game trailers or see if one of your friends has it to give it a go. Unfortunately there aren’t any demos available to my knowledge.