Skip to main content
Ponyo film image

Written by Miyazaki himself and influenced by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, this is a wonderfully strange fable about a curious fish-girl – the English adaptation calls her a goldfish, but she lives in salt water – who breaks away from her siblings and over-protective father and winds up stranded on the shore. There she’s rescued by a little boy, Sosuke, who names her Ponyo.

Angrily reclaimed by her father, Fujimoto, who summons the wave spirits to help him, Ponyo reaffirms her independence by releasing the magic he has carefully kept bottled up for years. Turning into a human, Ponyo returns to the little house on top of a cliff where Sosuke lives with his mother – but her escape comes at the expense of a mighty storm…

Made in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the Christmas Day tsunami in Asia, Ponyo is a vivid illustration of the power, beauty and danger of the ocean. Yet in Miyazaki’s hands this devastation is in some ways a benevolent catharsis, a purifying event that reminds us to respect and reconnect with Nature.

Sunday matinee: English language version. Monday evening: Japanese with English subtitles.

You’ll be planning to see Ponyo twice before you’ve finished seeing it once…. It offers up unforgettable images […] images that use the logic of dreams to make the deepest possible connection to our emotions, and to our souls.

Kenneth Turan, NPR

Miyazaki knows the secret language of children; he dives deep into the pool of childhood dreams and fears and, through his animagic, takes children down to where they can breathe, and feel, and be free.

Richard Corliss, Time

 

Presenting Partner

Media Partner

   

Director

Hayao Miyazaki

Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2008

Langauge

Matinee: English

Evening: In Japanese with English subtitles

PG

All ages welcome!

101 min

Book Tickets

Sunday June 25

3:00 pm
Hearing Assistance U18 May Attend
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
Book Now

Monday June 26

8:30 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
Book Now

More Studio Ghibli

Howl's Moving Castle

Teenager Sophie is cursed by the Witch of Waste and finds herself trapped in the body of an old woman, and is unable to tell anyone what has happened. She finds help of sorts with the wizard Howl, living as a servant in his astonishing walking castle.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Tales from Earthsea

From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, and the director of From Up on Poppy Hill, comes an animated fantasy epic based on the classic book series by Ursula K. Le Guin.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Ponyo

Miyazaki's strange and beguiling fantasy film about a sea spirit – it's an odd eco fable about the terrible power of the sea, but illustrated with such beauty and imagination it transports us entirely into another world.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

The Secret World of Arrietty

In this enchanting adaptation of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, co-scripted by Hayao Miyazaki himself, Arrietty, a tiny teenager, lives with her parents in the recesses of a suburban home, unbeknown to the homeowner. Then she meets 12-yr-old Shawn...

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

From Up on Poppy Hill

Set in Yokohama in 1963, this is a poignant teen love story. Written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro, the movie tells the story of a lonely high school girl who becomes involved in the fight to save a boys' club house.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre