Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Walking on the beach near his home, a five-year old boy named Sosuke (voiced by Frankie Jonas) finds a beautiful goldfish trapped in a bottle. He releases the tiny creature and names his new friend Ponyo (Noah Lindsey Cyrus). As the two grow closer, she reveals to him that she's the daughter of a powerful wizard (Liam Neeson) and a sea goddess (Cate Blanchett). When she magically transforms herself into a real human girl it creates a dangerous imbalance in nature which threatens to destroy Sosuke's home.

Inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Little Mermaid," filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki creates a magical world featuring surreal hand-drawn animation. That being said, the story is very preachy in its environmental message about mankind's pollution of the oceans, but it does have good intentions and features mesmerizing visuals.

Video Highlights

• AVC/1080p encode on BD-50 disc
• Flawless presentation
• Excellent fine detail
• Bright and vivid color palette
• Solid black level and stable contrast

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack (English)
• Very engaging track utilizing every speaker
• Pinpoint discrete effects
• Intelligible dialog
• Excellent imaging

Bonus Materials

• "Meet Ponyo" – An introduction by the producers (HD)
• "Storyboard Experience" – PiP track
• "The World of Ghibli – Behind the Studio" featurettes (HD)
• "The World of Ghibli – Enter the Lands" interactive tour (HD)
• Previews of other Ghibli World prorductions
• BD-Live enabled
• Includes DVD and digital copy of film

The message is that human's are polluting the oceans but I find it quite ironic that the catastrophic events are put into play when Ponyo transforms into a human—so is nature to blame for man's destruction? Regardless, the flawless video presentation helps mitigate any misgivings I had with the story and the audio track is no slouch.

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Release Date: March 2, 2010
Studio: Disney

Movie: 6/10
Picture: 10/10
Sound: 9/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Panamax M5400PM power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics