More than a decade before founding their own studio, Takahata and Miyazaki collaborated on the 1974 TV series “Heidi, Girl of the Alps,” so it should be no great surprise that they returned time and again to European source material in their time at Ghibli.
More than a decade before founding their own studio, Takahata and Miyazaki collaborated on the 1974 TV series “Heidi, Girl of the Alps,” so it should be no great surprise that they returned time and again to European source material in their time at Ghibli. Some, such as “Howl’s Movie Castle,” “Arrietty” and “When Marnie Was There,” offered the animators a chance to feature red- and blonde-haired characters, or to set their stories in quaint European-style cottages and towns, for which they clearly have a special affinity. More successful however is Miyazaki’s incredibly loose retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” which borrows only the premise of a sea creature (in this case, a rudimentary “goldfish” that looks like a bright pink sock puppet) who longs to experience life on land, and the 5-year-old human friend she makes ashore. The Studio Ghibli creators often claim that they don’t make their films with any particular demographic in mind, but there’s no denying that “Ponyo” skews younger than any of their other features. That makes it a suitable gateway drug on which to get your kids hooked on the pleasures Miyazaki and company have to offer.