Review - Ponyo: 8 Reasons to Watch

A goldfish with a girl's face runs away from the sea to live with a five-year-old boy.

Words by Jamie Harper 14 November 2026

Ponyo: the main characters

A goldfish with a girl's face runs away from the sea to live with a five-year-old boy.

Ponyo is the Studio Ghibli film made for the youngest viewers, and we think it is also the boldest thing Hayao Miyazaki ever drew. Here are eight reasons, one on each slide.

Reason 1 - A goldfish who runs away

Under the sea a little fish with a girl's face slips away from her father, riding on a jellyfish up to the surface.

The first minutes have almost no words, just hundreds of hand-drawn sea creatures moving at once.

Reason 2 - A boy, a jar and a green bucket

Studio Ghibli: a boy, a jar and a green bucket

Sosuke, five years old, finds her stuck in a glass jar on the beach below his house, frees her and keeps her in a green plastic bucket.

He names her Ponyo, and promises to protect her. He means it completely, the way only a five-year-old can.

Reason 3 - Her first words

Ponyo licks a cut on Sosuke's finger, and a little later she is talking. Her first big sentence is that she loves Sosuke.

She also loves ham, a lot. Her pure, loud joy runs the whole film.

Reason 4 - A father who hates the land

Studio Ghibli: a father who hates the land

Fujimoto, a strange wizard in a striped suit, lives under the sea, mixes potions and wants his daughter back where humans cannot spoil her.

He is not a villain, just a worried dad who has lost the argument before it starts.

Reason 5 - Talking in lights

Sosuke's father Koichi is a ship captain who is almost never home. From his boat he talks to his son with a signal lamp, and Sosuke flashes back from the hill.

It is one of the warmest scenes of family life in any Ghibli film.

Reason 6 - A mom who does it all

Lisa, Sosuke's mother, works at the care home next door, drives like a rally racer on the cliff road and talks to her son like an equal.

She is one of the best parents Miyazaki ever wrote, and the film trusts her completely.

Reason 7 - Ramen with ham and egg

On a stormy night Lisa makes instant ramen with ham, egg and green onion for Sosuke and Ponyo, and Ponyo watches the lid like it is magic.

Fans still make that bowl at home. It is the Ghibli food scene for a new generation.

Reason 8 - Where to start

Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed it in 2008, with every wave drawn by hand, and Joe Hisaishi wrote the score.

The English dub has Tina Fey as Lisa and Liam Neeson as Fujimoto. Watch it with a child, and watch their face during the storm.

Where to watch

Streaming catalogues for Studio Ghibli differ between the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia, and they change from month to month, so check the services you use.