A Rant For Ponyo (and against Disney)

i just saw the movie ponyo and would highly recommend burning any disney movies you come in contact with and watching this instead. (of course you should check it out before you share it with your kids though). it's playing at the academy right now. it's a miyazaki film, put out by disney but SO "not disney." it is beautiful, sweet, funny, magical, real, silly, deep, etc. the scariest part is about a tsunami (with fish eyes), which is some ways is worse than the scary and violent disney-type horrors because it is perhaps more real, but is not AS dramatic and loud as the scary parts in most kids movies. (still could be scary, especially for 4 and unders... but not compared to your average disney movie). for the most part the messages about gender, love, friendship, parenting, physical beauty, good and evil, work, family, etc are all very healthy-- real but positive. there are: awesome old ladies, a mom with a beer, noodles for dinner, lots of giggling, boats and whales, scientific names for fish, a daycare next door to the senior center, a wild ride in the car, beautiful ocean scenery, etc, etc, etc. the only stereotypically beautiful princess-y woman is the goddess of the ocean. the main characters look like normal (well, cartoon-y but varied and regular) people. the only "bad guy" isn't super scary or evil, but more of a slightly crazy concerned father... and an overzealous environmentalist. in the end they shake hands and make peace. they never battle him or anything! i love that. the girl and boy main characters love each other like nothin' else but it's not sexualized or even romanticized at all. yeah for not exploiting children!!! the balance between real life and magic/imagination is good. the balance between harsh reality and ideal life is healthy. (the family isn't crazy dysfunctional OR idealized.) they way children are portrayed is awesome- independent, kind, strong, self-regulated, connected to family and community, open, funny, quirky, innocent, intelligent, etc. i think Ponyo is probably one of the best kids movies i've ever seen, in terms of actually being good for kids, not about kids for grown-ups (like coraline and the like). it's like a politically correct (aka not sucky and offensive) little mermaid. one of my favorite parts was the mom saying to her kid, "that guy was a real freak show... but don't call people freak shows, we should respect the beauty in everyone." (or something along those lines). as one mom who watched it said, "watching a dinsey movie makes your kid want to buy a plastic doll. (or, i add, BECOME a plastic doll.) watching a miyazaki movie makes your kid want to eat noodles." another said miyazaki movies are "works of art." (not boring art films though!)