Ponyo is the latest animated effort from the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, the gifted storyteller behind Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro.

Ponyo is the tale of a friendship between a boy and a goldfish who longs to be human. Through a magical set of circumstances, Ponyo may just get her wish.

Ponyo is positively gorgeous to look at, and adding to its awe inspiring grandeur is the fact that it was all hand drawn. That's right. In this day and age of computer generated animation, Miyazaki still prefers the old school approach. The underwater vistas and numerous shots of waves crashing on the beach are simply astonishing.

In terms of story, Ponyo is quite often more strange than it is magical. While it certainly has elements of Disney favorites such as Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio, tonally speaking, it isn't really like any of those films. If anything, some of the surreal, dreamlike portions of the movie reminded me more of The Yellow Submarine.

Ponyo has gone through an audio transfer for American audiences, so while you may recognize many of the voices (Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, etc.), you can be sure that the rest of the film is vintage Miyazaki. Yes, there are portions of Ponyo that are a bit odd, but visually speaking, this gorgeous film is well worth checking out.