Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Ponyo is weird, but that's sort of the point. It's just not all that successful by the high standards set by the rest of the Ghibli series: it has story problems, character development problems and it is missing some of the complexity of its better siblings.

Perhaps because of its fundamental slightness it also feels incredibly long, and while the animation work - particularly the oceans - is beautiful, there's only so much of it you can really take before it becomes a little tiresome. It never feels as smart as it is imaginative, nor as profound as some of the better films in the series, but it is still a delight to watch (particularly for younger Ghibli fans).

The film came out at a time when Pixar was leading a CG animation revolution, and as a result drew a lot of attention for sticking to hand-drawn principles, which is all well and good, but the substance was never quite up to the aesthetic.