Ponyo

The anime director Hayao Miyazaki's newest film, and perhaps his most charming, is PONYO, the story of a little boy and a goldfish, sort of.  The goldfish, whom the little boy names "Ponyo," gets a taste of human life and decides she wants legs, arms, a voice, the works.  The plot includes the boy's parents and Ponyo's, a sea-wizard and a "beautiful but scary" sea-woman reminiscent of some of Disney's most haunting creations: part cloud, part memory, part imagination, part dream.  A storm like no other is a centerpiece.

One of the fun parts of any animated film these days is figuring out who's voicing the characters.  Here Liam Neesom is notably wonderful as Ponyo's sea-wizard father, with the right blend of majesty and frustration.

The drawing is enchanting, the music lovely, the storyline imaginative.  And some would say, best of all, it's not 3-D.