Reviews:
"Hayao Miyazaki's latest masterpiece, a delightfully sweet, extraordinarily imaginative LITTLE MERMAID-esque children's fantasy." - 09/12/2008 Premiere

"[O]lder kids and even adults are unlikely to get bored, thanks to the story's unforced sweetness, giddy highs, and stunningly beautiful visuals." -- Grade: A - 08/13/2009 A.V. Club

"[A]n emotionally profound, visually thrilling animated reimagining of the classic fairy tale THE LITTLE MERMAID..." -- Grade: A - 08/21/2009 Entertainment Weekly

3.5 stars out of 4 -- “With its ever shifting world and palpable sense of magic, PONYO captures the wonder of being a child....Miyaki is a master at interweaving reality and fantasy.” - 08/14/2009 USA Today

"PONYO begins not with the ordinary but with an extraordinary vision of a dazzling undersea world that is rich with visual wonders..." - 08/14/2009 Los Angeles Times

4 stars out of 4 -- "This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators has such deep charm that adults and children will both be touched." - 08/13/2009 Chicago Sun-Times

"[I]ts themes -- the relationships between parent and child, between the young and the elderly, between friends, between man and nature -- are large and fully realized." - 08/14/2009 Wall Street Journal

"PONYO is the latest masterwork from Mr. Miyazaki....[The film] shares thematic and visual similarities with his earlier work, notably its emphasis on the natural world, its tumults and fragility." - 08/19/2009 New York Times

3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[T]he delicate colors and hand-drawn, proudly 2-D images are breathtaking....Miyazaki works marvels." - 09/03/2009 Rolling Stone

Included in Chicago Sun-Times's "The Ten Best Animated Films Of 2009" -- "The word to describe PONYO, is magical." - 12/24/2009 Chicago Sun-Times

4 stars out of 5 -- "With its pastel palette and loose line-work, Ponyo's handmade look fits the film's child-like spirit like a mitten." - 01/26/2009 Total Film

4 stars out of 5 -- "There's a edgy beauty that sticks in the mind, most of all in the sequence where Miyazaki unleashes a raging tsunami on the Japanese shore." - 02/05/2010 Empire

"The bravura animation, showing the massive magic waves crashing explosively against a coastal road, conveys the might of nature better than any dialogue." - 03/01/2010 Sight and Sound

"[The] joy of Ponyo lies in how cheerfully it plays out, focusing on the connection between a plucky 5-year-old named Sosuke and Ponyo, the magical fish girl he plucks from the sea." - 10/31/2020 The Atlantic