TheRetroCritic

Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah star in this 80's comedy re-imagining of the Little Mermaid fairy-tale which did what Disney is currently trying to do with its live-action adaptations of every animated film they've ever done but without any big special effects. And all before Disney's The   Little Mermaid was even released. Really, on paper Splash should have been awful but in the safe hands of director Ron Howard and with a first class cast which also included John Candy and Eugene Levy, it was a big hit and was even nominated for an Academy Award back in 1984. By handling the movie like a grown-up (and literal) fish-out-of-water story with some romance and jokes thrown in, Howard manages to make Splash more of a modern fairy-tale adults can enjoy rather than corny, kids-only fare. The very good, very funny script keeps a perfect balance between comedy and fantasy and the cast is simply flawless from Hanks' lonely romantic to Daryl Hannah's wide-eyed, innocent

After the world-dominating Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle , Hayao Miyazaki decided to go back down the My Neighbor Totoro route and create a work of ultimate cuteness. A film so adorable it's like a kitten made it FOR kittens. I'm talking, of course, about Ponyo . This one took me a little by surprise, despite me having no expectations going in except for it being good, which it was. I didn't think it would be geared towards a younger audience but, luckily, Miyazaki's smart enough that people of any age can usually enjoy his work and Ponyo's no exception. The plot is like a weirder version of The Little Mermaid as a goldfish princess somehow makes her way to the shore, befriends a small boy and starts wanting to become human, which she slowly does, through a bizarre process of her looking goofier and goofier then less and less goofy. Ponyo's father Fujimoto, voiced by Liam Neeson, meanwhile, tries desperately to keep the ocean in balance si