A goldfish wants to be human, and the movie spends two hours proving she's already everything she needs to be. Miyazaki animates water like it's alive, every frame moves with the kind of patience most directors don't have time for. The story is simple enough for a five-year-old to follow, but the film trusts you to feel the weight of wanting to belong somewhere you don't fit, without saying a word about it.

Sosuke, a five-year-old boy who lives by the sea with his mother Lisa while his father works on a fishing boat, finds a goldfish stuck in a glass jar on the shore and frees her. He names her Ponyo, unaware that she is a magic fish with a family of her own. Her father Fujimoto, a sorcerer who gave up his humanity to live underwater, takes her back home, but Ponyo rejects her old name and declares she wants to be human. Her wish throws nature out of balance and brings on a huge storm, and Sosuke must pass an ancient test to set the world right and let Ponyo live as a human. Ponyo's mother, a sea goddess, holds the power to restore that balance. The film is a fantasy adventure about friendship and discovery.