Cineworld Enfield is driving me up the fricking wall with their cataclysmically poor standards of projection. In the middle of the trailers, the picture I was looking at decided it would rather I only saw the top half of it, and that the top half would look better at the bottom half of the screen. Everyone else in the auditorium thought that grumbling about it under their breath would be enough to sort the situation out but I decided to take action. So I mentioned it to an usher, who helpfully told me that "it happens sometimes, but sorts itself out when the film starts."
Obviously it didn't sort itself out when the film started. A projectionist sorted it out ten minutes into the film. This, combined with Cineworld Enfield's unfathomable decision not to mask off the edges of the screen when showing a film that doesn't fit its full width, meant that the beginning of Ponyo looked like this:
Even Miyazaki didn't intend his films to be that weird. Cineworld Enfield: Must try harder.
And, relax.
Ponyo was quite good. It wasn't as good as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke but it was better than Howl's Moving Castle or My Neighbour Totoro. It was about as good as Laputa: Castle In The Sky. If you've got no idea what I'm on about you seriously need to educate yourself in the ancient art of Miyazakigami. Ponyo's only problem for me, as a grumpy old codger, was that it was a bit too slight, aimed too much at a younger audience; it didn't probe the unsettling recesses of darkness that Spirited Away did. It did, however, look amazing. I'd try and describe the scenes where the sea comes alive and goes furiously mental all over the shop but you're better off watching it for yourself.
Best bit: If, like me, you love the armies of cute little critters Miyazaki shoves effortlessly into his films, like:
and:
then you're in luck! Because Ponyo has these things:
Anyone know where I can get one?
Final suspiciously-similar-font-related thought:
Just saying is all.
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