Under the sea

We’ve become accustomed to having our animated movies drawn by computers rather than people, so it’s always a relief when Hayao Miyazaki, probably best known in this country for Spirited Away, releases a new movie.

His latest, Ponyo, features hand-drawn action that sits against backdrops as lovely as oil paintings. The film is about a 5-year-old boy, Sosuke, who lives near the sea, and the goldfish princess Ponyo, whose desire to be human throws the balance of the earth and the ocean out of whack. Sound a little like The Little Mermaid? Sure, but even though Ponyo is the un-Ariel, Disney’s gotten behind this import.

Like all of Miyazake’s films, it’s beautiful to look at, and the high-profile voice cast, which includes Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Matt Damon and younger siblings from both the Jonas and Cyrus clans, successfully serve the story rather than overshadow it with their star power.

Yes, Ponyo is adorable as the girl who treads from one reality to another, but Miyazake delivers his message through relationships—between parents and kids, husbands and wives, children and seniors. With its staggering visuals, Ponyo, already a big hit in Japan, doesn’t follow the traditions of American studio storytelling, so it’s only after it’s almost done that you realize you’ve seen a movie that says the innocence of our children is the only hope we have to save the planet we’ve been doing our best to pollute for so many years.

Ponyo’s logic is more like that of its 5-year-old protagonist, who, when he discovers that his goldfish has created an enormous tsunami and transformed into a little girl, just so she can be close to him and possibly eat some ham, is absolutely thrilled and not the least bit frightened. As should we all be.

—Anders Wright

Opening

Adam: Hugh Dancy is the title character, a New Yorker with Asperger’s syndrome who’s charming enough to get together with his new neighbor, Rose Byrne.

Bandslam: What’s the best way to make a movie about high-school-age fledgling rockers? Include High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens and a battle of the bands.

District 9: This terrifically fun Peter Jackson-produced sci-fi flick has two messages. One, discrimination sucks. Two, alien guns rule. See our review on Page 24.

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard: Jeremy Piven and crew are brought in to save a Temecula auto dealership from bankruptcy through intense liquidation and R-rated comedy.

Lorna’s Silence: A young Albanian woman offers to marry into the Belgian underworld in the hopes of gaining citizenship.

Spread: Ashton Kutcher is a sexual conman, preying on older, wealthy L.A. women. Not a documentary.

The Time Traveler’s Wife: Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams star in the massively delayed adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s sci-fi romance.

One time only

My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Let’s be honest—this little romcom from Nia Vardalos isn’t that special. But a lot of people frickin’ loved it. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure: For anyone who dearly loves their bike. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at Stone Brewery World Gardens and Bistro in Escondido. Free, and kids allowed.

Mothra: Giant moth attacks Tokyo, is distracted by patio lamp. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

French Kiss: Meg Ryan follows her philandering fiancé to Paris, where she meets Kevin Kline, playing the Tom Hanks role. Wine will be served. Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.

Marnie: Sean Connery and Tippi Hedron star in the Hitchcock classic about an embezzler and the boss who loves her. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 13 and 14, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Kaminey: Two brothers with different speech impediments find themselves tied up in different bad-news criminal schemes. It’s from Bollywood, so expect singing and dancing. Plays Friday, Aug. 14, through Monday, Aug. 17. Check www.goldspiritfilms.com for times, locations and tickets.

On Thin Ice: It’s just getting harder and harder to be a polar bear. The film will be preceded by a finger-food potluck. No fingers will actually be eaten. Starts at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, at the Sierra Club office in Clairemont Mesa. Free.

Kung Fu Panda: Jack Black is fat. And he voices Po, a panda, who is chosen to save the world, or something. Screens at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, at Market Creek Plaza in Encanto. Free.

Roots in the Sand: Documentary about Hindu-Mexicans, a group of male Indians who came to the Imperial Valley during the early part of the 20th century and married Mexicans because the laws at the time prevented them from importing Indian women. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, at Centro Cultural de la Raza. Donation suggested.

Field of Dreams: If you screen it for free, they will come. At dusk, Saturday, Aug. 15, at South Promenade in Liberty Station. Free.

O Brother, Where Art Thou: The Coen brothers proved George Clooney could do comedy and reminded us Americans that our musical roots are actually pretty cool with this 2000 adaptation of The Odyssey. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 15 and 16, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Love Aaj Kal: Bollywood romcom compares Indian love today with that of yesteryear. Screens at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at UltraStar Del Mar.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: RIP John Hughes. Insert your own “Anyone? Anyone?” joke here. Screens at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the Birch North Park Theatre.

Head: Hey, hey, they’re The Monkees. No, seriously, this movie is really trippy. Screens at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at Café Libertalia in Hillcrest. Free.

Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian: Military families are feted via a free screening of Ben Stiller’s big summer movie. With popcorn! The event starts at 7 p.m., the movie at sundown on Sunday, Aug. 16, on the U.S.S. Midway.

Gigantic: Paul Dano, the sinful preacher from There Will Be Blood and the quiet guy from Little Miss Sunshine, is an aimless mattress salesman wooing Zooey Deschanel. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, the Central Library, Downtown. Free.

48-Hour Film Project results: During the weekend starting Aug. 14, almost 50 teams of filmmakers will crank out movies in less than two days. The results will be screened at 6 and 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 18 and 19, at UltraStar Hazard Center. www.48hourfilm.com.

North Shore: Semi-classic surf / summer romance flick screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.

Young Frankenstein: Guess which summer film series is putting on this Mel Brooks classic? Oh, right—all of them. Still, who doesn’t love the mad scientist Gene Wilder / monster Peter Boyle team-up for “Puttin’ on the Ritz”? Screens at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at Stone Brewery World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido. Free.

Now playing

The Cove: This documentary about secret dolphin fishing in Japan is tough to watch, but it’s definitely worth watching.

A Perfect Getaway: Everything would be going great for newlywed couple Steve Zahn and Mila Jovovich, except someone on their island paradise is murdering newlywed couples.

Captain Abu Raed: When a group of boys mistake an airport janitor for a pilot, he doesn’t exactly set them straight.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: It was only a matter of time.

Julie & Julia: Meryl Streep is Julia Child, and Amy Adams is her biggest fan, Julie Powell, who got through life with the help of Child’s My Life in France.

Paper Heart: It’s hard to define this little movie, which finds Charlyne Yi traveling the country and interviewing people in the hopes of finding out the meaning of love. She complements it with serious puppet shows, and she and former boyfriend Michael Cera re-enact their relationship for the cameras. Yes. Weird.

Aliens in the Attic: Aliens neglect to ensure that their mind-control ray works on meddling kids. It’s unclear why said children fail to welcome our new alien overlords.

The Collector: An ex-con plans a break-in, only to find a psycho has designed a series of deadly Saw-style traps in the very home he’s invading.

Funny People: Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen star in Jud Apatow’s latest. Sandler’s a comedian who thinks he might be dying; Rogen’s the protégé he takes under his wing.

In the Loop: This crafty, satirical look at the methods behind the run-up to the Iraq war works because it—accurately—portrays people at every level of government as being average people, which means they’re often self-involved, vicious and narcissistic.

Shrink: Kevin Spacey is the shrink, a Hollywood guru in a downward spiral of unhappy pot smoking, unable to look after the patients who turn to him for help.

G-Force: Animated guinea pigs save the world, destroy the art of filmmaking.

Orphan: Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga totally pick the scary kid at the orphanage.

Seraphine: Biopic about the French painter Séraphine de Senlis, who was discovered while working as a maid to German art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde.

The Ugly Truth: Actually, the ugly truth is that this Katherine Heigl / Gerard Butler romcom looks really stupid.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The latest entry in the Potter franchise is terrific summer entertainment, but only if you’re already a fan.

(500) Days of Summer: A terrific film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It’s a date movie, sure, but be forewarned, this is a break-up story and not a standard love story.

Brüno: In his follow-up to Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen proves that Paula Abdul is a moron, Ron Paul is woefully out of touch, and ignorant, homophobic crackers are ignorant, homophobic crackers.

The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow’s tense new film focuses on an Iraq unit that specializes in defusing bombs. Well-made, well-written and well-acted—not what you expect for an summer action movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: In one of the last summer blockbusters of the year, giant robots blow shit up.

Food, Inc.: A documentary about how fucked-up the food system is in this country. Pass the buttered popcorn.

Moon: Director Duncan Jones delivers an impressive debut, and Sam Rockwell gives one of his best performances to date as a lonely miner on the far side of the moon whose entire worldview changes after he finds a body out on the surface.

The Proposal: Ryan Reynolds is Sandra Bullock’s assistant. She pushes him into a marriage of convenience (at least for her), but we’re guessing it sticks.

The Hangover: They cut a good trailer for Todd Phillips’ new film, about three buddies—Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis—who wake up the morning after a brutal bachelor party with no memory of what happened or where the groom is.

Up: The trailer for Pixar’s first 3D film doesn’t sell it, but this story of an old man who flies his house to South America via helium balloons is just as good as what you’ve come to expect from those guys.

Star Trek: The JJ Abrams-directed franchise reboot boldly goes to the heart of the original show and makes it fun again. It’s fun, fresh and exciting, the first badass Trek movie since The Wrath of Khan. Good for Trekkies, good for non-Trekkies and great for Trek.

Ongoing

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Space Theater: After undergoing significant renovations, the Fleet is re-opening its dome Imax theater, complete with a kick-ass new screen. Films vary week-to-week. Showtimes and prices can be found at www.rhfleet.org.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: No, it’s not a time warp—the love-it-or-hate-it camp classic continues its midnight run in its 37th year of release. When the lead character of the film is a transvestite scientist named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, you know you’re in for some seriously trashy viewing. And, of course, this is the one movie where you want the audience shouting at the screen. Screens Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theater in Encinitas.