Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)
In 2002, Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved Spirited Away won the second-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Since the category’s launch some 25 years ago, Miyazaki has directed five Studio Ghibli films, four of which were nominated for an Academy Award and two of which ultimately won. One specific film, however, didn’t make the cut: Ponyo. But now, nearly two decades after its release in 2008, L.A.’s Academy Museum is revisiting the movie through an immersive exhibition.
Open through next January, Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo” offers a remarkable glimpse into its eponymous film. The exhibition gathers more than 100 items hand-picked by the animation studio, ranging from art boards, posters, and Miyazaki’s original hand drawings, to an animation desk that was used during the film’s production. Also included are interactive installations, including an animation table where guests can create their own animated sequences with sea creature cut-outs designed by Studio Ghibli; a room whose walls are covered with billowing waves and a moveable Ponyo figure; and a replica of Sosuke’s green bucket, perfect for children to crawl inside.
“The film has these moments of slowing down, contemplative, mesmerizing moments,” Jessica Niebel, the exhibition’s curator, said in an interview with Hyperallergic, noting that the oversized bucket mimics the film’s imaginative, idyllic world. “Originally, we wanted to make [the bucket] a little smaller, and then our director Amy Homma asked, ‘What if adults want to crawl in, too?’”
That the exhibition accommodates younger guests is no coincidence. After all, Ponyo is one of Studio Ghibli’s most child-friendly films, focusing on five-year-old Sōsuke’s friendship with Ponyo, a goldfish-like girl whose desire to leave her underwater kingdom and transform into a human risks the fragile balance of nature. This premise may sound familiar—Miyazaki drew inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, adding to the film’s fantastical atmosphere. Taken in its entirety, Ponyo marked a return to themes of curiosity, courage, and childlike wonder, complete with enchanting, nautical scenery and vibrant characters.
“[The] exhibition is all about this character’s perseverance, and the joyful nature and triumph through ups and downs, [being] willing to explore a new world,” Shraddha Aryal, the Academy Museum’s EVP of exhibitions, told LAist. “And it’s such a beautiful love story about friendship.”
Above all, though, the exhibition celebrates the craft of hand-drawn animation. After experimenting with computer animation in previous Ghibli films, the studio opted to exclusively hand-draw every frame of Ponyo. Miyazaki also abandoned straight lines throughout the film, preferring fluid, organic forms that complemented Ponyo’s underwater landscape.
“Get rid of straight lines. Use gently warped lines that allow the possibility of magic to exist, liberating us from the curse of perspective drawing,” Miyazaki once said of the film. “A world where even the horizon swells, dips, and sways.”
The emphasis on the film’s hand-drawn character is reflected in the exhibition’s various objects, including animation cells and other artworks that have never been shown outside of Japan. “I get caught up in how beautiful [Ponyo] looks as the final film,” Emily Rauber Rodriguez, an assistant curator at the museum, told io9. “But when you look at these animation drawings, especially the revisions by Miyazaki, the minute changes that he makes to a line, or a dot, or a smudge, completely changes the whole character, the whole moment.”
Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo” is on view at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures through January 10, 2027.
At the Academy Museum in L.A., guests can now dive into the world of Hayao Miyazaki’s 2008 feature film Ponyo, complete with immersive installations, original hand-drawn art, and other archival materials.
Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)
Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)
Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)
Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)
Installation view of “Studio Ghibli’s PONYO” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo: Courtesy of the Academy Museum)