Ponyo, the new Miyazaki film, inspired by H.C. Andersen

''Miyazaki acknowledged inspiration from the Hans Christian Andersen story, but said the similarity was only glancing. He said he was always bothered even as a child that Andersen's mermaids were deprived of souls.

"Ponyo" is set in modern-day Japan and Ponyo of course is no mermaid. She is a goldfish, with human face, whose transformation into a girl is evolutionary: first sprouting hands and feet that resemble those of a chicken and become more human as the affection between her and Sosuke grows.''



Articles: here and here.