One of the key principles of animation set forth by Disney's Nine Old Men was appeal. The idea was that each character must have some kind of appeal -- even the bad guys. If a character has no visual appeal, the audience won't want to look at them! Obviously if no one wants to look at your characters, you won't have much of an audience.

Yesterday I saw Hayao Miyazaki's latest production "Ponyo". With the two main characters as 5-year-old kids, he nailed appeal, especially with Ponyo. Her nature is innocent and energetic and she bounds about running and hopping and swimming throughout the film.

I learned a lot by watching this film. Has anyone else seen it?