From Up On Poppy Hill Reviews
Combustible Celluloid
There's definitely enough here to provide a quick fix for older Studio Ghibli fans, though children will probably be bored.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The charming and nostalgic "From Up on Poppy Hill" is as lushly illustrated and vividly realized as memory itself.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Las Vegas Weekly
A sweet but rather bland coming-of-age story.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
"Poppy Hill" proves to be more than just a visual feast. Its seemingly slight storyline has a warm emotional resonance, tapping into both the uncertainty of a Japan caught between past and future.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Austin Chronicle
From Up on Poppy Hill, Studio Ghibli's latest, is decidedly earthbound in comparison to those transportive earlier films, though it's not without its charms.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Goro Miyazaki has a style that's both more painterly and more cinematic than the cartoonish norm, while his father's screenplay is a classic coming-of-age story that seems suited for a live-action remake.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Film Racket
What limits From Up on Poppy Hill is its seeming whitewashing of some tough subjects, including the unseen consequences of war and the role of women in post-war Japan.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
Top CriticIn the wisdom of this artfully rendered film, Umi and Shun - and the viewer - come to learn that the past and the future should go hand in hand, that the best way to move forward is to reflect, and respect, what came before.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Flixist.com
A wonderfully gorgeous and nostalgic film whose story doesn't live up to its look.
Full Review
| Original Score: 69/100
The story of a girl grappling with first love, the absence of her parents and the anxieties of an on-rushing future in 1963 Yokohama has all the earmarks of a Miyazaki classic.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Beliefnet
It's strange to see so much focus on the details of the backgrounds, which are exquisitely rendered, when there is so little attention to the expressiveness of the characters.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
The film's perfectly fine, but it's not a patch on "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke," and other Studio Ghibli classics.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Oregonian
The animation is pretty and clean, reminiscent of other Studio Ghibli films like "Whisper of the Heart," but never achieves wondrous artistry.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Antagony & Ecstasy
It's a minor work. There's no argument around that. Still, it's got a good heart, and likable characters.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
MetroActive
As in so many Studio Ghibli films, the tension is between renovation and cherishing of tradition.The movie is staged during a beautifully chosen moment of transition-the months right before the Tokyo Olympiad.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
CinemaDope
Like his old man, the younger Miyazaki favors limited character animation and luscious water colors. Unfortunately, he lacks his father's storytelling skills.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Rest assured, the younger Miyazaki has clearly earned his stars, as Poppy Hill offers just the same intimate, ultimately life-affirming kind of storytelling we've come to expect from the family name.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
This is a gentle film, hand-drawn with irresistible colors, that exudes nostalgia in a lovely way.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Although simpler and less mysterious than the great Hayao Miyazaki movies, the gently melancholic From Up on Poppy Hill is still a must see at a time when family entertainment is too often synonymous with blandness.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Mark Reviews Movies
[A] study of how the tolls of war reverberate through generations.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
