From Up on Poppy Hill - film review

This innocuous but somewhat insipid entry in the Ghibli canon is a mere wisp of a film
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Guy Lodge2 August 2013

Studio Ghibli master Hayao Miyazaki will soon unveil his Second World War epic The Wind Rises, hopefully showing his fellow animators how it’s done. Among those who should be taking notes is his own son Goro, director of this innocuous but somewhat insipid entry in the Ghibli canon.

The studio’s trademark colouring-book visuals and lilting musical score are holding up their end of the bargain. The story, however, is a mere wisp of a thing, as two teenagers in Sixties Yokohama fall in love while fighting to save their high-school clubhouse from demolition. A gently lyrical diversion for Ghibli die-hards, then; a gentle snooze for others.

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