From Up on Poppy Hill
GKIDS | Release Date: March 15, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 28, 2013
Your kids may will fall in love with it, if you help them find it. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 21, 2013
From Up on Poppy Hill is frankly stunning, as beautiful a hand-drawn animated feature as you are likely to see. It's a time-machine dream of a not-so-distant past, a sweet and honestly sentimental story that also represents a collaboration between the greatest of Japanese animators and his up-and-coming son. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 29, 2013
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. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayMar 13, 2013
It’s all lovely and sweet, and while this story might’ve been just as engaging in live action, Miyazaki’s animation does clear away the extraneous detail, re-creating the world of 50 years ago and instilling it with the poignancy of a family snapshot. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 3, 2013
Goro Miyazaki’s film is about the point at which we decide not what we want to be when we grow up, but who, and the way the tiniest moments in our lives often have the most far-reaching effect. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 14, 2013
This movie...is a lovely example of the strong realist tendency in Japanese animation. Its visual magic lies in painterly compositions of foliage, clouds, architecture and water, and its emotional impact comes from the way everyday life is washed in the colors of memory. Read full review
80
Village VoiceZachary WigonMar 12, 2013
This film's gentle storytelling manages to extract the emotional payoffs of melodrama without ruining one's suspension of disbelief. Read full review
80
Time OutSam AdamsMar 12, 2013
From Up on Poppy Hill — cowritten by Miyazaki, and directed by his son Goro — shows a different side of the Japanese animation house, one that finds equal wonder in comparatively mundane affairs. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeMar 14, 2013
It’s a film heavily dependent on tone and atmosphere for its charm, the budding relationship shown through things like a lovely twilight bike ride down a hill to the shops below. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanApr 4, 2013
The animation is pretty and clean, reminiscent of other Studio Ghibli films like "Whisper of the Heart," but never achieves wondrous artistry. Read full review
65
NPRScott TobiasMar 14, 2013
It's the warm tenor of the film that ultimately rescues it. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 4, 2013
Poppy Hill doubtless plays most strongly to Japanese audiences — especially the musical score made up of old-timey jazz and early-’60s pop that sounds like corn syrup to Western ears — but its central conflict is gentle, unyielding, and universal. Which is to say that it turns out to be a Hayao Miyazaki movie after all. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 27, 2013
The artistry is peaceful and comforting to the eyes but not especially stirring. Given the pictorial extremes that Studio Ghibli has gone to in the past, "Up on Poppy Hill" is weak tea. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 11, 2013
It’s a lovely film, a sentimental parable that carefully recreates a post-war Japan obsessed with obliterating its past. Read full review
60
The GuardianMike McCahillAug 2, 2013
It's a light, breezy 1960s-set coming-of-age tale that strives to convey something of how Japan rebuilt itself after the traumas of the second world war. Read full review
60
EmpireOwen WilliamsJul 29, 2013
Not on a par with Ghibli's greatest work like Totoro or Spirited Away but not without charms of its own. A solid second effort from Miyazaki Junior. Read full review
60
Total FilmKevin HarleyJul 19, 2013
If Miyazaki Jr elevates the material, it’s through style. Dripping with watercolour warmth, the rapturous images convey how a country’s efforts to right itself resonate with the young. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 14, 2013
Even with no wood sprites, witches or spells, there’s plenty of magic in this coming-of-age charmer. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 21, 2013
The movie looks lovely, but it's luminous prose. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineCaroline McKenzieMar 11, 2013
The story arc is somewhat facile, and its lesson about preserving history instead of demolishing it to make way for new, shiny things is too obvious. Read full review
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