Watch From Up on Poppy Hill For Free

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

From Up on Poppy Hill is all about looking to the past and seeing if something is ahead in the future that will stay the same (or not, as case usually turns out to be). There are really two stories in what is kind of a simple story that completely lacks anything really to do with fantasy - there's one dream sequence but it would probably look the same if it were live action - though that's not any kind of negative, per-say. The film takes place in 1963 and is about the concurrent stories surrounding young Umi (Rachel Bolger in the English version) and Shun (Anton Yelchin) as they discover new/revealing things about their respective paternal lineages and some drama about whether their local school, uh, center or something (full of every department imaginable like a giant complex) will be torn down or not.This is also all in light of the upcoming 64 Tokyo Olympics, which was a major deal at the time signifying a corner turning for the Japanese people following reconstruction in the post-war years. The film's (co) written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro, and the whole tone of the film is very sweet and gentle, and sometimes funny in that way that catches you off guard with Ghibli works (a lot of it comes with some of the goofy/dopey moments inside of the giant extra-curricular school-place), and it has something to say about the nature of looking to the past and trying to hold on to a certain image. For the teens at the core - who, of course, fall in love because it's that time of their lives and they are both nice, caring people, and that's good to see, genuinely, no really - they sort of acknowledge that this is almost a soap-like melodrama that's unfolding regarding new news about who their father(s) might be (all from a picture that Umi has and knocks Shun for a loop).I wondered though if simply acknowledging it was enough; the last 15 minutes of the film spins the wheels even more about who is really who and new revelations come and some suspense comes for Shun to find out news that is one-time-only or not at all. And yet this is still more compelling, all of the character stuff between Umi and Shun, than the storyline involving the school and what is basically the respectable version of the "save the Rec Center" plot from dance flicks (no, really, think about it if you see it). I didn't care about that story, despite some colorful side characters, and wanted to get back to the emotional core of this young couple that is shown very simply as becoming more attracted to one another but in a pure-hearted sort of way (it's Ghibli so the romance is chaste - which is good considering the reveals that come around!) I keep coming back to the word 'sweet' but there's no other word for it really; it's nowhere as sad as the recent When Marnie Was Here, but it has a similar take on the real world and how people look to the past to reconcile things that they can or cannot change. Also, subtlety is the key thing with the characters, how seemingly simple the reactions are at first but once you get keyed into them you see the animators doing little things to make them more endearing and heart-rending. I just wish Poppy Hill had a little more meat to its other story, and as it is it's so light that it's like a feather ready to blow off your finger. But since it's from one of the two or three giants in studio animation it's all the same a pleasure to watch, albeit one that I see isn't necessarily a repeat-viewing

There isn't going to be magic or whimsy in this movie. It is more slice of life kind of film. While there is relationship conflict in this movie, it isn't the only focus. There is saving the club house, taking care of the boarding house, learning about the character's history all playing part in the movie. It's entertaining and interesting in a (sorta) realistic way. It's not a kids movie, it's more for teens and adults. The plot is interesting at points but not spectacular. There is some humor but not a lot. It visuals won't blow you away but has Studio Ghibli style feel to it. It's above average but not the studio's best work. If you like "Whisper of the Heart", you may like this movie. I recommend watching Ghibli's best movies and then come back to this one.

A simple coming of age story. The visuals, as always for Studio Ghibli, are amazing to look at. They certainly know how to create an immersive atmosphere. The characters and story are good, but don't stand out that much until the third act. That is when the emotions kick in. I don't know why but watching anime characters cry is a tough thing to get through! Maybe it's because the animation creates the emotion of sadness as if it were spilling out of the character. Anyways, it's extremely emotional and almost got me to tears. And that is the only sad point in the movie. The rest of it is extremely sweet and harmless. If you like Studio Ghibli and the trailer looks good to you, then you will probably enjoy this movie a lot.

Directed by Studio Ghibli's Goro Miyazaji, son of master animator Hayao Miyazaki, "From Up on Poppy Hill" tells the story of Umi Matsuzai, a high-school girl living in 1964, Yokohama, Japan."Poppy's" first act finds Umi locked in a world of rigid ritual. With her father dead and her mother abroad, Umi spends her days taking care of family members and tending to various domestic duties. Umi's life takes a turn when she meets Shun Kazama, the cute kid who runs her school's newspaper club.From this point onwards, "Poppy" resembles Yoshifumi Kondo's "Whisper of the Heart" and Isao Takahata's "Only Yesterday". Umi and Shun flirt amidst gorgeous landscapes, bicycling through bustling cities, strolling along walkways and attending dinner parties at Umi's picturesque home, perched high above the Japanese coastline. And if his father's films tend to be preoccupied with air-planes and airships, Goro's "Poppy" is awash with ocean-liners, freighters and tug-boats, which seem to perpetually glide across the film's many distant horizons.Like ships in the night, Umi and Shun similarly, tentatively, approach and avoid one another. The film's later acts then find our puppy lovers joining forces to save a school clubhouse which is set for demolition. They hope to restore it, to prevent its demise, a restoration project which points to a rejection of Japan's process of post-war modernisation. "We can learn from history!" Shun says, but nobody's listening. With the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on the horizon, Japan seeks a clean break with her past, but it's this past which Shun and Umi hope to preserve. They advocate a careful conservation of tradition, culture, and historical memory, a project which, ironically, requires them to appropriate the language and tactics of pre-WW2, nationalist, Imperialist Japan.It is here where Umi and Shun realise that they may in fact be brother and sister. The past, then, prevents the couple's present love affair. It taints, makes things impossible and exposes horrors which subsequent generations rather keep buried. Umi and Shun's inability to make sweet incestuous love is then mirrored to their own parents' rejection of conservative values; their mother and father came from upper and lower class families, and so are themselves emblematic of a love which was once forbidden.Of course no children's film is going to advocate incest. As such, "From Up On Poppy Hill" eventually reveals that Umi and Shun's consanguinity was just one big misunderstanding. The duo are granted love, but history remains a messy mine-field which threatens to explode and disrupt at any-time. Avoiding its pitfalls always means familiarising yourself with your forefathers."From Up On Poppy Hill" eschews the fantastical elements typical of Studio Ghibli productions. This is a simple but not simplistic melodrama, beautifully animated, at times heart-wrenching and filled with atmospheric locations. Like his father's work, Goro's lines are clean, his facial expressions subtle, his landscapes overly idealised and perhaps too steeped in nostalgia.8.5/10 – More very good, recent, Eastern animated films: "Whisper of the Heart", "Only Yesterday", "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", "The Sky Crawlers", "The Secret World of Arriety", "The King of Pigs".