From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) — PICK

Porco Rosso (1992) — PICK 

Night at the Opera (1935) — PICK

One of the Marx Brothers’ best and two Studio Ghibli near-classics are among recent home-video releases.

A top contender for the Marx Brothers’ best and funniest film, Night at the Opera ideally balances a well-structured storyline with the Marxes’ anarchic humor. Musical comedy, a romantic subplot, and Groucho and Margaret Dumont doing what they do — what’s not to love? 

Two Ghibli films more different than Porco Rosso and From Up on Poppy Hill would be hard to find — but they do have one thing in common: a specific sense of time and place rare in the studio’s output.

Set in Depression-era Europe in and around the Adriatic Sea, Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso centers on a Bogeyesque, cynical former World War I ace whose unexplained magical transformation into an anthropomorphic pig somehow fits his character and the Miyazaki vibe perfectly.

A naturalistic departure from the studio’s usual high-flying fantasy, From Up on Poppy Hill is set in the coastal city of Yokohama the year before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where the high-school protagonists grapple with looking to the future while honoring the past.

Bonus Pick: Amazon Prime subscribers, new streaming options include I Love Lucy, Seasons 1 and 2! Enjoy!

 

CAVEAT SPECTATOR: From Up on Poppy Hill: Mature themes. Kids and up. Porco Rosso: Cartoony but brutal fisticuffs; a few mature references. Older kids and up. Night at the Opera: Double entendre and mild innuendo. Kids and up.