With an intergalactic cast of thousands, director Koji Masunari’s colorfully explosive debut feature sets a new high for visual spectacle and sheer inventiveness of character design. When Amane and her older cousin Natsuki find an injured dog in the woods, they discover that he is not a dog at all, but Pochi, an alien botanist sent to Earth to track down a rare and powerful plant. Before long, Pochi has whisked the kids away to a space colony on the dark side of the moon, an interstellar gathering place of humorous alien creatures, jellyfish spaceships, dragon trains, and – if that weren’t enough – a theme song from UK pop anomaly Susan Boyle. Recommended ages: 7 and up.

This third film in the trilogy featuring pint-sized child hero Kirikou weaves together a collection of short-form fables, mixing traditional storytelling and mythology with bits of humor and wit, enlivened with a vibrant use of color and an upbeat musical score from Malian, Togolese and French artists. Throughout, Kirikou is called upon to save his village from perils both supernatural and human, which he does with a combination of speed, cunning and humor – as well as a certain naiveté about the way the world really works. Recommended Ages: 7 and up. In French with English subtitles.

The highly anticipated new film from Studio Ghibli was written by legendary studio founder Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Goro Miyazaki, the first feature film collaboration between father and son. In Yokohama in 1963, high school kids Umi and Shun work together to save a dilapidated Meiji-era club house from demolition. But as their tentative romance begins to blossom, a buried secret from their past emerges to pull them apart. Richly evocative of time and place (and the optimism in Japan in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics), FROM UP ON POPPY HILL boasts a star-filled voice cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard and Anton Yelchin. Recommended ages: 9 and up.