Does "From Up On Poppy Hill" Deserve 2 Thumbs Up?

I have watched "From Up On Poppy Hill" at least once or twice, but I've never blogged about it until today. I know that Goro Miyazaki is not his father, the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, but I still would have liked to see a similar storytelling style. I didn't get it. While Hayao is geared toward fantastical stories such as "My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away," and "Kiki's Delivery Service," his son appears to take a more "slice of life" approach with this film. father, who was lost at sea during the Korean War. Shun Kazama (Anton Yelchin), the engaging editor of the high school newspaper, gets her involved in his campaign to preserve "the Latin Quarter," a beloved but dilapidated building that houses the school clubs. The effort to save the ramshackle structure sparks a believable romance between these likable teenagers. Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa adapted the story from a graphic novel by Chizuru Takahashi and Tetsuro Sayama. The filmmaking is more intimate and assured than Goro Miyazaki's "Tales from Earthsea" (2006). Many Japanese retain a nostalgia for the early '60s, when the Olympics proclaimed their country's reemergence from the destruction of World War II and the period of rebuilding that followed. Kyo Sakamoto's crossover pop hit "Ue o muite aruko," which Americans know as "Sukiyaki," sets the tone. The Ghibli artists outdid themselves creating the dust and junk decades of high school students left in the Latin Quarter: the audience can understand both the students' affection for their ratty headquarters and the administrators' desire to be rid of an eyesore. At a time when American animation is dominated by fast-paced, big-budget CG films, "From Up on Poppy Hill" reminds viewers of the singular warmth of hand-drawn animation. The characters were neither particularly loveable or detestable, and the plot--while it unfolded nicely--was kind of "meh" and not particularly able to hold my attention. However, as a fan of both Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films, I can't bear to eliminate this DVD from my ever-growing anime collection.