Boxing Clever: Do youself a favour and put on The Wind Rises

— an old-school kind of movie, with achingly good animation

Thw Wind Rises, Netflix

Do yourself a favour today. Put on a movie called The Wind Rises on Netflix. It’s part of a collection of 21 movies from the Japanese animator, Studio Ghibli, on Netflix. That might sound arty for St Stephen’s Day, but trust me it isn’t. The animated movies, from acclaimed Japanese directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, were recommended to me by a parent in the playground after school a few weeks ago. I started watching them, because all my best TV recommendations come from parents in the playground these days.

These aren’t obscure pieces of work; the movies in the Ghibli collection have scooped a host of Academy Awards. Suitable for kids (the ones I’ve watched are PG), they’re thrilling, sad, funny, epic, and warm. But most of all they look gorgeous — a perfect balm after Christmas Day.

Based on a true story, The Wind Rises tells the tale of a Japanese boy who dreamed about flight. It’s a beautiful bit of nostalgia that will appeal to any boy or girl or lay in their bed at night, imagining that they were flying to America. (We all dreamed of flying to America in 1970s Ireland.) The Japanese boy in The Wind Also Rises followed his dream by designing the Zero fighter plane that did so much damage to Japan’s enemies in World War II.

That’s the beauty of these Studio Ghibli movies — there’s proper light and shade. The Wind Rises also has a tragic love story, a gruff but kind boss, Nazis, war, kissing, humour, and a non-Hollywood ending. It feels a bit like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Myself and my eight-year-daughter were glued to The Wind Rises right to the end. Her six-year-old brother tuned out because there was too much love and not enough war. I just started watching another Ghibli movie with him, Castle in the Sky, and he’s in from the get-go because the baddie s arrived by flying bike and start shooting all around them.

I’ve nothing against Christmas classics. It’s hard to beat a bit of Shrek or Bridge Over the River Kwai, with a box of Roses at 11 am on a Tuesday morning. I’m also a huge fan of animated Americana like Frozen, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets. But we can watch those any day of the year.

These Japanese treasures feel like they are made for Christmas. The thing about Frozen and co is they all sound the same — cheeky, white American voices with insider jokes for the parents.

The Wind Rises is different. It’s an old school kind of movie, a great yarn, with flawed heroes, real sadness and joy, tinged with a desire for a better world. It helps that it's dubbed if you’re allergic to subtitles.

But best of all is the animation. It’s achingly good, so different to the American variety that you forget you’re watching a cartoon. My wife pointed out that some scenes in The Wind Rises felt like a painting come to life. She’s right. And that makes them perfect for this time of year.