Alice looked at Henry for one long moment before nodding, and when she did he could hear her teeth clicking against the barrel of the gun and he shivered at the sound. He closed his eyes for a second and forced himself to swallow. He opened his eyes and looked at Alice. “Do you know why you want to do this?”

In this first installment of Toho’s anime Godzilla trilogy, humanity has lost Earth. After years of searching unsuccessfully for a new world, they return to make a stand against Godzilla and reclaim their home. It’s an idea that balances nicely within the spheres of anime and giant creature features, and it lends itself to moments of beautiful and imaginative sci-fi imagery. These moments, unfortunately, are fleeting. While the script aims for high drama, stilted computer-generated animation of the human characters derails any emotional impact, making Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters an exercise in patience.

Studio Ponoc continues Studio Ghibli’s legacy with its debut animated feature, Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Magical and goodhearted, this simple film should entertain children and adults alike. When young Mary discovers a mysterious flower, granting her limited magical powers, she is transported to a school for witchcraft where she soon learns everything is not as it seems. My main concern lies in the film’s animation choices—I’m surprised how Westernized everything looks; and yet, this look is faithful to its source material, Mary Stewart’s The Little Broomstick. That aside, this delightful film proves Studio Ponoc is here to stay.