Comfort rewatches

Two sisters explore a new country home and the creatures around it. On a return visit, the pleasure can come from details you no longer have to hurry past: the size of a room, the sound of rain, the way a child investigates something unfamiliar. Pick this when you want a short film with space around its discoveries. The worry in the family gives that ordinary wonder emotional weight.

Keep in mind: A parent’s hospitalization and a missing-child sequence may be upsetting.

Kiki arrives in a seaside city and tries to make a working life from her ability to fly. Revisiting it lets the bakery, delivery jobs and new friendships become the destination, even when you know the larger story. Choose it when a character learning to trust her own abilities sounds like good company. The comfort comes from watching help arrive through ordinary people as well as magic.

Keep in mind: Loneliness, self-doubt and an aerial rescue with peril. FlickRot lists 103 minutes; GKIDS lists its disc edition at 102 minutes.

The theft of a book Paddington hopes to buy as a birthday present sends him and the Brown family into an elaborate adventure. Knowing where the story is going makes room to enjoy how carefully its jokes and small acts of kindness connect. This is a livelier comfort watch: the reassuring company comes with disguises, mishaps and a chase. Return to it when you want a busy comic world that keeps noticing what people do for one another.

Keep in mind: Wrongful imprisonment, separation and drowning peril. FlickRot lists 104 minutes; BBFC’s cinema submission runs 103 minutes 23 seconds.

Hollywood’s move from silent films to talking pictures gives performers a new set of problems to solve. The backstage comedy links numbers that invite another look at timing, movement and the work of making something appear effortless. Pick this when familiarity is a pleasure in itself: anticipating a dance can be as satisfying as seeing it for the first time. Its playful energy makes the studio feel like an inviting place to revisit.

Keep in mind: Romantic conflict, professional deception and comic slapstick.

Mr. Fox’s return to stealing puts his family and neighbors in the farmers’ sights. The stop-motion world offers plenty to revisit beyond the caper: clothes, tiny rooms, fussy plans and arguments with recognizably human pride behind them. Choose it when you want a short, dryly funny return to a distinctive place. Its characters can be difficult company, but their efforts to live together give the adventure its warmth.

Keep in mind: Guns, animal peril, a character death and family arguments.

A musician passes himself off as a substitute teacher and turns a class into a band. The deception drives the comedy, but the reason to return is watching the students discover what they can contribute. This is the loudest comfort option here, with performance nerves and unruly enthusiasm taking the place of quiet reassurance. Pick it when you want familiar jokes and the pleasure of people finding a shared rhythm.

Keep in mind: Deception, mild sexual references and language. FlickRot lists 110 minutes and the title The School of Rock; Paramount+ lists 109 minutes as School of Rock.