メアリと魔女の花

MARY TO MAJO NO HANA

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
OTHER
RELEASE
July 8, 2017
LENGTH
102 min

DESCRIPTION

Young Mary follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest and discovers an old broomstick and a strange flower, a rare plant that blossoms once every seven years. Together, the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try and set things right.

(Source: Altitude Film Entertainment)

CAST

Mary Smith
Hana Sugisaki
Peter
Ryuunosuke Kamiki
Tib
Ikue Ootani
Gib
Lynn
Flanagan
Jirou Satou
Charlotte
Shinobu Ootake
Akage no Majo
Hikari Mitsushima
Madame Mumblechook
Yuuki Amami
Banks
Eri Watanabe
Doctor Dee
Fumiyo Kohinata
Zebedee
Kenichi Endou
Confucius

REVIEWS

Rollo
83/100
Dazzling and charming in unexpected ways.
Mary and the Witch's Flower (Mary to Majo no Hana) is Studio Ponoc's first film as a company, and as such it's bound to have some flaws. However, I think the actual people behind Studio Ponoc's experience from Ghibli really helped to pull this together.

The Problems

Of course, no film is without problems, so let's get those out of the way. I felt like the voice acting was slightly boring. I have nothing against Ruby Barnhill, it's just that she doesn't have experience in cartoon voice-acting at all. Her performance came off as such, and it made some moments that were supposed to be dramatic, something irrelevant in the grand scheme. Of course, however, Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent's performances were great. But, I feel like in addition to Mary's voice acting being a problem, I feel like the script wasn't translated entirely well. It felt like the choice of words a lot of characters used to describe things was just... odd. Now, I don't really watch much dub, I prefer sub but this film was only available dubbed. This might be a normal problem for dubbed films, but is a problem nonetheless. It also ties in with what I said earlier about dramatic moments. The characters would say something that's supposed to be sad or something, and the sentence would actually sound sad in Japanese, but in English, combined with the amateur child actress, it just doesn't work well.

The Strengths

Now onto what I actually like about this film. For a studio's very first film, this is outstanding. Not only that, they got Disney Japan on board as well. They really pulled it off in the end, and produced a great film. It's not too often that a first movie is actually pretty good. Another thing, the visuals are stunning. There were some shots where I said to myself "Wow. That actually looks really cool." The backgrounds, visual effects, and animation are all gorgeous. It's not the best I've seen by any means, but it definitely can't be looked past. I also loved the humor in this. While it's not a comedy in itself - it's not very joke-oriented - there was one specific joke that stood out to me. Near the beginning of the movie, Peter gives Mary the nickname "Red-headed monkey", which of course offends Mary, but is cute and funny in context. A lot later in the film, Peter finds himself running side-by-side to a bunch of animals with Mary. He turns to an actual red-furred monkey, thinking it's Mary. He just kind of guiltily pauses for a second, and Mary sarcastically says "I'm over here". I don't know, maybe it's not for everyone but I thought that subtle humor was hilarious, given it hinged entirely on context given earlier in the film. It was also completely out of nowhere given the lack of literally any jokes so far, yet it didn't distract from anything and was actually refreshing rather than something to be taken aback by.

Another thing that I think this film does right is the morals and the ideas behind it. This part might have a bit of a spoiler. The entire film, Mary has gotten her power through magic flowers. Throughout the film she learns just how dangerous it is to have so much power. When the headmistress and Dr. D try giving someone copious amounts of magic as an experiment, it completely backfires and Mary sees just how big of a mistake it is to take such power lightly. Near the end of the film, Peter sees an extra flower bud stuck in Mary's hair. Even if this part is kind of forced and I think they could've found a better way to introduce that last bud, what she did next I thought really wrapped the whole idea up in a nice little bow. She says that she's had enough power for one day, and casts the flower into the sky. Of course this isn't something revolutionary or necessarily clever. I'm just saying that the film accomplished what it set out to do while being subtle about it at the same time the whole way through.

Conclusion

I enjoyed this film. I really enjoyed it. I give it an 83 because it's halfway between 80 and 85. I think 85 is a bit generous and 80 is a bit harsh. Like I said, it's not a perfect film by any means. But it did accomplish nearly all that it wanted to, and I enjoyed it. The film was great, it was adorable. Not to mention the main character is super cute (but that's not counted on the score heheh). I would recommend this film as a start to people who don't actually watch anime. It's not quite a Ghibli film, but I feel like it fills the modern anime stereotypes more than the old-fashioned Ghibli films. Ghibli does not make bad films by any means, but if someone I knew wanted to get an ease into watching anime, I might recommend something like this to them. Although, Ghibli is still a very viable option.

Goodnight, everybody!
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JTurner82
80/100
Borrows from the great masters with charm and wondrous beauty. No classic, but pleasant enough.
Studio Ghibli had long established itself as the pinnacle of Japanese animation starting in the 1980's, but recently the studio went into hiatus, leaving most of its younger employees at a dead-end. Not to be discouraged, some of these employees decided to start a new facility of their own. Now christened as "Studio Ponoc", this team of former Ghibli animators, led by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There) begin their career with Mary and the Witch's Flower, based on a children's book by the late Mary Stewart. The end result could very well be described as basically a "Greatest Hits" of Ghibli as opposed to something that would establish a new identity for the studio, but considering the alternative, which would be a complete extinction of a beautiful form of art, for once, this isn't a flaw.

Probably the best way to describe this feature is that it's a sort of Kiki's Delivery Service meets Harry Potter, with a dash of Spirited Away, and occasionally Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, as well as Castle in the Sky for good measure. While Mary and the Witch's Flower doesn't quite live up to the standards of those titles, it is nonetheless a pleasant enough venture. It's also refreshing to see an animated feature targeted at kids and adults which goes all-out on being ambitious. In fact, the film's action-packed opening scene, in which we see a mysterious girl flee from a burning laboratory on a broomstick while chased by dolphin-shaped watery-like creatures, provides a great start.

After this thrilling sequence, we meet Mary (voiced in the English version by Ruby Barnhill), a bored little girl who has just moved to the countryside to stay with her aunt. She's friendless, depressed, and even clumsy. The only other person her own age in the town she has recently moved into, a boy named Peter, also rubs her the wrong way: he jokes about her red hair, which for some reason she is sensitive about. While pursuing a runaway cat into the woods beyond her house, Mary discovers both a little broomstick and a glowing flower. Before you know it, she is suddenly transported to Endor College (no, it's not a reference to STAR WARS), an elaborate fortress of a university which doubles as a school for witches. She is "welcomed" by the school's domineering headmistress Madam Mumblechook (Kate Winslet) and scientist Doctor Dee (Jim Broadbent). But things get ugly when she takes a spellbook that doesn't belong to her and accidentally puts Peter's life in danger. The last act of the movie involves Mary trying to correct her mistake, building to an edge of your seat climax with just enough pyrotechnics and thrills to please any fan of such suspenseful finales.

It's evident that director Yonebayashi is paying homage to his former master with every scene in his film. More often than not, there are visual references that one will make to classic Ghibli films along with visual touches of its own. Endor College is located on a tall mesa stretching above the clouds, bizarre assortments of chimera creatures abound in cages, and there are also the sort of rubbery, shape-shifting, ooze-like creatures that can be found from Howl. At one point our heroine crash-lands in the forest, with her broomstick broken in half. And the entire climax involves scaling a massive tree which houses scientific technology. The animation is also as richly detailed and colorful as anything from Studio Ghibli, with the character designs each containing Miyazaki's signature style, from the cherub-like faces of the protagonists to the grotesquely proportioned "caricature" creatures.

Musically, too, Mary and the Witch's Flower excels. Although Joe Hisaishi's musical services are missed, Takatsugu Muramatsu supplies a beautiful orchestral soundtrack with occasional Hammer-dulcimer strummed interludes for good measure. There are times when the director does allow the music to take a back seat and let occasional still shots filled with environmental sounds do the talking instead of spoon-feeding us.

Perhaps the only issue with this otherwise enjoyable feature is that it doesn't quite achieve the same heights of Ghibli's classic films. It might be due to Yonebayashi trying to do a bit too much within 104 minutes or so, but there are a few plot points that feel a bit unresolved. I was unclear about Mary's issue regarding her hair, for instance, especially since the film decides to discard it in the second half. Her relationship with Peter also could have used a bit more fleshing out as well -- her sudden shift from annoyance to wanting to rescue him feels abrupt, even for a kid her age. The ending itself, while thrilling, also seems a bit rushed as well. Moreover, Mumblechook and Doctor Dee aren't all that scary for being antagonists, and despite Yonebayashi's claims that they are "misunderstood", all we're permitted to see in the film is both characters mostly engaging in despicable acts.

Probably the most interesting character in the movie is the one that doesn't utter a word, and that is Tib, a black cat who very much resembles Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service. He pretty much acts like any ordinary cat would. He meows, prances, acts independently, and mostly communicates with facial expressions. For good measure, Tib even has a girlfriend. Not that the other characters are unlikable by comparison, but these two animals, for some reason, really stand out.

Following in the tradition of the Ghibli movies, this movie also employs some well-known actors and actresses to provide the voices for the dub -- only this time, the dub is recorded at England's Tambourine Studios, resulting with a mostly British-accented cast. Considering that this is based on a British children's book, this provides a nice change of pace, and is arguably all the more fitting for this film perhaps because of that. (None of this is a slight against any of the Disney-produced dubs for the Ghibli library -- they're still excellent, warts and all.) Oddly, the only performance that took a while to grow on me was that of Barnhill as Mary (recently seen as Sophie in Steven Spielberg's The BFG). Her voice is a bit grating at first, with the occasional moment of tentativeness, but she gradually steps it up as the film goes on and by the end her Mary grew on me. Broadbent and Winslet are fine in their roles as Mumblechook and Dee, by contrast, while Louis Ashbourne Serkis (son of Andy Serkis from Lord of the Rings fame) speaks appropriately for the role of Peter. Strangely, my favorite performance of the dub might be that of Ewen Bremner as as Flannagan, a pompous fox-like character who chastises Mary for how she handles her broomstick. The Scottish accent is a great fit, and he brings a lot of character. There are a few moments where the lip sync is less than perfect, but not distracting enough to take away from the film. I can't speak for the Japanese version, as I haven't seen it.

In the end it doesn't matter which version you watch. Mary and the Witch's Flower, inferior though it may be to Ghibli, is nonetheless lovely and a great way to spend two hours. Although it does little to set Ponoc apart from the studio it takes inspiration from, there's plenty to enjoy. That it comes at a time when hand-drawn animated features like these are scarce (at least in America) is a blessing as well.
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chaotica
91/100
I loved it, I thought it had a great plot, and the promise that Mary and Peter made was really cute.
I have a few notes about the movie. I did love it, yes. but there was a few things that did not add up. when Mary's aunt ran outside after Mary left to go try to save peter (the first time), I automatically made the assumption that she must have been the witch who stole the flower years ago. (as shown in the beginning of the movie) but if her aunt was a witch, why didnt Mary inherit any magic? it was obvious that they WERE related, hence the bright red hair that they both have. so did genes not carry out? or is magic not a gene that can be passed down? if it cant be passed down, what was the point of having a witch school? if magic cant be passed down, then how do the students get the magic in the first place? is it like random selection?
-Another note, about Peter. I felt bad for him throughout the movie. it wasn't his fault that he was brought into the mess, though, he didnt show Mary any distain for what she did in the end. but she DID try to blame him for the flowers in the first half of the movie.. and if she hadn't done that, then the principle/scientist/villain would not have been able to find his address and kidnap him. in retrospect that was what the movie needed to continue on, but if Mary had not disclosed where peter had lived, he would not have been brought into the mess. if I were him I would at least be a little bit mad about it all, since he ended up being used as a lab rat by the scientists.
-theres something to be said about their bond, however. She only knew Peter for a few days, yet they bonded immediately, despite him making a joke over something shes so deeply self-conscious about. i thought it was cute how when she went to save him (the first time) they made a promise to get out of there together. and it was so cute how she managed to keep that promise even when her magic ran out. (I DO NOT SHIP THEM, THATS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT) but it was cute how they were so happy to see each other in the end.
-another note, if Mary ran out of magic, how did she ride the broom home in the end? are the brooms in this movie self-aware? I dont think they are self-aware, since after every time that Mary's magic ran out, the broom shut off, or like died temporarily. and it was shown that Mary did not use the last flower to power the broom, since she threw it away as they flew home. so how did she manage to fly home without magic?
those are all the notes I had about this movie, overall it was AMAZING. plot was awesome, the friendship development was awesome as well. I thought it was cute how the cat had a bond for each other throughout the movie. if not for them, Mary would not have been able to save peter. in a way they are the heroes in this movie. i wish there was more of the gardener in the movie, they barely showed him throughout the movie, yet he made such a great impact. he deserved a back-story if you ask me.
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