"Mary and the Witch's" Flower is a Japanese animated film, the first film by Studio Ponoc created by Nishimura. Nishimura produced many successful animated films for the legendary Studio Ghibli like 'When Marnie Was There' and 'Howl's Moving Castle'. I've been a huge Studio Ghibli fan for a long time and also a fan of all the movies that Nishimura had a hand in, so I was really excited to see what the first film in this new studio was going to be like. Would 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' be another classic film like so many Ghibli creations, or would it be something completely different?
First thing I'd like to say, which probably isn't a surprise to anyone who's seen a Studio Ghibli film, is that the animation is very beautiful and detailed. Some animators from Studio Ghibli are a part of this new studio, so it's no surprise to see that the animation in this film is just as colorful and a wonder to look at as Ghibli classics. The backgrounds in each scene are so detailed that I had to keep looking around the screen to admire every little part of them. There's just nothing else quite like the art style from these animated movies, the hard work that goes into them is very noticeable.
The story of 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' Follows a young English girl named Mary Smith (I know) as she stays with her Great Aunt Charlotte and waits for her break to be over and start at a new school. Mary is constantly looking for something to do during this break, but it seems that the adults don't want her to help much because she has a knack for messing things up. While eating a picnic alone outside, she is joined by a black cat who she follows into a forest where she finds beautiful glowing flowers that make the cat terribly scared. What Mary doesn't know is that these flowers can be used to give her the ability to use magic powers. These magic powers lead her to a college in the sky that is exclusively for withes. There she meets the Headmistress Mumblechook (voiced by Kate Winslet) and a strange scientist named Doctor Dee. There's a dark secret at the college though, and Mary is about to be a big part of that.
The story plays out exactly how you would imagine it would, there really aren't many surprises here. I also found myself not really caring too much about any of the characters or their backstories, mostly because none of the characters are really given much time in the movie. The main focus of the movie is of course Mary, who doesn't get much development either. All we really know about Mary is that she's away from her parents and that she doesn't have any friends or talents. I didn't feel connected to Mary as a character in any way, because she didn't really have a strong character. The only characters I was interested in were Mumblechook and Doctor Dee from the college. They had potential to be interesting characters, but not much time went into developing them either. So what we get here is a potentially interesting story with some potentially interesting characters, but all that potential goes nowhere really. It's a perfectly fine story with average characters that I'm sure kids will really like, but those looking for more than that might not get much out of this.
'Mary and the Witch's Flower" is a beautifully animated film with amazing details, colors and movement that kept my attention with it's high quality and crisp visuals. The story and characters kept the movie from being another classic by these creators, but it's just the first of many from a new studio and it definitely shows promise. While I didn't love it as much as I was hoping, I still enjoyed my time watching this and will keep my hopes up and still be excited for Studio Ponoc's next project. I'd recommend to any fans of traditional animation, anime or Ghibli films or for a younger audience.
Overall Grade: C+
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