When Marnie Was There (film)
2015
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Jan 19, 2018 · The animators invoke worlds upon worlds in “Mary and the Witch’s Flower:” the green woods and mist-filled forests of England rendered in swooning evocative watercolors, and the show-stopping Endor, a psychedelic space from out of a dream or drug trip, packed with strange objects, unexplainable phenomena, students floating by in soap ...
89% Tomatometer 92 Reviews 71% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings Young Mary follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest and discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare...
- (92)
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- PG
- Adventure, Fantasy, Anime
Jan 18, 2018 · Based on “The Little Broomstick,” a durably popular novel by Mary Stewart, and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” is a charming children’s entertainment ...
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Sep 25, 2017 · Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura branched off to form Studio Ponoc with a team of key fellow Ghibli vets and their first feature, Mary and the Witch's Flower is an absolutely...
- The Road to Spells is Paved With Good Intentions.
- Mary and The Witch's Flower Images
- Verdict
By William Bibbiani
Updated: Jan 19, 2018 1:06 am
Posted: Jan 19, 2018 12:21 am
There are very few filmmakers who could reasonably claim to know more about the relationship between melancholy and fantasy than Hiromasa Yonebayashi. His first two films as a director - The Secret World of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There - are masterpieces of loneliness, in which isolated heroes embark upon enchanting larger-than-life adventures and mature into better, more heroic people. And of course, those stories are animated as beautifully as anyone could possibly hope for.
So it’s unfortunate that Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s third film, and his first outside of Studio Ghibli, simply isn’t as magical as the others. (And pretty ironic, considering this one is literally about magic.) Once again, the director has set out to tell a story about a stifled young person whose personal hangups parallel the lessons she must learn throughout a perilous, fantastical journey, only this time she doesn’t appear to learn anything particularly meaningful, and even the plot smacks of familiarity. It’s the same amount of effort for less reward than usual.
The title protagonist, Mary (voiced by Ruby Barnhill), is a young girl who hates her finicky red hair and who jumps headfirst into every task placed in front of her, and usually breaks something as a result. She’s persnickety to the only other child she knows in her new hometown, where she lives with her Great Aunt Charlotte (Lynda Barron), and she likes to vent her frustration onto a perpetually pissed-off cat named Tib.
There are plenty of new stories to be told about young magical people and their adventures. They don’t all have to feel rote, and even if they do, there’s more than enough personality in the world to make even the most Worst-Witch-or-Harry-Potter-esque tale feel fresh and exciting. (Have you ever seen Little Witch Academia? You should.)
And sure enough, Mary and the Witch’s Flower is lush and vibrant enough to be worth watching, but the appearance of magic doesn’t quite make it magical. The characters don’t evolve enough to make even the most incredible journey in the world seem important. And that’s a bit of a letdown after a film like When Marnie Was There, which was so monumentally emotional that even the film’s story problems - like a series of twists which just wouldn’t stop - seemed like nitpicks, instead of major issues.
The familiar story and underdeveloped characters aren't nearly as magical as the animation, but there's still a lot to enjoy in Mary and the Witch's Flower, even if it's not Hiromasa Yonebayashi's best.
- William Bibbiani
Oct 23, 2017 · Film Review: ‘Mary and the Witch’s Flower’. Hiromasa Yonebayashi's magical first effort with upstart Studio Ponoc achieves the same high standard of his work with Studio Ghibli, 'Arriety' and...
Mary and The Witch's Flower Reviews. All Critics. Top Critics. All Audience. Verified Audience. Caroline Cao Vague Visages. While it doesn’t pop with philosophical resonance like Ghibli...
