Mary to Majo no Hana
Mary and the Witch's Flower
メアリと魔女の花
Mary Smith is a clumsy girl with wild red hair who can't seem to do anything right. After moving in with her Great Aunt Charlotte, Mary finds herself lonely and bored, until one day she spies a cat which seems to keep changing color every time she sees it. Curiosity gets the better of her and she follows it into nearby woods. Deep in the forest, the cat takes her to a clearing with dead trees and brown grass, where the only sign of life is a cluster of mysterious blue flowers that Mary has never seen before. The gardener of the estate later tells her that the rare species is called "Fly-by-Night," and is said to be sought by witches for its incredible magical power. When the strange cat returns to her one night, Mary is led once again into the woods, but this time to an old broomstick hidden by a gnarled tree. After she clumsily squashes some Fly-by-Night against the broomstick, it begins to glow, whisking her off into the sky. Her wayward journey ends at the Endor College for Witches, where she is mistaken for a new student. And so, Mary must learn to look after herself in this marvelous new world of magic, where things are not always as they seem. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Synopsis
Mary Smith is a clumsy girl with wild red hair who can't seem to do anything right. After moving in with her Great Aunt Charlotte, Mary finds herself lonely and bored, until one day she spies a cat which seems to keep changing color every time she sees it. Curiosity gets the better of her and she follows it into nearby woods. Deep in the forest, the cat takes her to a clearing with dead trees and brown grass, where the only sign of life is a cluster of mysterious blue flowers that Mary has never seen before. The gardener of the estate later tells her that the rare species is called "Fly-by-Night," and is said to be sought by witches for its incredible magical power. When the strange cat returns to her one night, Mary is led once again into the woods, but this time to an old broomstick hidden by a gnarled tree. After she clumsily squashes some Fly-by-Night against the broomstick, it begins to glow, whisking her off into the sky. Her wayward journey ends at the Endor College for Witches, where she is mistaken for a new student. And so, Mary must learn to look after herself in this marvelous new world of magic, where things are not always as they seem. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Trailer
Recommendations
Reviews(20)
attempt1
February 9, 2018
This film is very average, the main character Mary is great however the rest of the movie falls short. This is Studio Ponoc’s first film, which consists of some ex Studio Ghibli members. After hearing that Studio Ghibli is possibly no longer making films, I was excited to see their legacy continue in Studio Ponoc. Unfortunately Mary and the Witch’s Flower is a little disappointing, but not a bad start to Studio Ponoc. Mary is a fantastic character who’s a lot of fun to watch. She is a care free young girl who doesn’t have a lot of confidence. She is constantly complaining about how shedoesn’t like her hair, and she’s quite clumsy like when she accidentally killed some roses when trying to help in the garden, these certainly don’t help with her confidence. And yet she still tries to help others when she can, even if there are mistakes along the way, and eventually this pays off as she gradually becomes more confident in who she is. Unfortunately the other characters in the film are very one dimensional and boring. Especially Peter, Mary’s friend who is barely on screen and when he’s in the climax, we the audience don’t really care about him. Mary’s grand auntie is also barely on screen, and all she does is provide exposition without developing her character. And the headmistress of the magic school, her motives are not very clear, and it was explained in a poorly put together monologue near the end of the film. The story is very easy to follow, although the pacing is mixed. The story follows Mary and her adventures after she finds the witch’s flowers. The beginning to the film is very slow and dull, although it gets more interesting later on. The start of the film begun at Mary’s home, it introduces many characters, unfortunately we don’t see these characters very much of later on. The start feels like it’s being dragged on too long unnecessarily. Although most of the film was well paced. The scenes at Endor College were exciting, and also showed a sense of mystery about what the headmistress is really doing. The scenes where Mary faces multiple problems at the Endor College were shown really well too. Unfortunately the ending was disappointing. There was no build up to the final confrontation, we only learnt of the reasons behind the final act very late in the film and this wasn’t hinted at much at all, this was mostly explained to us during a monologue which felt too forced. The animation is stunning in every scene, the effort to detail is astonishingly brilliant and very Studio Ghibli like. The animation at Endor College especially was fantastic, the detail in the magical aspects of the film was spot on, whether it’s the water features, or the classrooms. The colours were really bright and vibrant and stood out really well. Mary and the Witch’s Flower has stunning animation with a clear story, and it’s main character Mary is fantastic. However the pacing was mixed and the rest of the cast certainly let the film down. Although this was a mostly entertaining movie. This is a very ambitious attempt for Studio Ponoc’s first film considering they’re trying to carry on Studio Ghibli’s legacy. Even though Mary and the Witch’s Flower isn’t up to Studio Ghibli’s best standard, this isn’t a bad film, and I’ll be looking forward to what Studio Ponoc does next. Constructive feedback for this review is appreciated :)
