Wednesday, March 21, 2018

FILM REVIEW: Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017)

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

* * 1/2


The seminal and beloved animation Studio Ghibli is on a temporary hiatus. Fans may be discouraged, but Ghibli’s legacy is one that will never die – such is evident in Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the first feature from Studio Ponoc (founded by Yoshiaki Nishimura, Ghibli’s former lead producer). There are enough traces and echoes of Ghibli that run through this new film to keep fans satisfied, but perhaps that’s why it never transcended for me, as Mary and the Witch’s Flower is a little too focused on trying to be a Ghibli film that it lacks a unique identity. 

Based on The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, Mary and the Witch’s Flower tells the story of young Mary Smith, who is living with her Great Aunt Charlotte in the countryside. When we first meet Mary, she is frustrated with boredom. But she must continue on through her day, something that doesn’t bring her much joy either as she’s quite a klutz – she can’t get her hair to straighten out, she accidentally breaks a flower in her neighbor’s coveted garden, as well as humiliating herself in front of Peter, a boy from the neighborhood.

A pair of cats lead Mary into the woods, where she discovers a most unusual flower. Before she even knows it, she is granted powers; a hyperactive broom takes her (as well as one of the cats) to Endor College, a magic school for wizards and witches. There, she meets Madam Mumblechook, essentially the headmaster of school, as well as Dr. Dee, the lead scientist. They are both in awe of Mary’s apparent power, but she is completely oblivious to what’s going on and just improvising as she goes (she would be transformed as punishment for trespassing). At one point, Mary mentions the strange flowers, and Madam suddenly takes a threatening interest in Mary, as the flowers in question were stolen from her long ago. The flowers are revealed to contain great power, and Madam will do whatever it takes to get them back.

I don’t mind overdone stories or themes. I really don’t. It all depends on what you do with the material. Along with the tropes mentioned above, Mary and the Witch’s Flower is about growing and persevering as a person by trial through a snafu of a situation in incomprehensible territory. Once again, done before time and again, but I’m open-minded; just do something unique with what you’ve got, and this film doesn’t really do anything new. Most everything, if not everything, I saw in Mary and the Witch’s Flower I feel I’ve already seen in plenty of other Japanimation films: the lush green landscapes of the real world, the whimsical fantasy realm among the clouds and blue skies, a little bit of steampunk here and there…oh, can’t forget an adorable cat as a companion. Sound familiar yet?

If there was one issue with the movie that’s really worth getting into, it’s the character of Peter. For whatever reason, Mary absolutely does not like him. Okay, he teases her early in the film, but it’s just a brief little tease – the kind we all experienced as kids. But then he pretty much disappears from the movie and we forget about him for the most part. That is until he is trapped in a tricky situation, and only Mary can break him out. Considering she doesn’t like him, it’s a big deal for her to have to save him, but because of the lack of development between the two, there’s no weight to the scenario, nor in the resolution.

Granted, it’s not a bad film by any means. Mary’s clumsiness was always cute. Madam Mumblechook and Dr. Dee were always a ton of fun (probably the best part of the movie, now that I think about it). There’s an interesting twist involving Great Aunt Charlotte. Oh, and the broom was awesome! Like the magic carpet in Aladdin, Little Broom (that’s the name Mary gives it) has personality, in spite of being a simple object.

Yeah, these are good things I’m saying about the film, but I mention them more or less for the sake of a balanced review. It’s kind of disingenuous to say that it’s “not a bad film” without pointing out the things I liked in the movie, because there were things I liked. Just not enough to warrant any kind of significant praise.

The characters were fine. The animation was fine. The story was fine. The music is fine. It moved along just fine. Mary and the Witch’s Flower was just fine, and I really can’t say much more than that. While everything was enjoyable and there were no glaring issues, nothing really sticks out. Will Mary and the Witch’s Flower be a waste of time and money? Absolutely not, but it’s not going to be the almost metaphysically powerful experience that films like My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away seem to be (with the exception of Totoro, I was never a big Miyazaki fan). I will not discourage you from Mary and the Witch’s Flower, nor is there any reason to, but you won’t be missing anything if you pass on it.


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