Mary and the Witch's Flower

A lot of of low rated reviews based on the film being a Ghibli rip off, but it was created by many of THE SAME ANIMATORS from Ghibli so it is to be expected to be similar.

Anyway the film was decent, visually stunning great soundtrack and very creative. Could have been a better story and better character development but it's based on a book anyway so they couldn't really help that.

Looking forward to seeing more films from Studio Ponoc, they seem to have picked up from where Hayao Miyazaki left off.

Worth a watch.

Just came back from the one time only screening of this movie in Austin TX. I'm a bit confused by the super-negative reviews of this film. I guess people were expecting a film on par with past Studio Ghibli movies? Lets be real here, as sad as it is, the age of Studio Ghibli is over, unless Hayao Miyazaki decides to return to the directors seat and make another full-length feature film. Which at this point seems unlikely. The fact that we have a studio like Ponoc to carry on the torch of 2D animated projects in the style of Gibli should be celebrated I think.

I went into this movie not expecting it to be on par with any of Studio Ghibli's past works, yes it's no Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away. I did enjoy Mary and the Witch's Flower more so than Miyazaki's last two films, The Wind Rises and Ponyo. The only other Hiromasa Yonebayashi films I've seen was Arriety, never saw When Marine Was There. I do think this film is better than Arriety was.

Mary and the Witches Flower looks like a Studio Ghibli film, the character animation is really great, the backgrounds, while reminiscent of past Ghibli works are nice, but not on the same level of detail, which was fine to me. The characters and the story is good, again, not as solid as past Ghibli works, but I enjoyed it overall. The biggest thing lacking to be was a musical score from Joe Hisaishi, but he has never done music for a Hiromasa Yonebayashi film. The last film he composed music for was The Princess Kaguya, which was a big deal.

I'm getting off-track here, but the last I will say is that is if you are a fan of Studio Ghibli, and are yearning to see a full-length feature film in traditional 2D animation, go see this film if you are able to, just don't go in expecting it to be as good as one of the Studio Ghibli classics.

These reviews here lead me to believe the movie was going to be boring or something. It's entertaining the entire way through. Best movie I've seen in the cinema in over a year.

Sure it's not as good as Spirited Away, but that was rated as the best animated film of the 2000s so of course it's going to be hard to beat.

The soundtrack in this film is great, lots of recurring themes in the right times. The animation is lush and looks like it came from Ghibli. I really don't see why anyone wouldn't like this movie, it was really good.

Go see it for yourself, don't listen to the reviews. The story was good, the animation was good, the sound was good.

Studio Ponoc, heir apparent to Studio Ghibli, makes a decent start with Mary & the Witch's Flower.

Animation is lush and gorgeous to look at, and is very reminiscent of the work we're used to from Studio Ghibli - and as anyone who's familiar with Ghibli's work can tell you, that is a pretty high bar to meet. I saw the English dubbed version, and the voice acting was excellent as well - especially Ruby Barnhill as Mary. Background score was quite good too.

Story, however, was a bit disappointing. Not saying that it was bad, it just felt a bit devoid of heart and there were quite a few plot holes which were hard to overlook. Character motivations were hard to explain, and the wizarding world Mary stumbles into feels empty, though it is supposed to be a thriving world. Then again, I complain because I was expecting something of Ghibli standards.

It was a fun movie to experience, and I'm glad Studio Ponoc exists - not only because I expect bigger and better things from them in the future, but also because something as beautiful as the tradition of Ghibli animated movies needs be kept alive.

7/10

This film is more like Studio Gibhli films than Gibhli's own output, if Earwig and the Witch is anything to go by. It combines so many classic tropes like the young girl protagonist, flying setting, witches, cats, etc. That it struggles to find its own unique voice except for visually. The animation of this film was amazingly beautiful, detailed and dynamic. Too bad the story is so thin, as Mary doesn't have much development and just outperforms everyone constantly.