ThiefHott Too much of everything

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

kirstinmichellepeters This got three stars because it does have beautiful animation and they did a really amazing magical land but outside of that nothing about it was that good. The story fell flat and became contradictory. I was waiting for something to happen and to be excited but that feeling never came. There were two plots in the film that we're completely contradictory. First she shows up at the school and the headmistress is like "we have been watching you for a long time now" but also doesn't know she's the niece of the woman who tried to destroy her or that she has never used magic before that day? What?Second being Mary has a set amount of magic? And she's constantly 'almost out' but can still destroy an entire science lab when she's suppose to be completely out? And how does everyone around her know how much magic she has left and not her? And how does she have a limited amount of magic when her aunt is this powerful witch?Music didn't stand out as either amazing or dull just eh.Characters and dialoge was also so flat. Seriously just plain awful at points.

Charles Camp SPOILER: I've seen the term "Ghibli-lite" thrown around quite a bit in the past, but this is the first time it has truly felt appropriate. Studio Ponoc is the new Japanese animation studio that has risen from the ashes of the mighty Studio Ghibli with the goal of creating animated features of the same spirit and quality. It's staffed by many of the same extraordinarily talented animators, and this film - their debut - was helmed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the director of two recent canon Ghibli films: the solid The Secret World of Arrietty, and the excellent When Marnie Was There. You couldn't hope for a better pedigree, but Mary and the Witch's Flower falls unequivocally short of the mark.It certainly looks the part. It frequently sounds the part. But it just doesn't feel the part. For all its visual grandeur, the film ultimately has a vacuous, shallow quality. It references many phenomenal, classic Ghibli films like Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away, but fails to reach the same level of heart, nuance, and depth. The bathhouse setting in Spirited Away, for instance, absolutely bustles with activity and is populated by characters who feel unique and well-realized no matter how minor their role. By comparison, Endor College feels hollow and lifeless, a backdrop rather than a living, breathing place. This film took about half the time to make as the typical Ghibli film and, sadly, it shows. The characters are thin and the plot feels familiar and routine in an unflattering way,Still, there are some magical moments to be had here and visually the film does consistently impress. The more contemplative scenes which make up much of the first act of the film contain its best sequences. Yonebayashi has shown himself to be a filmmaker that thrives in the languid, slice-of-life style approach and this film doesn't play to his strengths. It was likely a calculated decision to make a more fun, action/adventure-oriented feature a la Castle in the Sky to debut the studio but it just comes off feeling... calculated. It's a decent film, but given the talent involved, decent is quite a letdown. I haven't given up on Ponoc though. Someone needs to carry the Ghibli torch and they are still poised to be the ones to do it. Fingers crossed that it's only up from here.3/5

Corey James This review of Mary and the Witch's Flower is spoiler free*** (3/5)WHEN IT WAS announced that Studio Ghibli founder and prestigious Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki would be closing the Totoro-shaped gates, Ghibli veterans Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura had left to form their very own studio inspired by Miyazaki's early hits - and from that inspiration comes Studio Ponoc's debut Mary and the Witch's Flower. Adapted by director Hiromasa Yonebayashi from Mary Stewart's best-selling children's book The Little Broomstick, Yonebayashi had already worked on four top animated roles before in Howl's Moving Castle, The Secret World of Arrietty and finally When Marnie Was There and it's clear that from the stunning opening moments the newly fledged Studio Ponoc is already following in Ghibli's earlier footsteps.Set in the British countryside, Mary (Hana Sugisaki) is an ordinary spirited young girl who's stuck in the countryside with her Great-Aunt Charlotte, with nothing to do, no friends in sight and no adventure at hand Mary is bored. Until she stumbles across a strange feline that takes her to the nearby forest where she finds a mysterious blue glowing flower, an old little broomstick that would take her to a mysterious land. From just those few minutes it already sounds familiar. After the success of Harry Potter and with another four Fantastic Beasts lined up until the mid-2020s, it's obvious that J.K. Rowling's fantastic magical world has declared world domination. And from the early moments of Ponoc's debut the British fantasy influence clearly shows its face, as soon as Mary is transported to this new world already hits a few familiar streaks; first a castle in the sky that shares a distinct similarity to Hogwarts, secondly a headmistress figure which could be McGonagall, and finally there's a young boy wearing circular glasses that could be a tongue-in-cheek version of Harry Potter.But unlike its British counterpart, the Japanese version has issues the story is largely predictable; once we already know the story's villains it's pretty clear where this story is going to go, thus leaving them about as dangerously compelling as Thor: The Dark World's Dark Elves, in addition the script perhaps needs a little bit of remodeling. Still while Mary and the Witch's Flower may not be great film - it sometimes struggles to be a good one - but that said it's a convincing proof of its British inspiration concept, plus it particularly makes up for the mistakes with its unstoppable ginger heroine and happily that might be more important in the long run.VERDICT While it doesn't completely live up to Ghibli and most certainly isn't a great anime but what it lacks in grandeur can be forgiven thanks to a compelling heroine.

achmoye "Mary and the witch's flower" starts to depict a laidback countryside house where lives a little girl, Mary. Then she discovers a blue, rare flower "fly-by-night" (Glitch mob, anyone?), which gives magical powers. She soon finds out that there is a magic universe close to her, with a magic school...and this is where the flaws begins : We spend a lot of time discovering the different parts of the school which seems very active and interesting, and Mary takes absolutely no part in that. She won't attend any of these courses. She won't even stay at this school, except for one scene where she destroys an entire classroom because of their uncontrolable powers from the flower she discovered. So this buildup has no justification and not seeing this awesome school again in the entire movie is very frustrating. Then, the principal of the school says that elevators works by...electricity..."because electricity is magic". Right ? No. It's not magic. It's electricity. That's not any of this works. Are they trying to tell us that all magic in this movie is actually electricity ? Obviously it's not, so why don't they run elevators by...magic instead ? That's just a specific flaw, but a lot of things troubled me this same way. Now, ecology. There is a clear attemp at following the tropes of Miyazaki, in the visuals first, but also the poetic resistance of good people, nature, ecology against sick people that want to exploit the merveils of nature to obtain power, money or fame. We see this in every Miyazaki almost. Well. In this movie, it seems very artificial. How could we care about the dark things that happens from the use of magic in this school ? We don't even see the main character interacting with the school ! It's like two movies awkwardly merged together...Harry Potter and Mononoke ? Yes, they talk about philosopher's stone, besides electricity...I have no idea what does this have to do with anything. Is it magic ? Is it alchemy ? Is it electricity ? You tell me. Arrietty was so much better, the characters had a specific lives depending of their scale/universe (robbing sugar, for instance)Visuals are great though, expect Glibli/Miyazaki quality. But it wasn't enough for me. I still recommend because it's so gorgeous but plot is really disappointing.