Mary and the Witch's Flower

I don't mind this looking like some Frankenstein discount Ghibli movie, or rather what this actually looks like - a Hayao Miyazaki movie, you guys DO realize Ghibli has more than ONE style.. right? whatever, the animation is beautiful regardless of what it tries to look like, and i only really have two nitpicks for the entire movie, one is technical and one is about the plot itself. But first i'll summerize my opinions on certain aspects of the film. The Animation: as i said earlier it's pretty much superb and easily the best thing about the entire movie, you could probably stop at any scene and it could be framed and put on your wall as a piece of art, it's that good. The Story: I have no knowledge of the source material so i have no idea of how accurate this actually is to the children's book by Mary Stewart, however even as an adult i did think this movie was pretty decent but i do have some problems, again, we'll get back to that. The Characters: I said we'd get back to it, my main problem is the main character Mary herself, again i don't know how accurate to the source material it is, but Mary Smith may as well be called Mary Sue (sorry), the character development she makes throughout the movie is as unrealistic as it gets, so if this is supposed to teach some sort of moral lesson to children, i'm not really sure what it would be, both Mary and later her "friend" Peter are very irresponsible - although this is typical of children however they even cross barriers most kids wouldn't, like letting your friend go into a foggy forest in which you're 100% going to get lost and then just walking away from them, great job Peter, however the worst example i can't even say without spoiling the plot, but it involves Mary pretty much selling out Peter, so not exactly the best characters for your kids to look up to for moral lessons. the rest of the cast is pretty standard and didn't do very much for me if i am being honest, the villains aren't bad enough that you can really hate them, nor are they entertaining enough that you'll like them, Mary's guardians do not fare much better. Oh and that second nitpick of mine? they messed up the subtitles for the Japanese dub and there are two scenes that feature typos, luckily they are words that are easy to guess, not a big deal for adults, but not acceptable nontheless. The only reason this even gets a 5 star rating from me is because i enjoy the animation, the plot is not the worst i've seen but it is not great, the guy that directed this movie also directed 'The Secret World of Arrietty' which could explain the art style, i enjoy that movie a lot more though. All in all this is an above average film in terms of it's animation, perfectly average in terms of plot, and below average when it comes to characters and their development, it's probably going to be an entertaining film if you're not as critical as me and kids will probably love it, however having some better character development goes a long way, but you should give this movie at least a single viewing in my opinion as there are redeemable things about it. A more realistic score would be a 3/5, but i will give it 5/5 since it entertained me.

The bluray is stunning, visually pleasing, a good story and it’s about a witch what more could you want in a movie if you like this movie checkout Ponyo as well as it’s another brilliant movie.

Review for film with Japanese audio, english subtitles. I found Mary and the Witch's Flower to be a moving film. I was engaged throughout and time passed very quickly. I appreciated the wonderully drawn Shropshire landscapes. I found it entertaining observing all the Ghibli signature tropes. I'm pretty sure they included every Miyazaki film somewhere: broomsticks and cats, the ponyo sea worm/droplets, the red elk, the laputa style school guards, authoritative older baddy, redemption/infantilisation of baddies, egg-man lookalike, delicious food shots, floating land islands, cute dog, and clouds. I thought that the depiction of the school was absolutely fabulous, and really a location that I would love to explore more of, the time alloted was not sufficient, understandably. The film is so rich, let me list all the specifics I loved: the school janitor Flanagan, cats, magic spells, all the various animals stampeding, the botanical focus, the remote house, the song at the end 'rain', laputa style school guards, the various gadgetry of the Kamaji type professor, and did I mention Flanagan? Sequel, please!

The short novel is pretty good and the story for the Animation is closely based on it. It's got an intro which is sort of later in the book. The Animated version sort of makes more sense and is sufficiently different in the last third that you can enjoy the book by Mary Stewart, "Mary and the Little Broomstick" as well as this animation. The English voice-over is OK and the art is superb. The Japanese conception of the Great Aunt's TV (American) and clothes of the two young people, Mary and Peter, don't detract from the enjoyment.

Great film love this so much well enjoyed for all ages

Great film and superb edition tin. Enjoyable for all ages.

I adored this, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura have clearly learned a lot at Studio Ghibli and in setting up their own animation studio, they are set to fill a gap where Ghibli once stood*. (*Miyazaki is making one last film though) Mary and the witch's flower is based on the book 'The little broomstick' by Mary Stewart and I think it was a great choice of book to adapt. The plot is simple but engaging, the main characters are interesting and the animation is absolutely beautiful, even by Ghibli standards. I think this is definitely Yonebayashi's best film to date, though I loved his two previous works 'Arrietty' and 'When Marnie was there', this is a step up in my opinion and I feel he is only going to get better. Touches of studio Ghibli are clear to see throughout this film and that made me happy. Don't be mistaken though in thinking they are riding the fame of Miyazaki and Takahata, this also stands very clearly on its own as something new and different. I can't wait to see what Studio Ponoc do next, I hope their success will continue. Edit ***I would highly recommend watching the special features on the Blu-Ray if you have it as there's some really interesting stuff relating to Studio Ghibli, plus Takahata and Toshio Suzuki also make an appearance. The Dvd may also have this, I'm not sure.

Excellent animation and voices.

La película me llegó en perfectas condiciones, precintada, totalmente nueva, la vi en japonés con subtítulos en Inglés (No tiene subtítulos en otro idioma), y no hubo problema alguno en el disco. LA recomiendo totalmente.

Ich muss schon sagen, sie story entsprach voll und ganz meinen erwartungen. Es war schön animiert, rührend und hatte sogar zwei jumpscares drin die ich nicht erwartet habe. Ich mag die englischen synchronstimmen sehr gerne. Schöner film! Am anfang ziemlich leise, wird dann lauter. Ich hatte ein kleines spiel mit der fernbedienung sonst alles Top!

The animation of this film wad amazing. Really close to Ghibli quality. I absolutely loved it.

Love all of the bonus content but I should have read all the details more closely. My disc player cannot play this, as I cannot adjust the settings to be able to play it

Ein ganz toller Film er ist sehr schön gezeichnet und meine Nichte hat sich sehr darüber gefreut