Mary and The Witch's Flower

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Mary and The Witch's Flower

PG

Released Jan 19, 2018

1h 43m

Adventure

Fantasy

Anime

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

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91 Reviews

71%

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1,000+ Ratings

Young Mary follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest and discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms once every seven years. Together, the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College -- a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try and set things right.

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Critics Consensus

Mary and the Witch's Flower honors its creator's Studio Ghibli roots with a gentle, beautifully animated story whose simplicity is rounded out by its entrancing visuals.

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Tara Brady

Irish Times

Gorgeously detailed pastel interiors, watercolour landscapes and imaginative grotesquery make for suitably magical spectacle. As transporting as any witch's broomstick.

Rated: 4/5

May 11, 2018

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

It may lack the originality of the best Miyazaki films, but with its heart-swelling score and exquisitely realised worlds, this is a must for Ghibli fans.

Rated: 4/5

May 7, 2018

Full Review

Robbie Collin

Daily Telegraph (UK)

This art-form has long been thought to have reached its twilight years, but Yonebayashi's film brims over with the bounce and spark of childhood.

Rated: 5/5

May 5, 2018

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Caroline Cao

Vague Visages

While it doesn’t pop with philosophical resonance like Ghibli pictures, it has enough fairy dust in its sleeves to keep you transfixed and rooting for the heroine.

Dec 14, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

[Director Hiromasa] Yonebayashi was an animator for Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli and he honors the master’s work with his sweet, playful film (adapted from a children’s novel by British author Mary Stewart) and his young heroine.

Apr 14, 2023

Full Review

Charlotte Harrison

Charlotte Sometimes Goes to the Movies

A really charming coming-of-age fantasy story that will linger with you long after watching.

Jan 5, 2021

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Eric G

This story is lacks interesting characters, it's hard to tell what the message is, the plot is very strange, and we get another slew of "original" creations which happen to just be different shaped blobs with smiley faces. Mary has no goals, no flaws, and does not seem to grow at all over the course of the story. The antagonists also seem to lack any motivation other then to conduct their evil experiment, the true purpose of which is totally unknown. There is no internal conflict, so the moral of the story is nonexistent. There are a myriad of unanswered questions. How is the evil experiment is supposed to change the world? How is it only Mary and her aunt have been the ones to find the flowers? How are the cats so smart? Why didn't Madame Mumblechook just ask Mary for the flower? If she had the power to transform all of the failed experiments back to their normal forms, why didn't she? Why didn't Flanagan help more? Finally, in true studio Gibi fashion we get blobs. Blobs with wings, blobs on fire, blobs with teeth, robot blobs, blob helmets, big blobs, small blobs, and so on, meanwhile every d-bag praises the background artwork like it's Salvatore Dali or something. The backgrounds are not bad, but in the realm of art, they are nothing to write home about. It passes the time, but I would not recommend it.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/28/24

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Liam D

Continuing on the legacy that Studio Ghibli’s legacy. It isn’t an perfect movie but it’s an solid and well crafted one

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/18/24

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Korra N

While not a Studio Ghibli production, Mary & The Witch's Flower still feels akin to the magical worlds created by Miyazaki, Takahata & company have created. Although, this film is not as breathtaking or imaginative, it instead gives into some cliches, but in a way that makes sense and feels natural. It's not a surprising watch, but it's still good and absolutely worth watching.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/14/24

Full Review

Cesar R

Production value wise the movie is great. The problem is that it’s a collection of tired cliche after tired cliche. For a movie so clearly inspired by studio Ghibli it offers nothing new and, ironically, very little magic.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/03/24

Full Review

Bruce D

Agree, a must for Studio Ghibli fans. This has some of the same delightful, surreal, abstract hand animation we saw in Ponyo, which I and others consider among the best of Miyazaki's features. This is Harry Potter Ghibli style, except it's also a cautionary tale about the attractive glamour and underlying dangers of dabbling in the occult. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Also unusual here for children's anime is the lack of most background music. This lack forefronts the main character, her motivations and her choices in a wonderful way. The second movie by this Studio Ghibli spin-off, The Imaginary, has even more ambitious animation and a fresher feel.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/30/24

Full Review

David F

A charming little anime about a young girl on a quest. With cats.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/07/24

Full Review

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Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Director

Ruby Barnhill

Mary

Louis Ashbourne Serkis

Peter

Kate Winslet

Madam Mumblechook

Jim Broadbent

Doctor Dee

Lynda Baron

Great-Aunt Charlotte

12 Strong Is a Little Flimsy

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Synopsis

Young Mary follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest and discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms once every seven years. Together, the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College -- a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try and set things right.

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Producer: Yoshiaki Nishimura, Geoffrey Wexler
Screenwriter: Riko Sakaguchi, Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Distributor: GKIDS
Production Co: Sapporo Television Broadcasting Company, Toho Company, The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Lawson Entertainment, Kadokawa Contents Gate Co., Ltd., Chukyo TV, Kadokawa, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, Hiroshima Telecasting, Amuse, Shizuoka Daiichi Television, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Fukuoka Broadcasting System, Walt Disney Company, Studio Ponoc, Miyagi Television Broadcasting, D.N. Dream Partners
Rating: PG (Thematic Elements|Some Action)
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Anime
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 19, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 13, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.0M
Runtime: 1h 43m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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