Saturday Evening Cartoons: Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017)

SPOILER WARNING!

     Mary and the Witch's Flower was released on July 8th, 2017. Based on the book The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart it is directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty) and written by Yonebayashi and Riko Sakaguchi. In it Mary Smith (voiced by Ruby Barnhill in the English dub), a young and clumsy young girl from England, has her life turned upside down when she discovers the strange fly-by-night flower, which grants her magical powers, and she is transported to the magical world of Endor College, a school for aspiring witches. There, she becomes embroiled in the evil machinations of the headmistress of the college, Madame (Kate Winslet) and her cohort Doctor Dee (Jim Broadbent).

     Mary and the Witch's Flower is the first feature film released by Studio Ponoc, a new Japanese animation studio formed by former members of Studio Ghilbi. Going in, I was afraid it might just Studio Ghibli-like film, but of lesser quality, much like many of the more recent Pixar films. I'm happy to report that my fears were, at least somewhat, allayed. That's not to say that the film greatly diverges from the general tone and style of a Studio Ghibli film, both visually and story-wise it owes a lot to Hayao Miyazaki, Ghibli's foremost director, but is does stand up as a solid piece of animation in its own right.

     Outside of Miyazaki, this film's biggest source of inspiration is clearly J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Like Harry, Mary escapes from her boring everyday life to find a wonderful, but dangerous, magical one. Also like Harry, Mary discovers that she has greater heritage then she realized and she goes through a bit of a hero's journey before discovery this. This is where the film falters a little for me, as Mary never really has any personal weaknesses to overcome or lessons to learn.

     The real problem is that, when she is whisked away to Endor College on her broom, Mary is basically forced into a situation where she feels compelled to hide the truth, and she is somewhat justified for doing so. On returning to her own world, she shows no real interest in ever going back to Endor college. She has no heroic motivations or aspirations. Through no real fault of her own, Mary reveals the address of  her neighbor Peter to Madame, who then kidnaps him in order to force Mary to give the witch's flower back. Mary does this only to be betrayed by Madame who imprison both her and Peter until she and Doctor Dee can conduct a dangerous experiment on them using the flower. Mary feels guilty for causing Peter to be captured but, since she did so by accident, it's not a very compelling emotional conflict for her.

     Still relying on on outside sources of power, Mary uses the spell-book she accidentally took from Madame to help her and Peter escape. At this point it is revealed that Aunt Charlotte was once a witch who stole the fly-by-night from Madame and Doctor Dee to put an end to the wicked experiments they did with it. When Peter is captured once again Mary is faced with a choice: abandon him and return home before the power of the fly-by-night fades or attempt to save him and risk never returning. She decides to try and save him only to have her broom broken. This is a low point for her character. Up to now she has relied on magic to get by. Without it she comes close to giving up only to take courage and attempt to save Peter on her own. This is beautifully symbolized by the broom, which picks itself up and tries to hop around, though broken in two.

     Though the film has struggled to give Mary much of an internal struggle up to this point I think this works pretty well. At the beginning of the film she is accident prone and can't seem to do anything right. Because of this, when she first discovers the "fly-by-night" and the magical world of Endor College she relies on the power granted her by the flower to try and impress Madame and Doctor Dee and, later, to escape from them. By placing her in a situation where she can no longer rely on this power, the writers allow Mary to gain a greater sense of self confidence and become a little more assertive.

     The villains could also use a little more fleshing out. Madame and Doctor Dee, we learn, were once good and kind but, when they found the fly-by-night, they were corrupted by the allure of its power. This could potentially be an interesting backstory for them, but we never really understand what exactly the pair hope to accomplish through their experiments. We know that they hope to transform all humans into witches but why exactly? Do they believe that this would benefit humanity in some way? Do they hope to attain fame and power for themselves? It might help if we had a better understanding of how this world worked. Why, exactly, does Endor College exist in a hidden world apart from normal humans? Are there other schools for witches that compete with it? Is there some sort of government or authority to oversee the witches? Do all witches live apart from humanity? Is there any non-magical folk in the normal world who are aware of their existence? The film doesn't tell us any of this.

     While the film's story is lacking in certain aspects, the animation is simply amazing. From the quaint idyllic village where Mary and her Aunt live to the reality bending realm of Endor College, the world of Mary and the Witch's Flower feels fully realized, at least from a visual standpoint. The character work is equal impressive, with some really expressive facial work and dynamic movement, especially during the flying scenes. The score by Takatsugu Muramatsu is emotionally stirring and evocative. There's a really elemental feel to much of it which befits the magical world the film presents.

     While far from perfect, Mary and the Witch's Flower marks a fairly strong start for Studio Ponoc. I look forward to seeing what's in store for the studio in the future.

Score: 8/10