Mary and the Witch's Flower Steelbook

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.

I don’t know why this movie wasn’t given more recognition? It’s an incredibly beautiful movie! And the steel book is lovely, really pleased!

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.

Film came undamaged and plays well on dvd player

I was disappointed by MATWF, especially after reading the glowing reviews by others.At the beginning it looked very promising, and although clearly and massively influenced by Studio Ghibli's work it was none the worse for that. The character of Mary was likeable and spirited; the (very British looking) landscapes were lovingly and beautifully rendered. However once Mary entered the witch's fantasy world I felt the quality of the animation and storytelling deteriorated badly and, worse, the characterisation and detail became overly hysterical, rushed, and lacking in the super-sharp elegant detail that we find in the best of Ghibli. The storyline in these parts was constructed far more crudely than in the familiar world of Mary's home.Overall I felt the film lacked confidence in claiming its own style, and drew so much on parts of the Ghibli catalogue that I began to feel it had been constructed by piling one Ghibli reference upon another. So it deteriorated into a kind of Ghibli-by-numbers, without the spirit, warmth and quality of the original.I've no problem with using Ghibli's trademark style at all. But I felt that MATWF uses it without it being rooted in a strong and believable language of its own, and instead relies far too much on simply adapting Ghibli mannerisms. The animators are obviously very talented but I feel that until they find their own way of owning a story their work will end up as second rate copy of Ghibli - which this did.