Mary and the Witch's Flower

Mary and The Witch's Flower
Japanese theatrical release poster
Japanese メアリと魔女の花
Hepburn Meari to Majo no Hana
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Produced by Yoshiaki Nishimura
Screenplay by
  • Riko Sakaguchi
  • Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Based on The Little Broomstick
by Mary Stewart[1]
Starring
Music by Takatsugu Muramatsu
Cinematography Toru Fukushi
Production
company
Distributed by Toho
Release date
  • 8 July 2017 (2017-07-08)
Running time
 103 minutes[2]
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office $41 million[3]

Mary and The Witch's Flower (Japanese: メアリと魔女の花, Hepburn: Meari to Majo no Hana) is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, produced by Studio Ponoc founder Yoshiaki Nishimura, animated by Studio Ponoc and initially distributed by Toho in Japan. Based on The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, this is Studio Ponoc's first feature film.[4]

The film tells a story of a girl named Mary Smith who finds "fly-by-night", a mysterious flower that can give her the power to become a witch for only one night.[5][6] The film was released in Japan on 8 July 2017.[7] In the English-language version of the film, which was concurrently released with a subtitled version in the United States on 19 January 2018, the film features the voices of Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent.

Plot

Young Mary Smith moves into the British estate of her Great Aunt Charlotte ahead of her parents. The bored, friendless girl tries to make herself useful through chores, but she repeatedly messes up. A local boy named Peter teases her for both her clumsiness and her wild red hair, which she hates.

Tib and Gib, Peter's cats, lead Mary to some mysterious glowing flowers. Zebedee, the estate gardener, identifies the flowers as "fly-by-night"; legend has it that witches covet the flower for its magical power. The next day, Gib disappears and Mary follows Tib to go look for her. Tib leads her to a broomstick ensnared in a tree's roots. Mary frees the broomstick, but accidentally bursts a fly-by-night bulb on it. The bulb releases magical power in the form of a blue gelatinous substance, making the broomstick come to life and enabling Mary to ride it like a witch. The Little Broomstick whisks Mary and Tib away to a complex of buildings hidden in the clouds, known as Endor College for witches.

The headmistress Madame Mumblechook assumes Mary is a new pupil with Tib as her familiar, and takes her on a tour of the college. The tour reveals a campus with modern technology and conveniences, wherein witches take courses in the magic arts alongside fields of science such as chemistry. During the tour Madame introduces Mary to Doctor Dee, the College's renowned chemistry teacher. Mary finds herself able to perform advanced spells such as invisibility. Madame and Doctor Dee become convinced that Mary is a prodigy, because of her performance as well as her red hair, which turns out be a distinguishing feature among the best witches.

At Madame's office, Mary finds a spell book hidden behind a picture of fly-by-night. Mary admits that her magical ability comes from fly-by-night, and that Tib actually belongs to Peter. Madame's attitude to Mary suddenly changes, but she still lets Mary return home. That night, Madame sends a message to Mary informing her that she's kidnapped Peter, and demands that Mary turn the fly-by-night bulbs to her. She and Tib quickly fly back to Endor with the bulbs, but Madame and Doctor Dee imprison her instead in Doctor Dee's transformation spell lab. Mary finds Peter locked in the lab with her, and discovers that Doctor Dee has been experimenting on animals transforming them into fantastic creatures, including Gib. In the spell book, Mary finds a spell that can undo all magic, and she uses it to undo all the transformations and to unlock the lab. They try to escape on the Little Broomstick, but Madame and Doctor Dee recapture Peter.

The Little Broomstick takes Mary to an isolated cottage. Within the cottage, Mary finds notes on transformation spells and a mirror that Great Aunt Charlotte uses to contact her. Charlotte reveals that the cottage was her previous home, and she used to be a red haired pupil that excelled at Endor. But one day Charlotte found fly-by-night on the campus, leading Madame and Doctor Dee to obsessively pursue a project to use the flower to transform all humans into witches. When one of their experiments disastrously failed, Charlotte decided to escape Endor, taking the flower with her. Charlotte begs Mary to use her last bulbs to return home, but Mary vows to rescue Peter instead.

Mary returns to Endor and finds Madame and Doctor Dee trying to use the flower to transform Peter into a witch. But the experiment fails again, leaving Peter trapped within a gelatinous monster that rampages across the campus. Mary gets the spell book to Peter, and Peter uses it to undo the failed experiment as well as all of Madame and Doctor Dee's research. Mary and Peter finally return home, with Mary throwing away her last bulb and saying she does not need magic.

Voice cast

Character Japanese Voice actor English Voice actor[8]
Mary Smith Hana Sugisaki Ruby Barnhill
Madam Mumblechook Yūki Amami Kate Winslet
Doctor Dee Fumiyo Kohinata Jim Broadbent
Flanagan Jiro Sato Ewen Bremner
Great-Aunt Charlotte/
Red-haired Witch		 Shinobu Otake/
Hikari Mitsushima		 Lynda Baron/
Teresa Gallagher
Peter Ryunosuke Kamiki Louis Ashbourne Serkis
Miss Banks Eriko Watanabe Morwenna Banks
Zebedee Kenichi Endō Rasmus Hardiker
Light Fairy Saori Hayami Rebecca Louise Kidd

Music

Composer Muramatsu Takatsugu, who also scored Yonebayashi's last film When Marnie Was There, is in charge of the soundtrack for Mary and The Witch's Flower. Joshua Messick, one of the world's leading performers of the hammered dulcimer, participated in the score recording.[9][10]

Release

Mary and The Witch's Flower was released theatrically in Japan on July 8, 2017 by distributor Toho, airing on 458 screens across Japan.[11] Altitude Film Sales announced at the Berlin International Film Festival that it had acquired the worldwide rights to the film, and would release the film within the UK.[12] Madman Entertainment announced that it had secured the rights to the film within Australia and New Zealand,[13] and would premiere the film theatrically at Madman Anime Festival in Melbourne on November 5, 2017,[14] with a wider release on January 18, 2018. GKIDS later announced that it would distribute the film within North America, with a one-week Oscar qualifying run on December 1, 2017,[15] a limited opening on January 18, 2018, and a wider release on January 19, 2018.[16][17] Altitude (the UK distributor) confirmed in early March 2018 that the film will have a special holding at selected Vue Cinemas on April 10, 2018 before it's official UK wide release on May 4, 2018.

The English dub of Mary and The Witch's Flower (starring Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent) was directed by Giles New and produced by Geoffrey Wexler. The English dub was recorded in July and August 2017 in London, and had its premiere in Los Angeles on October 23, 2017 at the GKIDS "Animation is Film" festival.

The movie was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Digital HD and 4K Ultra HD by Walt Disney Japan on March 20, 2018.[18] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America by GKIDS' main home media distributor Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on May 1, 2018. Madman Entertainment released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia and New Zealand on July 4, 2018. Altitude Film Distribution released the film on DVD, Blu-ray and a Blu-ray Steelbook in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2018.

Reception

Box office

Mary and The Witch's Flower grossed $2.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $38.6 million in other territories (including $27.6 million in Japan, $3.8 million in South Korea, $2.9 million in China and $2.6 million in France), for a worldwide total of $41 million.[3]

In Japan, the film opened at second place, grossing ¥428 million ($3.9 million) during its opening weekend; this was an increase compared to Yonebayashi's previous film, When Marnie Was There (2014), which had grossed ¥378.86 million in its first weekend.[19]

In the United States, the film held a special Thursday night preview on January 18, 2018 where it grossed $1.2 million from 573 theaters. It then stayed at 161 theaters over the weekend and grossed $329,097, bringing its four-day gross to $1.5 million.[20]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 69 reviews, and an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "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."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[22]

Shelia O'Malley of RogerEbert.com gave the film a rating of three stars out of four and stated that "the total lack of inner conflict in Mary might be why Mary and The Witch's Flower-as transportive and entertaining as it is-feels a little slight".[23] However, Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times noted that although the film "isn't quite a masterpiece" and "the screenplay needs a polish", she concluded that the film is "a joy to look at: a visual adventure, and a continuation of a remarkable legacy".[24]

References

  1. ↑ "『メアリと魔女の花』公式サイト". Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "MARY AND THE WITCH'S FLOWER". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 6 April 2018
  3. 1 2 "Meari to majo no hana (Mary's and the Witch\'s Flower(2017)". JPBox OfficeOffice. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ "長編 - 作品カテゴリー - STUDIO PONOC(スタジオポノック)". Studio Ponoc. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Former Ghibli director unveils new animated film, Mary and the Witch's Flower". Polygon. 16 December 2016. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  6. ↑ "Mary and The Witch's Flower Teaser Trailer (Official)". YouTube. 14 December 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  7. ↑ Yonebayashi, Hiromasa (2017-07-08), Mary and the Witch's Flower, Hana Sugisaki, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Yûki Amami, retrieved 2018-02-22
  8. ↑ "Mary and the Witch's Flower English Cast Announced". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved 2017-10-15.
  9. ↑ "Mary and the Witch's Flower Original Soundtrack". yesasia.com.
  10. ↑ "Hammered Dulcimer on 'Mary and The Witch's Flower' Soundtrack". Joshua Messick.
  11. ↑ "Mary & the Witch's Flower Anime Film Earns 428 Million Yen to Open at #2". Anime News Network. July 10, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Altitude Film Sales Acquires Worldwide Rights to Mary and the Witch's Flower Anime Film". Anime News Network. February 2, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Ip, Sly (February 3, 2017). "Madman Entertainment to release 'Mary and The Witch's Flower'". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ Browne, Tessa (August 22, 2017). "Mary and the Witch's Flower to have Australian premiere at Madman Anime Festival Melbourne!". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  15. ↑ "'Mary and the Witch's Flower' Opens at Music Hall". www.rafu.com.
  16. ↑ "GKIDS Licenses Mary and the Witch's Flower Film". Anime News Network. August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  17. ↑ Ramos, Dino-Ray (October 18, 2017). "'Mary And The Witch's Flower' Sets Special One-Night Event For Nationwide Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  18. ↑ "『メアリと魔女の花』ブルーレイ/DVD、2018/3/20(火)発売！コレクターズ・エディション:4K Ultra HD＋ブルーレイ（数量限定）同時発売！3/7(水)先行デジタル配信開始！". Walt Disney Japan. January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Mary & the Witch's Flower Anime Film Earns 428 Million Yen to Open at #2".
  20. ↑ Brooks, Brian (January 21, 2018). "'Darkest Hour' Tops $41M, 'The Shape of Water' Crosses $30M, 'Call Me By Your Name' Expands – Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "Mary and the Witch's Flower Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  23. ↑ O'Malley, Shelia (19 January 2018). "Mary and the Witch's Flower". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  24. ↑ Macdonald, Moira (18 January 2018). "'Mary and the Witch's Flower' tells gentle tale of girl at school for witches". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
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