Once again, Hiromasa Yonebayashi has taken a British children's story ('The Little Broom' by Mary Stewart) and given it the anime treatment (previously he directed 'When Marnie was There' by Joan G. Robinson and 'The Secret World of Arrietty', based on 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton). Unlike the first two adaptations, in which the characters were beautifully rendered, the main human characters in 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' have a typical 'TV-anime' look, so much so that I found their English accents incongruous. I didn't really like the steam-punk/high fantasy/organo-tech look of the laboratory scenes but the natural backgrounds were excellent, often as lush and detailed as those in Studio Ghibli films. While it may be intended as a homage, I found "MWF" to be quite derivative of films from Yonebayashi's famous alma mater, which is unfortunate, as it suffers in comparison with Ghibli's best work, lacking the depth of classics such as "Spirited Away" (2001) or "Princess Mononoke" (1997) or the striking visual imagination of "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004), and 'the little witch and her black cat' characters were much more engaging in "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989). All that said, the film remains an entertaining family film, with a simple story, some colourful and fun imagery, and an enjoyable musical score.
Review of Mary and the Witch's Flower
