You’ll forgive me if I confuse Studio Ponoc with Studio Ghibli. From an outsider’s point of view, they do the exact same things, make the exact same products, and -like a Japanese phoenix- the one was born out the ashes of the other. Ponoc was founded by several Ghibli people and its first feature film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, looks and feels exactly like a Ghibli film. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to treat it exactly as a Ghibli film, thankyouverymuch.
Exiled to the sacred elephant burial ground of country living, Mary (voice of Ruby Barnhill) is anxious about her new school. Her parents have sent her to be with relatives –old relatives- who, in turn, are only too 
happy to abandon the 12-year-old girl as well (“everybody’s doin’ it”). Yes, we all have better things to do than pay attention to Mary. That includes the gardener, the local punk, and a pair of stray cats. Lacking for Nintendo, Mary follows the cats to the woods and happens upon a blue flower that otherwise would have gone unnoticed had the cats not hissed at it repeatedly. Good job, guys.
After padding the story a bit for runtime purposes, Mary follows the (magical) flower to the misty woods and discovers a broomstick. Some hijinks later, she’s in Hogwarts. Well, not Hogwarts per se, but Endor College, clearly a magic safety school, where Dumdledore has been replaced by Madam Mumblechook (Kate Winslet). The whole thing looks like Kiki’s Delivery Service meets Harry Potter, without the flair of either. In case you were wondering, Mr. Pumblechook is a character in Great Expectations. This last bit of derivation could belong to either the movie or the adaptation source: The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart. I honestly don’t care who you stole from, just acknowledging that you did. There’s very little of Mary and the Witch’s Flower that feels new.
From my perspective, Studio Ghibli seriously shih-tzud the bed in the last decade. Hayao Miyazaki decided to call it a career some years ago and ended with a few non-fantastical films which were … not fantastic. Now, I was never gaga for Ghibli in the first place. Yes, Totoro, the catbus is awesome! Is there any chance your film could be 40 minutes shorter and, you know, funny? It is impossible as a movie fan, however, not to acknowledge
the unique and wonderful Miyazaki/Ghibli had to offer. I personally own a Tortoro sweatshirt I wear proudly. That said, studio quality went into the tank following Spirited Away and never recovered.
Yeah, I can see you made an honest effort in Mary and the Witch’s Flower to rekindle Ghibli greatness: “Come look! There’s magic and innocence and discovery and parental irresponsibility and all sorts of a crazy nightmare blob crap!” Yeah, yeah, I get that. You tried. Sure. And while this film will appeal to a great number of children, I’d be remiss in not pointing out that the originality here is sorely lacking. You don’t need originality to make a film enjoyable, but you sure need it to make a film great. I’m enough encouraged by Mary and the Witch’s Flower to see if Studio Ponoc is up to creating something better, but not much more than that.
Reviving Ghibli might seem one massive gag
Perhaps they thought, “This one’s in the bag!”
Lookie here, “Dumbledore”
We’ve seen this before
All you’ve done is dressed Potter in drag
Rated PG, 102 Minutes
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Writer: Riko Sakaguchi & Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Genre: Tale as old as anime
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Independent pre-pubescent girls
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The desperate-for-Hayao-Miyazaki crowd
