In this feature animation debut from Japan's Studio Ponoc, based on Mary Stewart's 1971 novel The Little Broomstick, eleven-year-old Mary Smith (the voice of Ruby Barnhill in the English-language version) moves to the countryside to live with her great-aunt Charlotte (Lynda Baron). Local paperboy Peter (Louis Ashbourne Serkis; Andy's son) is also found there and his good-humoured mocking of Mary's red hair and clumsiness masks his obvious crush on her. His pet cats then lead Mary to some strange, glowing flowers which a local gardener then tells her possess magical powers that witches are said to covet. Then after the flower's bulbs come to life, they summon a broomstick for Mary to ride and now she's a witch-in-training.
Yes, I'm serious. This film's narrative truly is that cliched and hackneyed. I hated this movie. It's fantasy at its most unimaginative, and that's not it's only downfall. There's also an anthropomorphised mouse sidekick named Flanagan (Ewen Bremner) who's depicted as an offensive Irish stereotype (I'm of Irish descent), Mary and Peter feel the entire time like retreads of the damsel in distress and farm boy archetype, the animation style is in no way distinctive, it wastes every opportunity it had for some humour, and Jim Broadbent gives an irritating vocal performance as a mad scientist at Mary's witchcraft school. After his 2014 masterpiece When Marnie Was There (which he made for Studio Ghibli), I thought Mary and the Witch's Flower was a complete buzzkill for director Hiromasa Yonebashi. Better luck next time to him and his new studio, Ponoc.
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