Mary and the Witch's Flower

Studio Ponoc
Target audience: Rated PG

'Mary and the Witch's Flower' is a 2017 Japanese animated movie from Studio Ponoc which tells the story of a young girl called Mary who discovers a magical flower that temporarily grants her witch powers. With these newfound powers, she accidentally brings a broomstick to life, which whisks her high into the sky and away from her quiet life in the English countryside, away from local boy Peter who teases her about her red hair, away from the misty woods where she found the magical fly-by-night flower, and to a wondrous place above the clouds known as Endor Collage for witches. There, Mary astounds everyone with her prodigious spell casting abilities, including headmistress Madam Mumblechook and chemistry teacher Doctor Dee, and she is quickly offered a place at the school. However, something is rotten at the heart of Endor Collage. Beneath the nurturing scholastic facade lies a dark plot born of obsession, kidnapping, and inhuman experiments, and soon Mary and Peter find themselves embroiled in a race for their lives.

'Mary and the Witch's Flower' is an adventurous tale of discovery, danger, and daring rescue, and is a visual delight as Studio Ponoc draws on the vibrant art style of its parent company, Studio Ghibli. However, the storytelling potential of this animated film is hampered by an unfortunate combination of an underdeveloped main character, undefined stakes, and contrived solutions.

Problems begin from the outset, with Mary lacking a clear driving motivation or goal. Her strongest personal desires initially shown are to not be bored, to help others without causing issues, and to have friends. All three of these could serve as effective character motivations to drive the plot and foster a sympathetic attachment from viewers. Unfortunately, none are consistently expanded upon as the story progresses, nor integrated alongside a thematic touchstone. Instead, her boredom is quickly remedied by following Peter's cats Tib and Gib, her choices continue to cause trouble for the people around her - including actively endangering Peter - and her relationship with Peter is ill-defined and may be more accurately described in the latter half of the movie as a mutually beneficial team-up rather than an actual friendship. By failing to establish a clear want or need for Mary, it may be difficult for viewers to become invested in her journey. Furthermore, through a series of convoluted misunderstandings and progressively less believable assumptions on behalf of Madam Mumblechook and Doctor Dee, Mary's first visit to Endor College sees her lauded with multiple compliments of unearned praise, to which she responds by bragging about her supposed abilities. Compounded with her willingness to scapegoat Peter in the face of Madam Mumblechook's questioning about the fly-by-night, Mary's decisions in the first half of the film may be construed as childish thoughtlessness at best, willful spite as worst, and overall may negatively impact upon her likability over the course of the story.

In addition to an absent core motivation for the main character, 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' does not introduce a central narrative conflict until nearly halfway through the movie when Peter is kidnapped. The combined lack of these two elements may, for some viewers, feel like the contents of the movie's first half are an interesting but directionless series of events that just happen to occur to the same character, rather than a consequence of Mary's choices or a cohesive plot thread. This is reinforced by the main inciting incidents that eventuate in Mary's welcome to Endor College being not a result of Mary's direct actions, but due to Tib's provision of the fly-by-night flower, the little broomstick whisking her away, and stable master Flanagan's incorrect presumption of Mary being a new witch student. This may leave audiences with the impression that Mary is simply being pulled along by the events happening around her, and that she exhibits limited agency as the protagonist.

The issue of character agency is improved in the second half, where Mary actively works to save Peter and return home. However, her efforts are undermined on multiple occasions by contrived solutions that easily overcome Mary's obstacles with little input or request on her part. This is demonstrated by Tib and Gib revealing a way for her to sneak into the laboratory, the unexpected return of the de-transformed animals after they were previously shown to have departed the floating island of Endor College, and Flanagan twice appearing with Mary's broomstick to first enable her to escape capture, and then later for her and Peter to return home. These multiple instances of others solving Mary's problems impede on her opportunities for character growth, and may make for an unsatisfying watching experience. Additionally, it also serves to demonstrate how Studio Ponoc failed to achieve their intended thematic goal of not using magic to solve problems. In an interview with the Anime News Network, Studio Ponoc founder and producer of 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' Yoshiaki Nishimura discussed his desire to portray a heroine that chooses to not use magic but instead strives to move forward under her own abilities. He also likened the fly-by-night flower and its ability to temporarily grant normal humans magic to a Pandora's Box, being something that humans aren't supposed to have, or that wreaks havoc if unleashed. However, this theme is not implemented in the movie, as Mary consistently either uses magic to overcome challenges, has others solve problems in her stead, or finds someone else capable of enacting a magical solution, as exemplified in the finale where she brings the Master Spells book to Peter for him to use his remaining magic to undo Madam Mumblechook and Doctor Dee's disastrous experiment.

From a storytelling standpoint, 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' would benefit greatly from the provision of a core motivation or goal for the main character that continues throughout the film, greater agency on Mary's part to make decisions that drive plot events, a reduction of contrived solutions that damage story tension and undercut opportunities for Mary's personal growth, and greater thematic set up to her eventual choice to reject magic and throw away the remaining flower. As is, the movie is an ambitious tale of adventure and beautifully animated visuals, and even contains a delightful surprise for Australasian viewers unaccustomed to seeing their native wildlife in mainstream media, with the inclusion of a koala, sulfur-crested cockatoo, cassowaries, and kangaroos being depicted among the de-transformed animals. However, due to the aforementioned structural issues present in the narrative, 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' may be simply relegated to a fun, but forgettable film.