Best movie of this year hands down!

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The animation and the story resemble the best of Studio Ghibli. Howevet, this does not even come close to the creativity or story line of the weakest Miyazaki films. This was entertaining for the kids, but not inspiring.

This film is absolutely wonderful. The animation is beautiful, and adds to the theme of magic perfectly. The soundtrack captures the tone wonderfully, as well as all the sound effects used. Many people wondered if the film would be on par with Studio Ghibli, since Studio Ponoc is a branch off from them. There is no question that this has the quality and feel of a classic Ghibli film that all fans can enjoy. The main character, Mary, is likeable and relatable. She is a sweet girl who is a bit awkward and doesn't feel like she fits in. This film shows that not all adults are what they appear to be, and cannot always be trusted. It also holds a strong underlying message against animal experimentation and cruelty. The plot is well structured, and her journey to accept who she is and do the right thing despite the circumstances is absolutely incredible. I would definitely recommend this film.

Mary and The Witch's Flower is the debut anime film from Studio Ponoc and directed by former Studio Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty, When Marnie Was There). Based on the novel "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart, it is a nice first offering from the relatively new animation studio and features some truly beautiful animation.On her Great Aunt's estate, young Mary Smith (voiced by Ruby Barnhill) lives a bored existence as she tries to pass the time before her parents join her. One day, while venturing out in the nearby woods, Mary stumbles upon a mysterious blue flower, believed to have been used by witches for their magical powers.Naturally, the film has taken some strong influences from its Ghibli roots, particularly that of Howl's Moving Castle and Kiki's Delivery Service, but also from the The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, with its overall magical tone and setting. The story does unfortunately play it safe one too many times, especially during the final act, and this does affect the overall enjoyment at times, whether this is how things are in the original novel I am unsure. Needless to say though, the animation is simply gorgeous and is up there with some of Studio Ghibli's best films. The attention-to-detail on every frame is exquisite and the use of colour makes the film great to look at. The performances of the English dub cast is solid, particularly that of newcomer Ruby Barnhill (Disney's The BFG) as the title character. However, as likeable a protagonist Mary is, her character seemed somewhat generic from a storytelling perspective and most of the supporting cast felt underdeveloped and one-dimensional. I have yet to see the original Japanese dub but I plan to do so in the not-too-distant future.I rate it 7.5/10

I first saw this movie on April 14th 2018. And I first heard about this movie on June 19th 2017 on the day I arrived in California to go to Disney land for the summer and all I saw of the movie was a poster of Mary and that was it. I wasn't that into it because there was no english dub and this was a month before the films release in Japan. Well I saw a trailer the day before the films release at my apartment at camp I saw the same trailer when I saw the re release of Castle in the sky one of my favourite animated movies at theatres in august 27th. Then a week later the english cast was announced being Ruby Barnhill (Mary), Kate Winslet (Bumbleshock) and Jim Broadbent (Docter B). Thats a good cast. The film as release in America in January 18th 2018 and the trailer was release in early December 2017. I saw the trailer and the voice of Mary was cringe and a lot of people agreed in the comments. But two weeks later I got into the trailer and I watched the trailer like 50 times. I couldn't see the movie in America as I left 3 weeks before it came out there. I saw a special trailer when I saw All the Money in the world, and it showed some more stuff that wasn't in the trailer. I liked it. I had to wait till March 30th before it came out on DVD. I was going to watch it on thursday like all of my new movies but the DVD was the Japanese version with no subtitles. I had to wait longer until on Wednesday I found out it was playing in Vox cinemas and this was my chance. I saw it and here are my thoughts:-----Ok for one the english dub is pretty good. Mary's voice unlike in the trailer isn't that cringe. The same goes for the rest of the cast there pretty good too. One thing is the pacing and for the first 20 minuets things are very slow besides the awesome opening which was shown in the first trailer I saw. Like we have Mary adjusting to her new house and her neighbours and it was kind of. BORING. Luckily things blast off afterwards as Mary gets the flowers and is sent to Ender College and Ender College is like Hogwarts if it was from the Future. Also for one I'm not that good at reviewing the plot, I'm more good at reviewing nitpicks.I wished they used more magic in the movie. Like theres a spell which can undo any spell and thats mostly everything the two characters Mary and Peter use. Most of the magic is used by Mumbleshook and those spells are cool but why couldn't the rest of the characters use spells like that. Ok I know Mary has magic for one day so you can't do that much, but she steals a spell book from Mumbleshook and they only use one spell. But you know, you only have magic for one day. At least they use brooms a lot.Also since this was made by some of the same people made by Studio Ghibli. So following a similar trend I do at the end of most Studio Ghibli films I would watch the whole credits cause even the credits are like apart of the movie. I stayed to the end and then The End appeared and that just put a smile on my face. All these reasons is why I believe Studio Ponco is a good Studio to make new movies. And I sure hope they make more movies soon.I give it 10 out of 10.