"Mary and the Witch's Flower" is a 2017 Mibayashi Hiromasa as a supervisor to direct an animated film, released in Japan last year, the Blu-ray release of this work in March this year, the current domestic has been able to see the complete and clear of the work, and in China, April 28 This movie is about to be released, but most of the audiences who have seen this work have a low evaluation of this work, what is the reason behind this?
Micro spoiler note
Decent, the plot is more straightforward
"Mary and the Witch's Flower" is the first feature-length animation work created by studio ponoc in cooperation with Yoshiaki Nishimura after the supervision of Mibayashi Hiromasa quit Studio Ghibli, with a duration of 1 hour and 46 minutes, perhaps from such a preliminary nature of the work after it came out, throughout the whole drama can feel a very strong "conservative atmosphere", all aspects will not be weak, there is no trace of shoddy fabrication, but there is no special color, the quality of painting is high, The musical choice is moderate but there is no impressive piece, the plot is relatively straight, the foreshadowing is relatively shallow, and it is also a description of the world of magic, but it lacks the imagination and tension of Miyazaki's works, and the story of "Mary and the Witch's Flower" lacks impressive fragments.
The smell of "Ghibli" felt everywhere
At the end of this animated film, the subtitle "Thanks to Hayao Miyazaki Takada" is very prominently marked, and it can be said that Mibayashi Hiromasa's tribute to the two predecessors is very clear. And that's true in the work. It stands to reason that Mirin Hiroshimas can create animation that belongs only to his own style, can diverge from the style of Studio Ghibli's works, and take his own route, but he did not do so, the painting style of the 80s, the childlike story, telling fairy tale stories, gorgeous backgrounds, all of which are full of the taste of Studio Ghibli, but are evaluated by many viewers as "imitation is not in place", because the same style is made, but the same depth is not made, the plot is relatively shallow, and the imagination is not enough. It feels bland.
Many people's evaluation of this work is that "just imitating Miyazaki is not enough, you need your own things." "And what we can't see is Mirin Hirohide's own stuff."
The portrayal of the protagonist is not brilliant enough
The heroes and heroines of "Mary and the Witch's Flower" are more delicate, the heroine Mary is unexpectedly clumsy and unlikable, there is no shrewd and intelligent taste that Studio Ghibli animation has always had, but a mouth full of lies and does not appear to be smart enough, as the heroine lacks convincing protagonist characteristics, some parts of the portrayal are even somewhat inexplicable, the male protagonist is too little, the personality is not formed, the story is over, and I can't see the growth of the heroine, personally I think, The portrayal of the protagonist of this work is not very successful, and the idea is not clear enough, which is one of the reasons why this work has been criticized by many people.
Summary: In general, "Mary and the Witch's Flower", as the first full-length animation after Mirin Hiroshimas left Ghibli, is still quite conservative, inheriting the style and characteristics of Ghibli animation, but lacking the extraordinary imagination of the previous masters, lacking meticulous plot preparation and portrayal of character growth, comprehensive look and feel, it is indeed flat, but the exquisite production and childlike world design can still make people enjoy the whole work comfortably.