Text | Guagua
After watching this movie, I was a little angry.
It's not because the animated film sucks, it's just that it's not good enough to deserve the title of "Miyazaki's disciple's latest masterpiece" and "Studio Ghibli's original team".
Mary and the Witch's Flower
What does Miyazaki mean to me?
When I was a child, the Internet was not so developed, and the most convenient way to watch movies was to put on the stalls of pirated DVDs neatly arranged in stacks.
The first time I saw Hayao Miyazaki's animation was on a disc called "The Complete Works of Miyazaki's Animation".
That disc, along with countless "winter vacation assignments" and "summer assignments," accompanied me through all the long vacations of the six years of elementary school.
I remember the initial shot of the disc tucked into the DVD player, where a blue totoro was vaguely at the bottom of the frame, squeezed so distorted that its smile looked a little weird.
"Ear Ear Listening", "Porco Rosso", "Spirited Away", "Cat's Reward", "Totoro", "Princess Mononoke", "Castle in the Sky", "Hal's Moving Castle", "Fairy Tale of the Years", "Witch House Rush", "Valley of the Wind".
I vividly remember every movie cover, remember where they were arranged in the menu bar, and remember the old phone line outside the window dangling violently in the wind while watching a movie.
The memory of Hayao Miyazaki, along with the dry air in the north, poured into my internal organs, the grassy hillside that Chihiro looked back at, and the moonlight that crossed when clutching the dragon's horn;
The flames that have signed a demonic pact with Hal live in the stove; the hordes of king worms in the Valley of the Winds merge into a golden sea;
The girls who dried their tears and blood, along with my teenage years, finally went further without hesitation.
Miyazaki's three words condensed too much of my emotional sustenance.
So for this "Mary and the Witch's Flower", in addition to anger, I am more lost.
I had to face up to the fact that the Miyazaki era was rapidly departing.
Those girls with round eyes and big tears rolling out of their eyes when frustrated, those girls who have to rush forward even if they are afraid even if they are afraid, those girls who are independent, strong and kind and warm, along with my old DVD player, are finally dying of old age.
He was replaced by Hiromasa Mibayashi, who was hailed as "Miyazaki's successor", and as the original painter, he had participated in many works of Ghibli, the picture of Chihiro's parents eating heavily in "Spirited Away", the scene of the goldfish princess marching into the new world in "Goldfish On the Cliff", and the first encounter between Hal and Sophie.
So Hiromasa Mibayashi, as a proud disciple of Hayao Miyazaki, retained a lot of Ghibli elements in this anime despite quitting Studio Ghibli.
Whether it's the protagonist's character:
(Mary is like a combination of the two heroines in "Totoro" and "Witch House Rush"))
(The image of the villain headmistress is also similar to Grandma Tang in "Spirited Away")
In fact, as early as the beginning of 2017, I saw the animated promo of "Mary and the Witch Flower", Miyazaki's disciple and Ghibli's original class were hung high on the title of the video as a gimmick, and the content of the trailer looked extremely thrilling:
The red-haired witch lying on a high-speed broom, the magic flower that emits beautiful brilliance, the island suspended in the sea of rainbow clouds... The elevated worldview makes me look forward to the grand wizarding world that is different from Harry Potter, and after seventeen years, we may see another fantasy world like Spirited Away.
However, all my thoughts changed completely the moment I stepped into the cinema.
This kind of film that exudes Ghibli style everywhere but tries to get rid of Ghibli influences is doomed from the beginning to be too successful.
Obviously want to depict a story of growth, the protagonist's emotional climax and growth come inexplicably;
Obviously, he wants to create a grand magical world, but all the elements in "Mary and the Witch's Flower" add up, which is not as wonderful as the "Burrow" of the Ron family;
Obviously, he wants to create a brave girl, but he has shaped the heroine into a brainless and reckless bear child, and the character's emotions and growth are suddenly illogical.
Compared with miyazaki's animation that is suitable for people to talk about, this "Mary and the Witch Flower" is too far behind.
The dry and featureless villain is like the villain who used to clamor on various animation channels that he will kill the protagonist, and as for the reason and motive, we know that he is the "bad guy".
With nowhere to put the emotional sustenance, no way to talk about the friendship bondage, "Mary and the Witch's Flower" presented on the big screen, more like a pot of uncooked porridge, you can see the fresh raw materials of the water spirit, but it is difficult to admire the deliciousness of the finished product.
"Mary and the Witch's Flower" is not too bad in the same kind of animated films, although the plot has bugs, but after all, it tells a complete story, and the picture color and music are blameless.
Only this time, we finally jumped out of Ghibli's aura and seriously watched a movie without Miyazaki.
Many people sighed in film reviews: The most touching thing about the movie is the small words at the end of the film:
Thank you to Miyazaki, to the dreamer who has given countless children sweet dreams, and to the softness he has made for us.
But Miyazaki's era, after all, passed away without hesitation and vigor.