Mary and the Witch's Flower is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The voice cast of the film consists of Hana Sugisaki, Yūki Amami, and Fumiyo Kohinata.
Plot[]
Mary Smith moves into the northern English country estate of her Great Aunt Charlotte. The bored, friendless girl tries to make herself useful through chores, but repeatedly messes up. A local boy named Peter teases her for her clumsiness and wild red hair. Tib and Gib, Peter's cats, lead Mary to some mysterious glowing flowers. The gardener identifies the flowers as "fly-by-night"; legend has it that witches covet the flower for its magical power. The next day, Gib disappears. Tib leads Mary to a broomstick but she accidentally bursts a fly-by-night bulb on it. The bulb releases magical power, making the broomstick come to life and enabling Mary to ride it like a witch. The Little Broomstick whisks Mary away to a complex of buildings in the clouds, known as Endor College for witches.
Headmistress Madam Mumblechook assumes Mary is a new pupil with Tib as her familiar, and takes her on a tour of the college. She introduces Mary to Doctor Dee, the college's renowned chemistry teacher. Mary finds herself able to perform advanced spells such as invisibility. Madam and Doctor Dee become convinced that Mary is a prodigy because of her performance as well as her red hair, which is a distinguishing feature among the best witches.
Mary admits that her magical ability comes from fly-by-night, and that Tib belongs to Peter. Madam's attitude changes, becoming true evil then, but she lets Mary return home once Mary turns over Peter's address. That night, Madam sends a message to Mary, informing that she's kidnapped Peter, and demands that Mary bring the fly-by-night bulbs to her. She and Tib quickly fly back to Endor with the bulbs, but Madam and Doctor Dee imprison her in their transformation lab. Mary finds Peter locked in with her, and discovers that Doctor Dee has been experimenting on animals, including Gib, transforming them into fantastic creatures. From the spell book she took from Madam's office, Mary uses a spell to undo the transformations and unlock the lab. They try to escape on the Little Broomstick, but Peter is recaptured by the evil sorceress again and she vows for her revenge to get the fly-by-night flower and the book.
The Little Broomstick takes Mary to an isolated cottage on a tiny island that seems to be alive. Inside the cottage, Mary finds notes on spells and a mirror that Great-Aunt Charlotte uses to contact her. Through visions, Charlotte reveals that the cottage was her old home, and she used to be a red-haired pupil who excelled at Endor. One day Charlotte found fly-by-night on the campus, leading Madam and Doctor Dee to obsessively pursue a project to use the flower to transform all humans into witches. When their experiments failed, Charlotte escaped Endor, taking the flower with her. Charlotte begs Mary to use her last bulbs to return home, but Mary vows to rescue Peter. The evil-hearted Madam tries to chase Mary and steals her bag and the flower and attacks her successfully and returning back to Endor for the transformation test.
Mary returns to Endor and finds Madam and Doctor Dee trying to transform Peter into a warlock. The experiment fails again, leaving Peter trapped within a gelatinous monster. Mary gets the spell book to Peter, and he uses it to undo the failed experiment and all of Madam and Doctor Dee's research. Mary and Peter fly home, with her throwing away her last bulb and saying she does not need magic.
Cast[]
Japanese version[]
- Hana Sugisaki as Mary Smith
- Yūki Amami as Madam Mumblechook
- Fumiyo Kohinata as Doctor Dee
English version[]
- Ruby Barnhill as Mary Smith
- Kate Winslet as Madam Mumblechook
- Jim Broadbent as Doctor Dee
Videos[]
To be added