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Originally posted by arren18
Do you know when you're seeing it, husky? I wonder what you'll think.

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Yes, January 18... My seat is reserved I am hoping for the best and I will let you know...

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Rats!!!

I made the trip to see the movie, was early so I stopped at a deli for a sandwich. I then found a parking space and went in with my pre-paid ticket.

Then the roof fell in, so to speak...
There was still a movie board on the wall for 'Mary', but I was informed that the movie wasn't there. It was canceled or hadn't arrived or something...



I expressed my displeasure, was given two free tickets to a future movie, but I'm not sure that I'll use them... It is a 50 mile round trip... through the middle of a busy city.

I did arrange for a refund of my ticket...

Now looking for another venue...

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Well, I saw "Mary and the Magic Flower" today and I probably will get the DVD wehen it comes out. I could see a resemblence to other Ghibli films. It was there, but wasn't, if you get my drift.

To me, and remember that I am not an expert, but to me the storyline and continuity felt contrived and somewhat stilted. I could see the resemblance to at least four other Ghiblis... "Spirited Away"; "The Cat Returns"; Castle in the Sky" and "Howl's"... There may have been others, but I didn't notice them offhand... I spoke with two of the other patrons (a man and woman about 23 or so) and they were Ghibli fans as well. They too saw the resemblance's....

Overall, I did enjoy the movie...

I will say that it did feel funny sitting in the theater at 10:30AM on a Tuesday morning, watching the movie. When the lights went up, there were seven of us sitting there... There were two more showings today, one at 1:30PM and one at 3:30PM as well as the same showtimes for tomorrow... I would think that at the more normal time slots, there would have been a greater turnout.

By the way, these theater seats were recliners, activated by a switch on the inward side of the left armrest... And very wide aisles between the rows... Unlike most theaters...

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I found out that "Mary and the Witch's Flower' was made from a book entitled "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart...

I am posting this because the prices for the book are astronomical!!! On eBay, I found one for over $1,000USD and on Amazon the paperback edition was higher than the hardba k editions available. the cheapest is about $170 and goes up over $1,000 again...

Mary Stewart has written a number of novels that are going for less than $10 in many cases...

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I'm surprised it's so expensive! I can only imagine it's been out of print for some time. I'm pretty sure I saw translated versions here readily available, so maybe if the film fares well there then it'll get a reprint?

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I hoping so... I can't see spending even $100 on a book... It would have to be a very limited copy of an especially good book for that, lol

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It's a shame this movie didn't make to Brazil yet. I believe it would receive attention from the public here, we've got a growing base of anime enthusiasts and fans. Some theaters did bring some anime movies, such as Kimi no Na wa and to a lesser extent Wind Rises and Tale of the Princess Kaguya (they were exhibited in a few capital cities only). As far as I know, they were a relative success.

I hope it makes it here eventually.

So as I mentioned in the film thread, I got the chance to see Mary and the Witch's Flower in the cinema last night.

I thought it was okay.

One thing that struck me about it is what a mish-mash of other Ghibli films it felt like, I suppose it must have been a deliberate homage but I feel they overdid it a bit. There were bits and pieces of Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Mononoke, Laputa...

That aside, I think this film lacked the depth that I've come to expect. It felt like a great kid's film but didn't go much beyond that. There was also definitely a sense of a book getting crammed into film format and not especially successfully.

Yonebayashi did a much better job on When Marnie Was There.

All that said, it wasn't a bad film by any means. I enjoyed watching it. Just wasn't up to the (admittedly very high) standard.

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Yeah, I feel much the same way. For me, it's on the same level as some of Ghibli's weaker efforts, but better than, say, Arrietty. So although Yonebayashi did better with Marnie, this wasn't a massive step back.

Having said that, if Ponoc continues to be a thing, I'd like them to diversify a bit and not go down the Ghibli-lite route.

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Kinda sounds like the three of us have somewhat the same feelings about the movie... Good, but not great good, somewhat on a par with some of Ghibli's lesser films...

But, there is hope for Ponoc, at least.

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Oh, for sure. They're a relatively young team of very talented people, so I'm sure we're going to see a lot of great work from them in the future.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Kazegami

One thing that struck me about it is what a mish-mash of other Ghibli films it felt like, I suppose it must have been a deliberate homage but I feel they overdid it a bit. There were bits and pieces of Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Mononoke, Laputa...


Yonebayashi did a much better job on When Marnie Was There.

All that said, it wasn't a bad film by any means. I enjoyed watching it. Just wasn't up to the (admittedly very high) standard.

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I agree with all of this. I just watched it and found it very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli movies, in everything from the artwork to the plot elements, but lacking that Ghibli "magic" -- I didn't feel for the characters the way I do with Ghibli movies, and I didn't find myself thinking about the story the next day or pondering the issues raised in the movie (as there really weren't any).

On the positive side, it was entertaining, fast-paced, and the animation and art were colorful and creative, especially the scenes at the college (that my daughter said was a ripoff of Hogwarts in "Harry Potter". Also, as I watched it, I found myself not always able to predict what was going to happen next, and that was refreshing. My kids really enjoyed it, too.

Considering this was Studio Ponoc's first film, I'm looking forward to its future releases. It wasn't perfect, but it was good, and if Yonebayashi continues to hone his craft, I think we can expect even better things from him. Consider, for comparison's sake, Makoto Shinkai -- he had a (well-deserved) blockbuster hit with "your name" in 2016, but if you watch his first film, "Voices of a Distant Star," you can see how far he has come and how much he has improved. Yonebayashi already has a great deal of talent and experience, so I'm optimistic. I don't think he'll ever be as good as Takahata or Miyazaki, but I would expect him to eventually be on par with Hosoda, who I think is reliably good, and Shinkai, who has finally figured out how to tell a story.

Agreeing with you on all counts, Maenad and Kazagami...

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quote:

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Originally posted by arren18
better than, say, Arrietty.

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It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so loving what - Stephen Fry.