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Jul 14, 2021
Story: 10
Art:10
Characters: 9
Overall: 7
Let me explain.
If I had to use one word to describe this film, it would be "rushed". All of the pieces of this film are brilliant. The story is really nice and touching. I really liked the characters and the way they interacted. There are a lot of really nice moments, and interesting ideas. The art is beautiful and creative, particularly the architecture. The world building is kind of insane (in a good way). The ending was perfect, and the closing theme punctuated it all perfectly. That said, I could tell from about five minutes in that this was never going to
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work as a standalone film, and my suspicions were only confirmed as I continued to watch.
This film rarely ever felt like it had time to breath. A lot of the touching moments were undercut by the fact that I never had time to connect with a lot of the character. The film was filled with time skips, and I constantly found myself watching a montage or seeing a flashback or listening to exposition and thinking "wow that sounds really cool. I want to see the characters going through that. It sounds like a really cool arc with a lot of cool ideas to flesh out. I want to watch that". But alas instead of an arc, I got a time skip followed by a few sentences of exposition. It was honestly kind of disappointing.
I thought that surely this must be some sort of adaptation of a manga or television series. But it really seems like its not, which actually kind of baffles me, because of the sheer amount of work that seems to have gone into the world building. This should not be a film. It should be a franchise.
If this ever does get adapted into an television series or a manga, I will be very excited. I can honestly see it being one of my absolute favourites. But as it stands now, it just feels like a lot of wasted potential, which makes me kind of sad. I really want to see this story fleshed out. I really want to see this story get the treatment it deserves. But I know that it's usually mangas that get overly compressed film adaptations, not the other way around.
Also, just one other minor nit pick. I find the dynamic range in the volume of this film really annoying. It had the same problem that Lord of the Rings has, in that I had to strain my ears to hear the quiet dialogue, only to have them shattered by a loud action scene. I know it probably sounds really cool in cinemas, but at home it's kind of annoying. Pretty minor issue though, and it was honestly fine for most of the film. It's more just a minor pet peeve of mine. Definitely not a reason to avoid watching the film. In fact please watch it. Then talk publicly about how it needs to be a franchise until someone listens.
EDIT: Okay, so now that I've said all that, it sounds like there might actually be a manga. Just one that isn't licensed in English. I don't know why it's not mentioned anywhere, but that is exciting to know. That said, my excitement is a quite hampered by the fact it seems to only be three volumes long (and it's apparently finished). I feel like it really needs to be close to the length of Fullmetal Alchemist to do it justice. But I'll definitely have to check it out. Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 21, 2021
This film has all the pomp of Ghibli but none of the substance.
My biggest complaint personally was the three goblins. They were pretty much your run-of-the-mill Disney-style comic-relief caricatures, and I honestly just found them annoying to no end. Even aside from that they were kind of just bland and unfunny.
There's also the climax. It's rather shoe-horned in, and comes mostly out of nowhere. It also is essentially just one massive plot-hole. Without giving to much away, it's immediately immediately clear to anyone with half brain cell that the plan the characters are attempting, has a huge flaw. I was interested to see how they
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would overcome this flaw, and well basically they just sweep it under the rug. Half way through the climax, the screen fades to black, and the film cuts to the next day, and everything is resolved somehow.
Other than than that, the film is honestly just kind of bland and unremarkable. The beginning and the end and a few moments here and there feel a little heartfelt, but even they are pretty cliche and unmoving. The shinto stuff was also kind of cool, but you can find that anywhere. I probably could have gotten over my first two complaints if there was really anything to like about the film, but there isn't. It's just a mediocre film, with a few flaws that gently push it down into "bad" territory.
Honestly, you're better off just rewatching your favorite Ghibli film.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 20, 2021
I'm not the first person to say this but: This is a really good movie, and everyone should watch it exactly once in their life*. I've given it a 2 for enjoyment. It's not a film that's enjoyable to watch. It is in fact downright dreadful, and I honestly have no interest in ever watching it again. I'm glad I did watch it though.
Second point: as someone who generally watches dubs, don't watch the english dub of this. Watch it in Japanese with subtitles (unless of course you speak Japanese). Despite my first point, I've actually watched this film twice. And I can tell
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you that the dub is kind of bad -- to the point that the film didn't hurt me the way it's supposed to and I thought the film itself was way overrated. This film is not overrated though, it's a masterpiece. The dub is just bad. This finally brings me to my footnote/disclaimer.
* - This film should hurt you. If you watch this film and it does not hurt you, you did it wrong and you should watch it again. Maybe wait a few years, and try it again in another stage of your life, but watch it again.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 15, 2021
Kay so let's start by getting one thing out of the way: One thing this film is NOT is Kiki's Delivery Service. I've seen a few people act like this is like Ponoc's Kiki's Delivery Service ripoff or something. It's not. Other than the superficial fact that both films include a witch, the two films have almost nothing in common. Unfortunately among the things that they dont have in common is the fact that Kiki's Delivery Service is good.
Mary and the Witches Flower does have its strong suites. This film looks and sounds amazing. The opening scene absolutely blew me away. Yonebayashi not only masters
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Miyazki's style, but he seemlessly mixes it with his own and arguably improves upon it. Between this film and When Marnie was There, I am incredibly optimistic for the future of Studio Ponoc and Yonebayashi.
That said, this film is bad. It's bad because of its script and it's bad because of its characters. Nobody feels like a real person in this movie. They're all 2-dimensional caricatures working their way through a contrived plot. I really felt like I was watching a chidrens cartoon. Its weird too because it seems to set up Mary's arc in this overly simplistic and audience-patronizingly explicit way, and yet it doesn't even really pay it off. Mary's conclusion is honestly just weird and doesn't really make sense
I know Yonebayashi can do good character work. He directed When Marnie Was There after all. but for whatever reason he totally missed that in this film.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Feb 14, 2021
Reviewing this film is honestly difficult for me. I'm really of two minds on it, and no rating I can give it feels fair.
The beginning and middle of this film is utterly beautiful. And in fact if I had to give one adjective to describe this film it would be "beautiful". It has a beautiful soundtrack. The scenary is beautiful. It has this beautifully somber pacing. And by the opening credits I was completely sucked in. The film is incredibly effective at creating an atmosphere.
I'm so many ways this is my favorite film ever. There's honestly nothing I like more than just
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watching an hour and a half of adorable feelsy wholesomeness; and this film executes that beautifully. No other film has ever made me feel the way this film did when I first watched it.
And yet something about the ending just kind do ruins it for me somehow. Without going into spoilers, there's a bit of a twist, and they try to explain everything and tie up all the loose ends. It all felt really unecesary, and it kind of undermined a lot of the magic that the film built up. This might actually be a slight spoilers-by-analogy, but basically imagine if the last 15 minutes of Tonari no Totoro was spent explaining exactly how Totoro was a metaphor for Mei and Satsuki's dying mother; and how each of each of the adventures they had with him was some direct analogy for things the girls had done with their mother before she was hospitalized. Except that that hypothetical twist in Tonari no Totoro could actually make logical sense. Omoide no Marnie's twist seems to contradici things the film had earlier gone out of its way to get across, and raises some kind of weird questions.
The first time I watched Omoide no Marnie, I was able to brush the ending off. A lot of my favorite works have flaws -- flaws way worse than my minor gripes with this films slightly lame and disappointing ending. Somehow this ending just ruins the entire film for me though. Over time and each time I rewatch the film, it just leaves a worse and worse taste in my mouth. More and more I start to see the exact metaphors the writers were trying to get across in each scene and they honestly feel kind of lame.
Omoide no Marnie could have so easily been my favorite film period. I think it even was the first few days after I watched it. I've never seen another film do what this film did for me. I've never seen another film create the type of atmosphere this one does. I've never seen another film make me feel this warm and cozy inside. I want to find something though, because id really like to be able to get over this disappointing film.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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