Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Stream on Netflix
Runtime: 1 Hour and 43 Minutes
Rated PG
Mary finds a unique flower and magical broomstick in the woods encased in vines and weeds. Once freed, the broom comes to life and moves under her ready for take off. Before she has time to react the broom whisks her away to a school for witches. Upon arrival at the school she is welcomed and seen as a prodigy however, there seem to be some strange things going on other than just the spells.
Themes:
Witches, being a kid, family, gardening, being an only child, cats, magic, school, spells, witches, red hair, prodigies, change, deception, the fly by night flower, no one gets left behind, and promises.
Language:
A boy calls a girl a “red headed monkey.” There is name calling, but no curse words.
Stuff to be aware of:
Grossness - There are many creatures throughout the film that resemble blobs and come in different shapes and forms. The ooze and move in gross looking ways.
Scariness - There is an escape scene in the beginning of the movie in which a building is on fire and some magic spells are cast offensivley. Nothing too intense. Some flying, water-looking creatures chase a character. A fog with static/lightning swarms around two cats. One of the witches communicates in a magical message that resembles water. She is a bit intimidating during this scene. There are some animals that have been transformed into magical creatures that look a bit intimidating. One mean witch casts spells that look like watery tar that wraps around things and reaches out and grabs people.
A boy is captured and put in a tank of liquid. Agoo-likee monster comes out of the tank and destroys things. The blobcreatesd itself a mouth and morphs into different things. This isn’t really designed to be scary, but it is intense and could scare young viewers.
Other - A girl puts her hair in pig tails and complains that she hates her hair.
Overall:
All the fun and magic of a Studio Ghibli movie, but the story isn’t quite on the same level. It was entertaining, but likely not one I’ll watch again. A big plus is it is family-friendly. My ten year old loved it.