This quirky animated film with jewel-bright colours is the first film from Studio Ponoc, which was founded by Yoshiaki Nishimura, formerly of Studio Ghibli. It could be mistaken for a Studio Ghibli film, as it does have similarities. The film is based on a children’s book, The Little Broomstick, by Mary Stewart, which was first published in 1971. I hadn’t heard of the book, or even the author, before I encountered the film. It’s quite a gentle book which at the beginning seems to be a copy of The Secret Garden, with a bored girl named Mary sent to a manor in the countryside, where she explores the gardens. Then she discovers a magic flower which allows her to become a witch and ride a very characterful broomstick to a school for witches. However, when her so-called familiar, a black cat, is taken for transforming into a creature, it’s up to Mary to save her cat and in the process, set the other animals free with the help of local boy Peter.

The film takes the basic plot of the book, and expands it to be more dramatic and powerfully magical. For example, it’s not the cat that needs rescuing, but Peter (we are introduced to him very early in the film) who when experimented upon, becomes consumed by a huge magic blob which threatens to destroy everything – history repeating itself. The presentation of the school for witches inevitably looks a bit like Hogwarts, or forerunners such as Miss Cackle’s Academy, but actually The Little Broomstick predates even the Worst Witch books. I think the film improves upon the book and makes the story more exciting.

By Studio Ponoc, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56498305