Magic flows freely if not infinitely in “Mary and the Witch’s Flower,” an effortless animated charmer from the gifted Japanese director and Studio Ghibli veteran Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
Adapted by Yonebayashi and Riko Sakaguchi from Mary Stewart’s 1971 children’s novel, “The Little Broomstick,” the movie ushers us into an enchanted realm where water can dance, brooms and carpets take flight, and woodland critters transform into fantastical beings.
The greatest source of magic is the flower of the title, a glowing violet weed called a “fly-by-night,” which blooms only once every seven years and is coveted by witches and wizards for its powers. As luck would have it, the flower falls into the hands of Mary Smith (voiced by Ruby Barnhill in the English-dubbed version), who is no witch but rather a rosy-cheeked girl with unruly red hair and an appealing blend of spunk and sweetness.
That makes her a natural choice of heroine for Yonebayashi, the Japanese animation house where plucky female protagonists have long ruled the roost.