When Marnie Was There (2024)

Memorable, crazy movie

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"When Marnie Was There" is reportedly the final film from Studio Ghibli, the studio made famous by master animator Hayao Miyazaki. It watches as Anna Sasaki, an introverted 12 year old, travels to a picaresque rural home to stay with relatives. The film's derivative of countless other anime ("Only Yesterday", "My Neighbour Totoro", "From Up on Poppy Hill", "The Secret World of Arrietty" etc), all of which use bucolic idylls to delve into and so heal traumatic, tragic pasts.The "tragedy", in the case of "Marnie", involves the psychological and physical abuse suffered by several generations of related young women. To say more would be to spoil several key revelations. Suffice to say that, by the film's end, family and love have assuaged issues of abandonment and inferiority. The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, a Miyazaki protégé who struggles to find his own voice. His ghost-story plot is far too conventional, and his constant cutaways to pretty landscapes and pondering faces too often feel like low-rent Miyazaki, lacking the Master's compositional skills.6/10 – Worth one viewing.

I don't know what it is about Ghibli recently, but I have been so amazingly bored with their recent movies. The Wind Rises, From Up on Poppy Hill, and now When Marnie was there.Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE Ghibli movies. Kiki's delivery service, the Cat Returns, and Castle in the Sky are some of my favorite movies of all time. However, this one, I sadly have to say, it is the ONLY ghibli movie I have ever shut off halfway through due to boredom.I don't know what it is about recent Ghibli movie and their aversion to using magic, but it doesn't help their cause.Ghibli unfortunately is like every other studio. They are not infallible. They make mistakes.The biggest issue I found with this movie is that the main character is an annoying little whiner. Every problem she has in the movie is due to her being a whiner. (except for the asthma) She goes to the new place, and she's mopey. People try to make friends with her, and she's a jerk and mopey again. Then when the kids in town get annoyed at her for being a jerk, I think the movie is trying to get you to feel bad for her? But I can't. Every single time something bad happens it is entirely her fault. The first half of this movie was just a test of patience to see if you didn't punch this girl in the face. Then Marnie shows up but the problem is, you hate the other girl so much by that point you don't even care if she makes a friend. I sure didn't.Ghibli's music and animation are never brought into question. No matter how terrible their movie is the art and music are always breathtaking. That doesn't change. But the main character was so unlikable, there was a lack of overt use of magic or wonder, and I did not give a single care about the story this girl went through as every single problem created was of her own doing.I actually read the ending of the movie on wiki because I just felt like knowing how it ended but I didn't want to invest more than 30 seconds doing so. And I still don't care.I do not like some Ghibli movies. I know this may sound blasphemous, but I just can't get into some. However, on the flip side, some of them are breathtakingly amazing. But I have NEVER shut one off halfway through before. That is something amazing all in itself. Tales from Earthsea and from Up on Poppy Hill are BAD but I didn't shut them off halfway through. Because as bad as they were, at least they weren't BORING. And that is the greatest sin a ghibli movie could have. So it with a heavy heart that I have to give When Marnie was there, a 3, out of 10.

Ghibli has been on my heart for as long as I can remember. I've collected all the DD's available in Finland. The news that they will stop making movies made my heart crack. It might be because of this reason that I loved the story of Marnie so much. Marnie was the first Ghibli movie to ever make me cry, without really knowing or understanding why. Sure, they are all emotional and heartwarming, but Marnie had that special something. From the beginning to the ending, the movie is breathtaking and beautiful to the fullest. The animation, the soundtrack, the voice acting (I watched it in Japanese), everything. I'm sure I would've loved Marnie even without feeling so much for Ghibli, even if it was my first Ghibli movie. I highly recommend everyone to give this a try, especially if you love anime, Ghibli and beauty. Marnie will forever be my favorite of Ghibli, and the legend and legacy Ghibli left behind will live long in everyone's hearts.

Well the latest entry from Studio Ghibli was an interesting watch, it's not quite as emotionally taxing as say From Up on Poppy Hill or The Wind Rises are & it's not going into the ridiculously wonderful & whimsical vibrant worlds of say Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, it is a film of small personal drama that at the heart of it is a story of a young girl troubled with loneliness & a feeling that the world around her is not accepting her...that can be oh so relatable, just from the simple feeling of opening up only to get hurt in the process therefore further isolating herself, sound familiar? The one thing you do get from the film is something that is very prominent in many Ghibli films and that is the convincing portrayal of the main character having to 'find themselves' to discover who they are, which is always a great message to put out there.For me personally it's not up there with the Studio's best with some of the tones a bit too twee for my liking and hey I'm not afraid of a bit of Ghibli whimsy but they've done it so much better in the likes of From Up on Poppy Hill (which I feel is greatly underrated) and The Wind Rises that embrace the personal drama, humor and whimsy in equal and affecting use, considering also some of the films themes this may explain away why there wasn't as much humor in the film.It has to be said Ghibli always make interesting films & even with this being not one of their best it still has plenty to offer & I could still see it connect with a young adolescent girl audience.I hope that this (given the rumors) is not their last film for a while as their films make the animation landscape such a more vibrant place to view interesting films.