Rating: 1.5/5.
Studio Ghibli’s first film in four years, “Earwig and the Witch,” was released on Feb. 9, 2021 on HBO Max for streaming. The film is the studio’s first to be fully animated in 3D, and was directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of acclaimed Japanese animated film director Hayao Miyazaki. Based on a novel of the same name by Dianna Wynne Jones, whose novel “Howl’s Moving Castle” was adapted by Studio Ghibli into one of the highest grossing Japanese films ever, “Earwig and the Witch” wishes it could live up to the same legacy.
The film takes place in 1990s England and follows Erica Wigg (real name Earwig) after her witch mother drops off a baby Erica at an orphanage. Two bizarre individuals, Bella Yaga and the Mandrake, adopt Erica when she is 10 years old, against Erica’s wishes. Upon arriving home, Bella Yaga reveals to Erica that she is a witch and that she adopted Erica to be her assistant, to which Erica agrees on the condition Bella Yaga teaches her everything she knows about magic. Nonetheless, Bella Yaga has one rule that Erica must follow: Don’t disturb the Mandrake, a humanoid being that scares even Bella Yaga.
While releasing a fully 3D animated film is a huge advancement in animated film-making for Studio Ghibli, the studio also took a step back in terms of quality. The fact that this film is the studio’s first 3D animated film is painfully obvious, as the animation leaves much to be desired. The animation looks downright ugly at times, which is jarring when one is used to the quality 3D animation that Disney is putting out nowadays. The most egregious aspect of the animation is the characters’ expressions, which are just plain absurd at times. Erica has this ridiculous angry look on her face, eyebrows raised and furrowed, for much of her screen time, which left me unable to take her seriously. The characters’ movements are also very unnatural, which contributes to the lack of polish in the animation. Furthermore, the art style of the film is unappealing, and would have worked better with 2D animation instead of 3D animation. If the film was beautifully animated in 2D, like Studio Ghibli’s past masterpieces, I would actually have something to praise the film for, as the plot also fails to deliver.
Unlike many of Studio Ghibli’s successful films, which thrived off a sense of awe and adventure, “Earwig and the Witch” is insufferably dull. Most of the film takes place in Bella Yaga and the Mandrake’s house, which while carrying several mysteries of its own, feels claustrophobic at times.
The plot itself moves way too quickly, yet somehow feels slow and doesn’t make sense. As soon as Erica arrives at the house and learns about the existence of witches, she is barely surprised by this news. The main conflict of the film is how badly Erica is being treated at the house, which manifests as scenes of Erica pretty much working slave labor as Bella Yaga’s assistant. This gets repetitive really quickly, as I can only take so many scenes of Erica gathering plants from the garden or pounding ingredients for Bella Yaga’s spells. The magic isn’t even that interesting, contrary to what you would expect from a movie about witches. The only mildly entertaining spell in the entire film is when Erica, with the help of Thomas the talking black cat (who was sorely underused in the film—I mean come on he’s a talking, sassy cat!) casts a spell that causes Bella Yaga to sprout additional hands on her body in retaliation for Bella Yaga always referring to Erica as an “extra pair of hands.” Finally, the climax of the film not only conveniently resolves the conflict, but also comes out of nowhere, and ends the film on a confusing note.
The best parts of the film are the interactions between the Mandrake and Erica. While the Mandrake appears intimidating and reclusive at first, over the course of the film, he warms up to Erica and shows her kindness. My favorite scene in the whole movie was when Erica messes up cooking the Mandrake’s breakfast. While the audience expects the Mandrake to lash out at Erica, he instead scolds Bella Yaga for not teaching Erica how to make breakfast correctly.
Overall, “Earwig and the Witch” was a disappointment that failed to reinforce Studio Ghibli’s reputation for animated classics. Now if only I could get the film’s soundtrack out of my head (also not great, and has to do with the main character being named Earwig by the way).