Film Review of Studio Ghibli’s First 3D Feature Film ‘Earwig and the Witch’
Film fans can finally rejoice now that cinemas have re-opened and they are able to enjoy the big screen experience once again. There are many titles for anyone to choose from and cinemagoers are treated to a small collection of animated films including Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, Raya and the Last Dragon and Maya the Bee: The Golden Orb.
But among these films, Earwig and the Witch has finally been released across the UK. As the first computer animated film produced from the famed Japanese animators Studio Ghibli and partnering up with the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, this film has a lot to live up to with their combined portfolios.
With this new venture for them and directed by Goro Miyazaki (who previously directed Tales from Earthsea and Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter), is it able to recreate the magic from their previous hits like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away?
Earwig and the Witch poster
Earwig (voiced by Taylor Henderson) grows up in an orphanage as a confident and determined young girl who gets adopted against her will by the mysterious and seemingly sinister Mandrake (Richard E. Grant) and Bella (Vanessa Marshall). She soon discovers that they are both magical and is put to work around the house and to assist Bella with her spells and potions. But Earwig will stop at nothing to learn how to cast magic herself and the secrets of her new home.
The narrative is surprisingly uninspiring despite the inclusion of magic and how Earwig often tries to outsmart her peers. Within the short running time of ninety minutes, the film feels restricted and longer than it actually is as the audience are never treated to scenes, or take the narrative, outside Mandrake and Bella’s house. There’s just not a lot of stakes for our protagonist and while we see her trying to venture throughout the house, there’s not a lot of development between the characters either, even though they are always within the same place.
Even with the subplot surrounding a vinyl and a band that shares Earwig’s name, it could have opened up some creative opportunities for the story and characters as much as for the animation to portray. While it does eventually take us through some flashbacks, it just does not feel as strongly connected as it could have had and can feel like unnecessary padding instead, even though it could have been unique and combined rock n’ roll with wizardry.
Earwig
Despite the history and acclaimed releases of Studio Ghibli, the gamble of moving from traditional hand drawn animation to computer animation is an experiment that doesn’t quite work out well.
There’s just a patchwork of details that are hard to dismiss throughout the film despite their shift to a new style of animation: character movements and facial expressions don’t have smooth fluidity that can make the quality suffer from often awkward emotions and transitions between changes in body languages; while there’s a lot of attention of detail in Bella’s workshop as a majority of the film is set inside it, there’s not as much effort put into the other key rooms within the house that can make the film feel bland. Also, apart from Earwig and Bella’s costumes and certain spells, the film usually has a collection of dark and dull colours that can easily make the characters stand out, but just makes the key locations that much more forgettable.
But one thing that did work well was the how the signature character designs – that are recognisable in most Studio Ghibli films – shifted well into the third dimension. From the exaggerated adults to the multiple ways Earwig herself portrays key facial expressions at times, their designs work just as well within a computer generated world as much as it would have done if it was drawn from hand.
Bella’s Workshop
It’s hard to compare this film with both the work from Studio Ghibli and studios that have successfully used computer animation, but Earwig and the Witch just doesn’t hold the same magical spark that most recent animated films are able to give audiences what they may be expecting. It just doesn’t quite leave an enchanting impact by the time the credits roll.
Earwig and the Witch is out now in UK cinemas.