Film Review: Earwig and the Witch

Photo Credit: IMDb

Earwig and the Witch is the latest Studio Ghibli film by Goro Miyazaki. It holds the distinction of being the first film from the esteemed studio to be entirely 3D animation, as opposed to the traditional hand-drawn films before it.

However, that is probably the last distinction the film has. When you consider that Pixar has been mastering 3D animation for nearly 30 years, the limited scope and ideas in this film makes little advance to the genre. 

The film follows a young orphan, Earwig, whose comfortable life at an orphanage is upended when she is adopted by a pair of sinister witches, Bella Yaga and Mandrake. Earwig is consigned to an obedient assistant, completing mundane chores for the witches that saps all of her enthusiasm.

The magical spells the witches conjure up capture Earwig’s imagination, but despite incessant pestering for Bella Yaga to teach her, she is forbidden. Earwig conspires with the Yaga’s talking cat Thomas to experiment with spells and prevent Yaga’s authoritarian control. At times, this unlikely family are the source of petulant arguments with humorous moments mostly targeted toward children. Though, with a notable nod to the talking cat Jiji in ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, the friendship between Earwig and Thomas feels comparatively weak and unearned.

Despite the film surrounding itself with the world of magic often prominent in Ghibli films, it fails to be visually compelling in any way. For example, Earwig learns about magic in a wrinkled old book, while Thomas advises what each spell does. These spells are discussed with such elaborate descriptions but rarely seen, that an opportunity to actually deploy the animation style goes begging. Not only this, the opening scene shows Earwig’s real mother, who happens to be a Rockstar witch, speeding down a highway on a motorcycle, evading oncoming traffic in a high-speed chase. Given this is the only high-octane scene for the film, the animation works reasonably well in capturing fast action. Yet the remainder of the film is considerably dour in appearance and tone, leaving one to imagine the exhilarating adventures that are taking place off-screen.      

At times, the combination of manga 3D animation looks very awkward and misplaced, particularly with facial expressions. While Bella Yaga and Mandrake has distinctive designs, Earwig’s face looks shiny and plastic, notwithstanding her permanently raised eyebrows that appear disconnected from the rest of her face. The few times it is visually impressive are mostly to do with landscapes and settings, which could be equally as detailed hand-drawn.

Although the introduction of 3D animation of may open the door for innovative new productions within Ghibli, Earwig and the Witch lacked all the usual sentimental or philosophical substance traditionally explored in the studio’s films.

2/5

Earwig and the Witch is showing in Australian cinemas from the 4th of February 2021.