Quick Hit: Earwig and the Witch (2020)

Earwig and the Witch (2020, Japan, animated) from Studio Ghibli. Distributed by GKids. Directed by Goro Miyazaki. Currently on HBO Max. 


Some of us have been looking forward to Earwig and the Witch, as it is the first CGI film made at Studio Ghibli. I know I was. Given the quality of films from the Studio, it was going to be interesting to see how they handled it. We'll get back to that.

The film begins with a woman on a motorcycle being chased by a yellow car. Dodging other traffic, she takes some of her hair and throws it back at the car, causing it to crash. The woman pulls up at an orphanage and drops off a baby on the front step, along with a note and a cassette tape with the word Earwig on it. She tells the baby she'll be fine there as the rooms are clean and have large windows, brightly lighting the place. It also has the best shepherd's pie in the world. Here, I should point out that this takes place in England. The baby is taken in. The note states that the mother, the woman on the motorcycle, is running from twelve witches and that the baby's name is Earwig. This is ignored and the girl is named Erica Wig. 

Flash forward about ten years. Erika (Earwig) has grown into a budding con artist that allows her to do all sorts of things without much repercussions. Her best friend is a boy named Custard. He is not as brave as Earwig, but follows her everywhere. Keeping with the British theme, we could call the boy a cowardly custard. 


BellaYaga


The Mandrake


Things change when a very tall man and a very large woman adopt  Earwig, something she doesn't want. Turns out, the woman, Bella Yaga, is a witch, and the man, The Mandrake, is some form of demon. Bella needs help to make her potions that she makes her living selling. 

From there, Earwig tries to get her way. We learn more about those who adopted her; there are some smaller demons flying around (look for the Totoro Easter Egg); and there is a black cat (ala Kiki's). 

I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room, the CGI. Backgrounds are gorgeous. They are everything we expect from Ghibli. The buildings and gardens are very British in design and do not disappoint. The characters are a different story. Although interesting, they lack the fluid motion that we are accustomed to from the Studio. Further, their design is more reminiscent of the TV show Reboot, rather than something like a studio like Pixar would produce. 

The story is linear through the last scene in the film. The ending credits are lovingly dotted with drawings of the characters in situations seen in the film and after the ending. Sadly, many of the future scenes are incongruous to the end of the film. It was as if they changed their minds about the plot after they did the closing credits. 


Although I did enjoy the film, I found it below the standards that we are accustomed to coming from Studio Ghibli. But we also need to remember that this is a first effort and hopefully will be looked upon as starting point, rather than what we should expect from now on.  We shall see. 

8 comments:

  1. Great, balanced review, Ernie! I really liked Goro Miyazaki's previous movie, Up on Poppy Hill, so it's a bit of a disappointment to see him go in this direction. All the same, I'm interested to see what he and Studio Ghibli does next time around with CGI animation. I'm sure there's a learning curve.

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    1. Agreed. Thank you, Barry. I hope the future is bright for them. I do have to watch Up on Poppy Hill. I have the Blu-ray.

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  2. Nice review, Ernie I really like the title and the story sounds interesting.
    too bad it didn't quite live up to your expectations.

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    1. Thank you, John. It is worth a view, but there was a bit of uncertainty seeing some stills and seeing the problems with the character designs.

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  3. Informative review, Ernie. I also shared it with my daughter. Unfortunately, it is kind of what we expected. In fact, my daughter fears you are being a little too kind. Thing is, I really like ReBoot. But, that doesn't mean I think that style of animation, especially given how many years ago it was, is appropriate for this film. ReBoot occurred inside a computer. It made sense that everything had that artificial, computer graphics look. It is not suitable for character designs in a Ghibli film, especially when we have seen what beautiful artistry the studio is capable of.

    As an aside, the name of this film bothers me personally. Every time I hear it, I think of the off-Broadway show and film Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It's just the way my brain is wired, I guess, but I can't separate the two now.

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    1. I loved ReBoot! I used it as an example because it was an early version of CGI, and the film resembled the earlier versions of CGI, rather than something newer and more refined. ReBoot was great storytelling.

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    2. The first few episodes of ReBoot were definitely geared towards the kids albeit with some cool characters. But once they got going, stopped trying to pander to a particular age group and instead focused on telling entertaining stories, it was amazing. I loved Bad Bob (the Mad Max spoof) and the entire Web World Wars story arc. The animation also improved considerably over the course of the show but with a television budget all those years ago, it does show its age.

      Sorry. I didn't mean to hijack your article to rant about ReBoot. :)

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    3. Not a problem! Your opinions are always welcomed and appreciated. I think it's wonderful that I have met so many passionate and learned friends.

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