Earwig and the Witch

Studio Ghibli’s first foray into CGI is a pale, lifeless imitation of itself.

“Why does magic have to smell so awful?”

I generally like to applaud studios, directors and creatives who try out new things. For over thirty years Studio Ghibli has been a reliable source of quality, beautifully drawn and animated feature films. The stories have typically been good as well – though not with the consistency of their art – and so you always know what you’re in for when you put one in. And then it was announced that they would be releasing their first fully CGI animated film.

The story is adapted from the book by Diana Wynne Jones, and focuses on Erica Wig (aka Earwig aka Aya), a young girl left at a children’s home, who is adopted by a witch named Bella Yaga and a demon of sorts called Mandrake. Bella Yaga treats Erica as a slave, and refuses to teach her new ward magic, so Erica plans to get her own back. It’s a simple story, for sure, and certainly not the hardest for thie new medium. It wasn’t the first time they dabbled in the computer arts. Video game Ni No Kuni used the studio for animated cutscenes and replicated its art style nicely. There was some hope it could be good. And yet, here we are.

Goro Miyazaki has stated that he was the only person in the studio with any experience with animating in CGI, and boy does it show. Nothing in the film has the confidence and bold artistry that most of the Ghibli’s films have. Even Miyazaki’s previous films (including the less-than-stellar Tales from Earthsea) have a distinct look that gives them an identity. Earwig does have a visual identity, but it’s so unappealing and uninspired that it almost feels like it’s in charm arrears.

Judging the film on its own merits doesn’t help much either. With the production values it has, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a made-for-TV feature-length episode of a show on CBBC you’ve never heard of. There’s some decent attention to detail in the backgrounds, and it feels distinctly like small town Britain, so top marks on the production design, but everything feels sort of cheap and plasticky, like a waxwork imitating a better product. I’m almost reminded of the CGI reboots of beloved children’s shows like Fireman Sam.

Erica isn’t a particularly nice protagonist. Precociousness in children is difficult to write, and one hell of a balancing act. Too far in one direction and you have a character who sounds just like any other adult in the room, too far in the other and the character can come off as grating, entitled and unpleasant. Erica falls distinctly into the latter camp (“For the first time in my life I’ve been made to do something I don’t want to do”, she says stubbornly) and there are very few instances where you sense that this is a character to root for.

It’s not all bad, though. As a story, it’s entertaining enough and will be a hit with far younger audiences. But while many of the world’s best animation studios aim for family features that are, in fact, for the whole family, Ghibli has decided that this one was for children under the age of 12 and no one else. It’s better than some of the jank you see forced onto kids, but that’s hardly saying much.

I think it’s just that it ultimately should have been a half-hour short – a runtime far more suited for the book it was based off. In fact, it could have been if they didn’t spend so much time repeating dialogue. As it is, it’s not long enough to really get into any depth or explore potential narratives, but it’s way too long to be a simple fairy tale. It’s stuck in the middle where it’s just sort of nothing. This has been Goro Miyazaki’s greatest weakness of his career. Just look at Earthsea: he just can’t seem to get the pacing and story structure down when adapting a book. If this is the future of Ghibli, well, at least we’ve got Ponoc to fall back on.

Verdict: Easily Studio Ghibli’s most boring and unappealing film, Earwig and the Witch is a failed experiment in both style and substance.

Overall entertainment: 4/10
Violence: 0/10
Sex: 0/10
Story: 2/10
Worms: Apparently there’s nothing else a witch can threaten someone with
Mandrake: Actually a pretty cool guy. Big fan of his.
Credit art: Best part of the movie by a long shot.
The music: Christ I didn’t even mention that one song or the baffling band b-plot.

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Earwig and the Witch (2020)
Also known as: アーヤと魔女 (Aya and the Witch)
Japanese

Director: Goro Miyazaki
Writers: Diana Wynne Jones (book), Keiko Niwa, Emi Gunji

CAST

Kokoro Hirasawa – Erica/Aya
Shinobu Terajima – Bella Yaga
Etsushi Toyokawa – Mandrake
Gaku Hamada – Thomas
Sherina Munaf – Erica’s mum
Yuji Ueda – Mr Jenkins