![]() Positive Content: The story’s messages include the importance of being courageous and curious, not giving into fear, rising to challenges, and remembering to find the good in any situation. Orphaned and abused children are a central motif. Other Negative Themes: Acts of deception, underhandedness, manipulation. Orphanage director mentions how one orphan’s parents “were killed in a fire.” Earwig puts a spell on Bella that gives her extra limbs. Earwig is shown slicing snake skin and working with creepy ingredients like “rat’s bones,” “bat wings,” “donkey ears,” etc. Earwig is trapped in the house and can’t get out except when the witch allows her in the garden. The witch sets worms on Thomas and Earwig if they don’t obey or don’t complete all the work she commands. Other scary elements include the frightening, shape-shifting Mandrake, whose demon eyes grow huge and wild and who yells and threatens Bella. Violence/Scary Images: The movie begins with a car chase involving magic (a witch riding a motorcycle throws her hair, which magically turns into worms, at a car). I’ll try to hope for the best… Content Guide Now, with the unsound introduction of a CGI animated title meant as a direct-to-tv effort after the studio resurrected from unofficial closure following the 2016 co-production of The Red Turtle, it seems as though the house that gave us such masterpieces as My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away has entered its dark age. Disney had more than its fair share of creative flops, at least since The Black Cauldron (1985). This is not an unpopular opinion, and most recently, some the negative elements of that parallel are coming to light. Even if far from being top-tier Ghibli, it’s not without its fantastical pleasures.When I was studying animation in college, we regularly referred to Hayao Miyazaki in particular and Studio Ghibli in general as “Japanese Disney”. Yet, if pitted against other entertainment aimed at young viewers with much less panache, “Earwig and the Witch” wins, at least in conceptual adventurousness. Given Ghibli is held to a higher standard, the outcome of this entirely computerized experiment lacks the aesthetic and thematic finesse of most productions in its catalog. The textures in the backgrounds and elaborate production design do better at retaining the intricacy typical in their films. Still, flaws and all, humans here at least have style recognizable from 2D anime and manga, as opposed to the mostly homogenous look of animated people in most American studio fare. Visually, the transmutation from the hand-drawn artistry the famed animation house has mastered into figures with tridimensional volume comes with a tad of awkward rigidness particularly in the character design. A subplot set in the past involving a rock band, in which country singer Kacey Musgraves voices Earwig’s mother, remains undeveloped. ![]() While these structural issues might come from the source material, they make for a contrived film. ![]() Making sure that Earwig comes across as a young heroine with devious intentions to bend adults to her will and not a helpless victim of her bad-tempered caretakers, is one of Miyazaki’s successes here.Īlthough there’s plenty of offbeat humor derived from the warped domesticity of this household where flying demons serve breakfast, the plot is slight in conflict and the resolution oddly abrupt. Hard to intimidate, she befriends opinionated talking cat Thomas ( Dan Stevens) to engage in whimsical antics. Grant), a humanoid creature and prolific writer. Despite her efforts to remain at the orphanage where she’s been since infancy, she is taken in as “an extra pair of hands” by Bella Yaga (Vanessa Marshall), a grumpy witch, and the Mandrake (Richard E. Studio Ghibli’s generally subpar first foray into 3DCG feature animation is an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ British children’s book directed by the cofounder’s son Gorô Miyazaki (“From Up on Poppy Hill”).Ĭontained in scope and slim in dramatic depth, the movie (originally made for Japanese television) hinges on a mischievous girl with horn-like ponytails, Earwig, a.k.a. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.Įager to learn how to concoct magic potions and spells, the scoundrel in “Earwig and the Witch” must win over her monstrous adoptive parents. The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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