While the studio has used computer animation to enhance certain scenes since “Princess Mononoke” (1997), the absence in traditional animation is one of “Earwig’s” glaring faults.įilmmaker Asher Isbrucker’s video essay “ The Immersive Reality of Studio Ghibli ” explores the animation style fans have come to expect from the company - one that has a foundation of realism, including lifelike character movement, detailed world-building, and applies animation techniques like rotoscoping. “Earwig and the Witch” abandons this style - it’s the first film by the company to be animated entirely using CGI. Since founding Studio Ghibli in 1985, director and animator Hayao Miyazaki has developed the company’s distinctive style. These characteristics have led to the studio’s immense success in the film industry - the company boasts a list of international accolades that includes five Academy Award nominations, with “Spirited Away” winning Best Animated Feature in 2002. Gorō Miyazaki fails to provide the strong female leads, heart-warming friendships, and hand-drawn animation that viewers have come to expect from Studio Ghibli. Despite potentially strong source material, Studio Ghibli’s “Earwig and the Witch” lacks the qualities the Japanese animation studio is known for. Studio Ghibli earned an Academy Award nomination for the film version of Jones’ “Howl’s Moving Castle” in 2004. In the process, the young girl discovers a world of potions and spells and what might be the key to finding the family of her dreams.Īdapting Jones’ work had proven successful for the studio in the past. Discovering that she was only adopted to help with housework, Erica devises a plan to regain the freedom and control she lost. Erica’s life dramatically changes after she is adopted by a strange couple - a witch and a demon. “Earwig and the Witch,” based on Diana Wynne Jones’ book, is the story of Erica Wig, a manipulative orphan with no idea her mother had magical powers. Unsurprisingly, the younger Miyazaki has made another flawed film, arguably the worst yet, but with a new twist - CGI animation. His dad, in contrast, claims the successes of “Spirited Away” (2001), “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004), and “Ponyo” (2008).

Gorō Miyazaki, son of the company’s founder Hayao Miyazaki, is responsible for some of the studio’s worst-received films.

In developing the movie, director Gorō Miyazaki missed adding a few of the iconic animation studio’s most potent ingredients. “Earwig and the Witch,” Studio Ghibli’s first film in four years, fails to bewitch the audience. 'A hole left by a witch can only be filled by a witch,' warns The Mandrake, as Earwig, with a little help from Thomas the talking cat, begins to plot her revenge and piece together the events that led to her winding up at the orphanage.īased on the children's book by Diana Wynne Jones, who also wrote the materials that the brilliant, bonkers Howl's Moving Castle was based on, Earwig and the Witch is Studio Ghibli's first ever 3D CG animated release, something that's generated a surprising amount of controversy.īut though it may look a little different, Earwig is a true Studio Ghibli hero, a pocket-sized bundle of mischief with an inspirational spirit of determination.‘Earwig and the Witch’, released in the United State on HBOmax in March, is the worst received Studio Ghibli film in company history on Rotten Tomatoes. How is she supposed to escape such powerful clutches? Earwig is smarter than her captors realize, and she has some hidden talents up her sleeve - talents she may have inherited from her mysterious mother. Stream now: subscribe to HBO Max (opens in new tab) for $14.99 (US-only) Cast: Taylor Paige Henderson, Vanessa Marshall, Richard E.

Earwig and the witch mandrake