From “Castle in the Sky” to “My Neighbor Totoro,” Studio Ghibli has been long revered for its works in the field of animation. Since its establishment in 1985, the studio has become well-known for its beautiful, hand-drawn productions, and especially the works of animator and director Hayao Miyazaki (“Princess Mononoke”), whose retirement in 2014 resulted in the temporary halt in production of films at the studio.
Though no major theatrical film has been released by the studio since that time, one new work has reached the public eye, albeit as a television film. The film in question, “Earwig and the Witch,” may not look like a Ghibli film upon first glance. This mostly has to do with the notion that, unlike Ghibli’s other films, the film was animated utilizing CG animation rather than traditional animation, thanks to the efforts of director Goro Miyazaki (“Tales from Earthsea”).
Miyazaki may seem familar because he is actually Hayao Miyazaki’s son. Despite the family name and hiatus of Studio Ghibli, hopes were never exactly high for the director who has a history of being the let down of the Japanese animation film studio. If one were to look into his career, his directed films are the only ones to receive poor ratings.
Although the idea of producing Ghibli’s first CG film may have seemed like a novel one during the early stages of production, the end result is a rather unattractive and cheap-looking film. For those who grew up during the 2000s, one may find that the animation in “Earwig” looks eerily similar to that of the “Scary Godmother” Halloween specials, thereby reinforcing the idea of how wooden and unfinished the animation in this film looks. Furthermore, the artificial look of the CG animation causes the film to feel less magical and have marginally less personality in comparison to Ghibli’s hand-drawn films.
With an 82-minute runtime, “Earwig” feels stunted on a narrative level. Though it provides glimmers of intrigue through the characters, world and magical elements which it sets up, the film’s brevity makes each of these elements feel less compelling and developed than they could have been in a longer film. There are also times in which “Earwig” feels narratively familiar to other Ghibli films which are arguably better than it. Notably, there are times at which the film features story beats that resemble those seen in other, arguably superior, Ghibli films such as “Spirited Away” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” Regardless of how coincidental these narrative similarities may be, it still greatly asserts the blatant lack of inspiration that went into the film.
Aside from its animators’ attempt at making it visually deviant, “Earwig and the Witch” otherwise possesses very little to help it stand out from the rest of Studio Ghibli’s iconic library. Given that it was intended for release as a television film, some may be willing to excuse the film for its lesser quality. However, seeing as Ghibli had not released a film in seven years before giving us “Earwig,” others may find themselves to be disappointed by the film’s uninspired presentation and subpar visuals. Given the clear risks it took through experimenting with a different art style, the studio may be entitled to some mild praise. However, the film’s clear lack of heart may be a good indicator that Ghibli would be better off pursuing traditional animation, through which they have already experienced great success.
Image from HBO Max via YouTube
