by Rubén Rosario,
To call it anime would almost feel reductive, but for Western audiences, Studio Ghibli has been synonymous with the best that the distinctive animation style has had to offer, whether whisking us on flights of fancy, often involving literal flight, or delivering heartfelt stories inspired by real-life experiences. The Japanese studio’s most renowned directors, Hayao Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata, became ambassadors of the form outside East Asia, a bridge between cultures and aesthetic sensibilities. Movie buffs of all ages owe the pair a Totoro-sized debt of gratitude.
So what happens when the studio best known for perfecting traditional, “hand-drawn” animation dips its toe in fully computer-generated waters? You get “Earwig and the Witch,” a slim, tart, and tablet-friendly fantasy yarn that feels at once like a new beginning and a victory lap all rolled into a shiny, bite-sized package. The very thing that makes it novel, the change in format, also proves to be a drawback for viewers who are familiar with Studio Ghibli’s body of work and understandably have high expectations.
Temper those expectations, because the CG feature, helmed by Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki, is mostly geared at younger viewers, not longtime fans. Actually, the basic, rudimentary style of the animation recalls those daytime CG cartoons that are aimed at kids nowadays. Granted, it’s a more polished and sophisticated variation on that style, successfully evoking the elasticity of Ghibli’s most iconic works in their newer digital sandbox. In terms of the human (and human-adjacent) characters, they got the eyes right, but the skin looks so plastic that Pixar films of the early 2000s look more realistic by comparison.
It’s a good thing, then that the younger Miyazaki is not aiming for realism. “Earwig” brings to the screen English author Diana Wynne Jones’ 2011 novel about witchcraft and dark magic as seen through the eyes of its titular character: a spunky, authority-thumbing girl raised in an orphanage in the British countryside after she is left on the doorstep as a baby, Harry Potter style. The woman doing the dropping off is the child’s mother, a daredevil behind the wheel with crimson-hued hair that looks like Twizzlers and the vivacity of Christina Hendricks’ “Mad Men” character.
The story kicks into gear when Earwig, rechristened Erica Wigg upon arrival, is unexpectedly snapped up by Bella Yaga and the Mandrake, a creepy couple who look like they stepped out of “The Addams Family” comic strip, then underwent a Day-Glo color makeover. Despite its colorful façade, the shady duo’s home, which eerily resembles a face with triangular features from the outside, fills Earwig with dread. That sour feeling about her ostensible foster parents and her new home is right on target. She soon discovers Yaga just wanted an extra pair of hands. Welcome to servitude, Earwig, only your oppressive employer is not paying you, nags you constantly, and, oh yes, is actually concocting elaborate spells for her clientele while you clean up and do grunt work.
It should have been a neat, fresh start for our protagonist, like in “The House with a Clock in Its Walls,” but Earwig finds herself essentially turned into a slave in her new home while the tall and lanky paternal figure in this household, much like the brooding uncle in “The Secret Garden,” just wants to be left alone. It might not be pleasant for viewers to experience, and that, Miyazaki appears to convey, is the point. There’s a chill where domestic warmth ought to be, and that sets up Earwig’s uphill climb to find inner strength so she can keep her head above water in a hostile environment, much like Chihiro in “Spirited Away,” Studio Ghibli’s Oscar-winning crown jewel.
The shoutouts to previous Ghibli films don’t stop there. Earwig soon finds out the interior of the house keeps changing, much like Howl’s shifting home in “Howl’s Moving Castle,” another adaptation of a Jones book. Doors disappear and reappear. The Mandrake’s room is nowhere to be found, and yet logic dictates it ought to be where a bathroom that only Earwig appears to use is located. Magic here is depicted as a means to an end, not a key to unlock secrets. That role is filled, intriguingly enough, by ’90s-flavored pop-rock.
The film’s portrayal of magic as a tool used for selfish reasons couldn’t be farther removed from, say, the witch in training in “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” “Earwig” does feature Thomas, a talking black cat that heavily recalls “Kiki”s feline sidekick Jiji, but the older film’s sunny optimism is here supplanted by a nasty sting that recalls Roald Dahl a lot more than it does J.K. Rowling. “Earwig” is essentially Studio Ghibli’s answer to “The Witches,” only it eschews Dahl’s trademark eye-for-an-eye retributions in favor of a more humane worldview. It leads the film to a tamer place that, one may argue, doesn’t dole out enough payback to Earwig’s tormentor.
And just when you think the movie is building toward an emotional payoff that would bring it full circle, it slams on the brakes. It’s not that it’s missing an ending, exactly, but it screeches to a halt at a moment that hinted at richer emotions, opting instead for a fluffier, more playful finishing flourish. The film, which premiered on Japanese TV at the end of December, keeps its goals narrow, the better to fit the smaller screens where it will be predominantly consumed. It’s undemanding comfort food that shows Studio Ghibli animators are still finding their footing when it comes to digitally rendered storytelling, but also suggests there is untapped potential. A seed has been planted for bigger and bolder things to come, and for now, we’ll just have to settle for this sweetly edible appetizer.
“Earwig and the Witch” is now playing in limited release in theaters nationwide, mostly in an English dubbed version featuring the voices of Kacey Musgraves, Richard E. Grant and Dan Stevens. The original Japanese version, with English subtitles, will be showing on Thursday, February 4. The next day, the film will become available to stream on HBO Max, before its DVD/Blu-ray release on April 6. (Is it just me, or do you also think of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” when you hear the movie’s title?)
The Verdict