Earwig and the Witch - Review

Expectations are the bane of any film critics existence. Should one consider a film’s marketing and the studio or director’s past works when judging it? Or should one just take a step back and examine it for what it is, severed from those predispositions? Well, here’s the thing, anyone who’s seen a Studio Ghibli film before knows that its virtually impossible to go into a new film with no expectations. Yet, even if that were possible, “Earwig and the Witch” would be a disappointing 90 minutes in just about every way.

The latest Ghibli film, and the first to be animated in CGI (more on that later), is directed by Gorō Miyasaki (“Tales from Earthsea,” “From Up on Poppy Hill”), son of studio co-founder and legendary director Hayao Miyasaki. After an overall average first film with “Earthsea,” it seemed like Gorō’s skills were sharpening with the wonderfully bittersweet “Poppy Hill” and the epic and graceful television series he directed “Ronja, the Robber's Daughter.”

Yet “Earwig” is a complete step backwards, even beyond “Earthsea.” While most regard that film as being Ghibli’s worst, even its biggest detractors can admit that the animation is still gorgeous, and it nails the atmosphere of its world, while the plot and characters are what leave something to be desired. “Earwig” ticks nearly all of those boxes, however.

The main character, a young girl named Earwig, voiced in English by newcomer Taylor Paige Henderson, is painfully annoying. Where Ghibli has toyed with young female protagonists who begin as annoying before finding their place in the world (“Spirited Away”), Earwig has almost no redeeming qualities to her. The plot simply continues to allow her to be terrible to all those around her. She even states that her main goal with her best friend is to eventually get him to do whatever she wants.

Bella Yaga, voiced in English by Vanessa Marshall (“Star Wars: Rebels,” “Superman: Red Son”), is equally as annoying, but it at least fits her character as a witch. She’s manipulative and doesn’t seem to care remotely for Earwig, which just further motivates Earwig’s desires to either escape from her new foster mother or force her to teach her magic. Her familiar, a cat named Thomas, voiced in English by Dan Stevens (“Legion,” “Beauty and the Beast (2017)”), is a bright spot, with his droll delivery and petrified fear of Yaga providing some small bits of personality.

Meanwhile the third occupant of Earwig’s new foster home is the Mandrake, voiced in English by Richard E. Grant (“The Iron Lady,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”). He’s a towering monstrous fellow who enjoys his food and quiet. He’s an imposing force and the film uses him sparingly, which leads to him being one of the more interesting characters.

Earwig’s annoyance isn’t the fault of Henderson, merely the plot and dialogue are just poorly written. At times the overall plot grinds to a halt for nothing to happen for moments on end. At one point, Earwig creates a potion to protect herself from a potential threat. Yet despite said threat looming over her as she acts carelessly, egging it on, it’s another almost 40 minutes after she makes the potion that we even see or know if it worked or not.

“Earwig” has problems sure, but some could be somewhat argued over. But it’s the carelessness with which the plot is tossed around that hurts most of all. So many previous Ghibli movies are expert examples of building tension; “Howl’s Moving Castle” is a perfect example of that. While it is the first film script for one of the two screenwriters, Emi Gunji (“Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter”), the other screenwriter is Keiko Niwa, who’s written wonderful plot heavy Ghibli tales like the aforementioned “Poppy Hill,” “When Marnie Was There,” and “Ocean Waves.”

To talk about the visual for a moment, they’re painfully dull. All of the Ghibli charm and character that normally inhabits their characters is sucked out of the dull and mannequin-esque models. Rarely do their faces move more than slightly, and the few times that they do try exaggeration it often looks hideous. One moment in the middle of the film tries to execute the trademark Ghibli laugh to horrifying results. The environments fare much better, as they focus on the hyper detailed look Ghibli films are known for. Yaga’s brewing room is a particular highlight, and hand drawn sketches at the credits seem to almost be toying with the audience, offer crumbs of what could have been.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR “EARWIG AND THE WITCH.” PLEASE SKIP TO THE FINAL PARAGRAPH TO AVOID.

If the plot was boring an uninteresting, that would be one thing. Yet, the film somehow manages to butcher its biggest leading plot thread and pack so much interesting plot and character development into the ending epilogue that it might make your head spin. Instead of ending it with Earwig befriending a reluctant Yaga and Mandrake, the film jumps ahead 6 months to see Earwig now basically running the entire home?!?! Somehow this massive jump wasn’t included as a part of the rather light 80 minutes prior despite being far more interesting than anything that had come before.

Not only that, but the film also directly ends on a cliffhanger that seems to reintroduce Earwig’s mother into her life. While ending on a note like that wouldn’t be too out of place, its baffling that it was the first thing introduced in the film, never mentioned again after the opening credits, and then abruptly reintroduced directly before the film ends. For those who do manage to get drawn into the plot, it’s a maddening decision. And for those like myself who thought the epilogue was the most interesting part of the film, it borders on criminal.

END OF SPOILERS

If “Earwig and the Witch” had this visual style but kept the trademark Ghibli plotting, it would have been a fine, if dull looking, first time effort. If it had been a gorgeous CGI interpretation of the studio’s art style with a bland plot, it would’ve been disappointing but likely would’ve shown what could come in the future. Yet this is the worst of two worlds: a bland looking and boring fantasy adventure with an annoying main character and a bafflingly plotted adventure. Ghibli die-hards should consider viewing with caution and everyone else should stay far away from what can only be a witch’s curse. 1.5/5