![]() ![]() The movie sets up several overarching plot pieces but doesn’t follow through with any of them. As a result, “Earwig and the Witch” feels disjointed. ![]() While the film has opportunities to add complexity and flesh out storylines, it fails to do so. The resulting product was a film much richer than the children’s book it was based on. With their adaptation of “Howl’s Moving Castle,” the studio knew when to veer from the original text and when to stay faithful to it. As a straightforward, short children’s story Jones’s book doesn’t provide the nuance and complexity Ghibli usually features in its storytelling. The issue with “Earwig and the Witch” is that Miyazaki stays too faithful to the original text. Le Guin said, expressing her disappointment with the director’s interpretation. With “Tales from Earthsea,” Miyazaki’s issue was veering from the source material the film was based on. His first film, “Tales from Earthsea,” suffered from an incomplete story, ultimately making it Studio Ghibli’s lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes until “Earwig and the Witch.” ![]() One main flaw of the film is its plot development, something Gorō Miyazaki has struggled with in the past. The use of CGI in “Earwig and the Witch” is a sad attempt at modernity at the cost of what makes this studio’s typical work beloved.Įven if the film were animated in the studio’s traditional style, “Earwig and the Witch” would still fall short. The character designs are absent of texture and look flat. Though the backgrounds are detailed and have a maximalist aesthetic similar to “Howl’s Moving Castle,” this does not make up for the stiff characters and odd wax-like facial expressions. While “Earwig and the Witch” has a distinct visual style, it is distinctly not one associated with Studio Ghibli.Īccording to Gorō Miyazaki, CGI was used to make the animation process easier and more modern. In the move to a completely CGI film, that connection to reality is severed. 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. ‘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. ![]()
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