ANI-MOVIES, *Earwig And The Witch

Being the second Studio Ghibli movie based on a Diana Wynne Jones novel, Earwig And The Witch was also Ghibli's first fully-CGI feature-length movie, as well as the third one directed by Goro Miyazaki. Big daddy Hayao only acted as a planner for this film until he came out of "retirement" to do The Boy And The Heron. Yet another Ghibli entry that delves into witchcraft, this one brings it down from the sweeping fantasies like Tales From Earthsea or the family friendly Kiki's Delivery Service. Earwig And The Witch played out more like a sitcom with a young girl getting used to the magical new lifestyle she's been thrust into, so mix in Sabrina with a Brothers Grimm viewpoint and you'll get some idea what Goro was going for. Since this wasn't the traditional 2D animation that Ghibli is known for, it didn't really set well with your standard cartoon connoisseur, least of all ones who grew up on classics such as Totoro. This was more than evident as the movie earned less than a million dollars throughout its initial theatrical run.

Set in England, an infant named Earwig is left at an orphanage and is renamed Erica Wigg by the caretakers. Ten years later she gets adopted by an unusual middle-aged duo, the stout Bella Yaga and the tall moody Mandrake. Bella took in Erica to act as an extra set of hands as it turns out the old lady is really a witch, but more of the potion-making type instead of the generic broom-riding kind. Erica is tasked with helping Bella mix together the right ingredients used for different potions that Bella makes for the locals such as love spells and lucky charms. The Mandrake on the other hand is a reclusive demon that runs everything and is usually secluded in his room writing mystery novels or occasionally jamming away on an electric organ. The regularly silent Mandrake sends out his miniature bat-winged demons that spin away and steal food from all over the neighborhood to provide the housemates with food. The house they all live in is constantly shifting the entrances to certain rooms as Erica tries to find the other two occupants' rooms and finds she's the only one there with their own bathroom. Erica wants Bella to teach her magic, but the old crone just keeps the little girl busy with various chores. To get back at Bella, Erica allies herself with her familiar Thomas, a talking black cat that gets Erica to concoct a potion that makes both of them resistant to Bella's special brand of magical punishment, evil gummy worms! Along the way, Erica finds out that Bella and Mandrake were in a band together, an ex-member of which was really Erica's mother, even though this never comes up in the movie. The addition of Bella and Mandrake's past as musicians and their association with Erica's mom was exclusively added to the movie and were never part of the original source material. Why Erica's mother abandoned her as a baby and who was chasing her away at the beginning of the movie is never revealed, even though she shows up at the end of the movie at Christmas after Erica has made peace with her adopted parents. The finale is very abrupt with Erica's first meeting with her mother leaving you wondering where the rest of the story is. It's almost like this was just covering the first part of a continuing story that would be followed up in a sequel or TV series of some kind, but aside from the closing credits which show Erica growing closer with her foster family, nothing was ever picked up when the film slammed on the brakes to early.

Earwig And The Witch is a decent enough CGI-animated movie, even though Goro Miyazaki received no help from the rest of the Ghibli veterans and had to seek outside help to produce it. The character designs are mixed between imagery you would see in a Akira Toriyama or Eiichiro Oda manga and considering there is a limited cast it's bizarre as they are constantly shifting from one bizarre facial reaction to another. The story plods along with no definitive direction other than a trio of housemates learning to become a closer family as they carry on. This was more faithful to Diana Wynne Jones' other movie adaption of her work that Ghibli previously did, Howl's Moving Castle which seriously went off the beaten path, although aside from the backstory of Erica's mother, nothing new was added to the canon and actually helped put an extra layer of likability to it, so Goro's originality along with his songwriting talents genuinely helped make the film more bearable. It's hard to say how the future of Ghibli might go if they will produce more fully-CGI animated features or if they'll just fallback to their typical caliber of 2D animation like they did with The Boy And The Heron, mostly because Hayao Miyazaki remains very indecisive when it comes to his retirement. Hopefully, Goro will be able to break out of his father's shadow and earn the recognition he deserves.