Summary
It’s a bittersweet return for the mighty Studio Ghibli, boldly stepping into a new style of animation but leaving some of their story roots behind in the process.
The animation loving world was devastated back in 2014 when Studio Ghibli announced that it was closing. With 2015’s When Marnie Was There, we thought we’d seen the last of new Ghibli, a fact compounded by Hayao Miyzazki’s retirement and the death of co-founder Isao Takahata.
Which made EARWIG AND THE WITCH (アーヤと魔女), Studio Ghibli’s first film in over six years, a highly anticipated prospect. Directed by Gorō Miyazaki, it’s based on the children’s book of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones (Howl’s Moving Castle). It’s also Ghibli’s first foray into a full 3D CG animated feature.
Earwig (voiced by Kokoro Hirasawa) is left as baby at an orphanage, unaware of her witchy heritage. As she grows into precocious childhood, she is adopted by the witch Bella Yaga, her demon boss Mandrake and a talking cat named Thomas. While she is promised a role as a witch’s apprentice, she gets stuck doing menial tasks and constantly threatened with worms.
EARWIG AND THE WITCH starts well enough, a mystery that always feels as though it is building to something. There’s a terrific opening chase sequence that establishes an enigmatic redhead, who we later learn was the lead singer of a band also called Earwig. Minor flashbacks signal that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, but the script – which also credits Hayao Miyazaki in the planning department – never quite gets beyond the second act.
Much of the film is spent with Earwig forcefully making her way around the mysterious house, neither ingratiating herself to her adopters nor the audience. It’s a very dark house, filled with odd corners, but we never get to see much of it beyond a cluttered chamber and Earwig’s spartan room. It’s a bit like a TV show where they’ve only built two sets and have a single camera.
Which is a real shame because there’s some genuinely interesting animation here. Katsuya Kondo’s character designs are delightful, from Earwig’s arched eyebrows to Mandrake’s perpetually smouldering eyes. Yet the rigidity of the CG movement, including stiff hair and occasionally unnatural motions, lacks the soft subtlety that the studio is known for.
In the absence of character development, we get out-of-the-blue decisions punctuated by set-pieces. Just when things are getting interesting – including an exciting sequence in which a portal is discovered between rooms – the film jumps ahead in time before coming to an abrupt stop. It’s almost as if a reel was lost in transit. (Indeed, at the session I went to, one parent pondered whether there was more story to come after the credits). At best, it’s an extended pilot, especially given its made-for-NHK-TV origins. At worst, it simply feels unfinished.
For the first time in Ghibli’s history, EARWIG AND THE WITCH operates like a follower rather than a leader. Thankfully, Hayao Miyazaki has joined the film loving world in finding his own retirement a bothersome prospect. The hand-drawn How Do I Live? is due out in the next few years, infused with the same painstaking attention to detail we’ve grown used to.
2021 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Gorō Miyazaki | WRITERS: Keiko Niwa, Emi Gunjii (Based on the the novel by Diana Wynne Jones) | CAST: Shinobu Terajima, Etsushi Toyokawa, Gaku Hamada, Kokoro Hirasawa | DISTRIBUTOR: Studio Ghibli, NHK (JPN), Madman Entertainment (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 82 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 4 February 2021 (AUS)
