{"id":119522,"date":"2021-05-28T11:58:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T10:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=119522"},"modified":"2021-05-28T11:58:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T10:58:20","slug":"earwig-and-the-witch-review-unconventional-punk-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/cinema\/earwig-and-the-witch-review-unconventional-punk-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Earwig And The Witch Review: Unconventional punk spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be a struggle for some to identify Earwig And The Witch<\/strong><\/em> as a Studio Ghibli movie, having moved away from its traditionally gorgeous hand-drawn animation style in favour of creating its first full 3D CG animation. However, scratching beneath the surface of Earwig<\/strong><\/em> still beats the heart of Ghibli, a unique studio that tells offbeat stories with a bizarre sweetness.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story follows Erica \u2018Earwig\u2019 Wigg (Taylor Henderson) who, having been abandoned as a baby, has grown up in an orphanage. Unlike your typical orphan story, Erica actually loves living in the institution and does all she can to avoid being adopted. It\u2019s pretty clear (by Erica\u2019s own boastful declarations) that she rules the roost at the orphanage, as her talent for manipulating others enables her to live a comfortable and contented life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Erica, her wily ways are not infallible, and she finds herself being taken away from her beloved orphanage to live with a magical mysterious couple; the Mandrake (Richard E. Grant) and witch, Bella Yaga (Vanessa Marshall).<\/span><\/p>\n

Things go from bad to worse when Erica arrives at her new home to find it dark, oppressive and unwelcoming. Not only that but her new guardians seem disinterested in their new ward, and it becomes apparent that Erica has been taken on to act as a servant to assist Bella in her spells. Unused to being told what to do and not getting her own way, Erica is not perturbed and works her own magic on Bella and the Mandrake to bend them to her will.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earwig\u2019s<\/i><\/strong> director Gor\u014d Miyazaki<\/a> may seem like a safe choice for Ghibli\u2019s latest venture. Not only is he the son of Ghibli co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki, he is also an established director in his own right, heading a number of full length features for Ghibli, as well as successfully delivering a computer animated series in <\/span>Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter.\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, much like his own protagonist, he clearly doesn\u2019t want to do what people expect him to do, and it\u2019s not just the animation style that goes against the Ghibli grain with <\/span>Earwig<\/em><\/strong>. The characters also feel like a departure from the studio’s regular formula. While Erica broadcasts the same energetic and childlike naivety that we\u2019ve seen in films like <\/span>Spirited Away<\/i><\/strong>, she comes packaged as a prideful bossy boots whose only objective seems to be to make other people do what she wants them to do. This manipulative persona feels like it wants to be spun as a precocious and endearing trait but, perhaps due in part to the slightly sterile aesthetic that 3D CG brings, the character comes across as somewhat brattish and distasteful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earwig And The Witch<\/i><\/strong> isn\u2019t <\/span>Annie<\/i><\/strong>. This is not the story of an orphan girl warming the heart of a curmudgeonly benefactor\u2026 except that it feels like it wants to be. Instead, Earwig\u2019s journey feels one-dimensional and the film struggles to create cohesive moral foundations for its characters. Their motivations seem oblique and their emotional journeys never resolve.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the only element of the movie that feels slightly at odds with itself. The film\u2019s tone flips between charmingly idiosyncratic to confusingly bizarre, while the story sets up a convoluted background but isn\u2019t properly tied up. In fact, the finale feels like the ending of an opening episode of a series rather than a conclusion of a film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earwig And The Witch<\/strong> <\/span><\/i>has an unconventionally punk spirit. It\u2019s bold and individual, and it will certainly resonate passionately with some audiences. The film\u2019s theme song (written by Gor\u014d Miyazaki) also fits its partial namesake and is certainly an earworm. But that\u2019s the only element that will stay with you after the credits roll. <\/span>Earwig\u2019s <\/i><\/strong>peppered oddly sweet moments just can\u2019t make up for its incomprehensive storyline, unlikable characters and odd tone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earwig and the Witch is coming to cinemas on 28th May, check out the trailer\u00a0here<\/a>. Get tickets and find out more\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We review the latest film from Studio Ghibli and its first full 3D CG animation, Earwig And The Witch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":117466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EARWIG-THE-WITCH.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}