The New York Times
Uses ingredients from the tried-and-true Ghibli recipe while serving a film that lacks the heart the studio has always brought to its best.
Full review
Earwig and the Witch
Studio Ghibli's first 3D animated feature follows an orphan girl adopted by a cranky witch who introduces her to a world of magic. From the director of From Up On Poppy Hill, adapting the novel from the author of Howl's Moving Castle.
Growing up in an orphanage in the British countryside, Earwig has no idea that her mother had magical powers. Her life changes dramatically when a strange couple takes her in, and she is forced to live with a selfish witch. As the headstrong young girl sets out to uncover the secrets of her new guardians, she discovers a world of spells and potions, and a mysterious song that may be the key to finding the family she has always wanted.
2020Rating: PG, Supernatural themes82 minsJapan
AdventureAnimatedKids & FamilyFantasy
- Director:
- Goro Miyazaki ('From Up on Poppy Hill', 'Tales from Earthsea')
- Writer:
- Keiko NiwaEmi Gunji
- Cast:
- Taylor HendersonJB BlancRichard E. GrantThomas BromheadPandora ColinAlex CartañáSummer JenkinsEva Kaminsky
Earwig and the Witch / Reviews
Time Out
It sacrifices Studio Ghibli's hand-drawn style but it's the absence of the studio's usual emotional beats that's the bigger problem.
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Slash Film
A disappointing hour and a half of plot set-up that feels like it ends before it begins
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Slant Magazine
The problem with Earwig and the Witch has more to do with its confused plotting than its more or less serviceable animation.
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