Earwig and the Witch (2021)
Directed by Goro Miyazaki
A headstrong orphan discovers a world of spells and potions while living with a selfish witch.
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3 films that influenced Earwig and the Witch
What critics say influenced Earwig and the Witch
Hirasawa is both spirited (no pun intended) and shrewd as Erica; Terajima is an absolute hoot as Bella Yaga as she screeches and shrieks like the world will end; Toyokawa broods and grunts in a fitfully funny turn, while Hamada provides ample mirth in the feline role of Thomas that is reminiscent of Jiji in Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989).
A first run at a new medium with a breezy, light-on-plot escapade reminiscent of Kiki’s Delivery Service rather than the densely intricate narrative of Jones’ own Howl’s Moving Castle .
Bella Yaga’s familiar, a talking black cat named Thomas, is similarly reminiscent of Jiji in Kiki’s Delivery Service .
Ghibli fans will no doubt be reminded of “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” about another underage witch with a faithful feline sidekick, although “Earwig” isn’t nearly as charming, despite its having been drawn from a Diana Wynne Jones novel.
Additionally, evoking Kiki’s Delivery Service and other beloved Ghibli classics a few times only manages to emphasize the deficiencies here.
On-screen, the eponymous Earwig (Kokoro Hirasawa) follows in the footsteps of Spirited Away's Chihiro and Kiki's Delivery Service's titular figure.
Writers Keiko Niwa and Emi Gunji adapted a novel by Diana Wynne Jones, whose work also inspired the beloved “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
A first run at a new medium with a breezy, light-on-plot escapade reminiscent of Kiki’s Delivery Service rather than the densely intricate narrative of Jones’ own Howl’s Moving Castle .
Based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones (whose novel, "Howl's Moving Castle," once inspired one of the elder Miyazaki's films), Earwig and the Witch finds a young girl plucked from an orphanage to become a witch's apprentice, only to discover her own magical history.
Earwig is based on a Diana Wynne Jones fantasy novel, just like one of the studio’s most successful films, 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle .
The film is based on a children’s book by Diana Wynne Jones, whose Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air were both adapted into Hayao Miyazaki movies.
As with Howl’s Moving Castle before it, the source material comes from a children’s book of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones (in this case posthumously published after her 2011 death), but the disjointed storytelling here also falls short of the usual expectations.
Unfortunately, despite the occasional lively visual touches, and a playfully out-of-character '70s prog rock score by Satoshi Takebe, the ghoulish display too often conjures up a standard-issue Hotel Transylvania rather than an inspired Coraline .