Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
It’s a hard knock life for 10 year old Earwig. Not, perhaps surprisingly, because she’s grown up at St. Morwald’s Home for Children, where she was donated, I believe is the term, by her mother as a mere babe. She’s quite comfortable there, having the staff wrapped around her little finger. No, trouble comes when Bella Yaga and Mandrake decide to adopt her, in part because Bella Yaga is a witch and Mandrake appears to be a demon.
Taken to their home slash potion store, Earwig is set to work as an extra pair of hands slash slave, with the doors sealed by means majickal. So Earwig starts to plot an escape, working with Yaga’s put upon cat familiar Thomas, and along the way might uncover a connection between Bella Yaga, Mandrake, and her long lost mother. Although it could equally well just be a massive coincidence, as this film seems to have no concept of structure, character development, or basic action and reactions.
We are, as evidenced by podcasts passim, generally fans of Studio Ghibli’s output but not without some exceptions. However even in the less interestingly or altogether too minimally plotted outings, there’s still a level of appreciation for the artistry involved in the artistry and beauty of the piece. And, to be fair, there’s a few background frames where this looks entirely on Ghibli’s normal level. However, this is the studio’s first venture into 3D animated features, and it looks a lot like a failed beta test that’s escaped into the wild.
The character design on these supposed humans is frankly repellant, and that makes this a very difficult film to invest any emotion in. And, well, so does the minimally described characters, the let’s politely say spartan plot, and the general sense that there’s an interesting film in here about a touring rock group composed of witches and demons that’s very occasionally glimpsed between what feels like vast stretches of (to be fair, justified) moaning about Earwig’s lot in life, even though this film barely runs to 80 minutes.
Not interesting, looks ugly. Not Gorō Miyazaki’s finest hour, by a long chalk. I’ve been trying and failing to find some concrete production timelines on this, as it feels as though it’s been rushed, or as rushed as something like this can be. But speculation aside, this just isn’t worth your time.