it turns out they re enchanters, and earwig, renamed erica, who has magic in her blood, is keen to learn, but bella yaga only wants her to work. hang on, you actually talk?! of course i do, just not very often. it sounds like fun, and richard e grant lends entertainingly grim gravitas to the english language dub. but having first aired onjapanese tv at the end of last year, this theatrical release is distinctive only for being ghibli s first major disappointment, remarkable for being quite so unremarkable. and the rest is up to you, 0k? the story is surprisingly flat, the animation sub pixar, and the overall tone, breathless without ever being magical. it s a shame not least because goro miyazaki s previous films, the underrated tales from earthsea and the more critically acclaimed from up on poppy hill, both showed great promise and invention, qualities sadly lacking from this lacklustre affair. well, i know a lot more i
than you do about spells. it s not bad as such, it s just not very good, certainly less than you d expect from a director and studio of this calibre. earwig and the witch is in cinemas now. american film maker kelly reichardt s intimate explorations of the history and landscape of oregon range from the modern drama old joy to the frontier western meek s cutoff. her latest movie first cow, which made number three in sight and sounds best of 2020 poll, is set in 1820s oregon, where two men, cookie and king lu, set out to make their fortune selling delicious cakes. i taste london in this cake.
the sheer pace of the action keeps everyone on board. it s in cinemas now in both dubbed and subtitled versions. altogether less rewarding is earwig and the witch, a digital animation co production between studio ghibli who made classics like spirited away, howl s moving castle and ponyo, and the japanese broadcasting corporation nhk. ah, haha! her name is erica wig. she s been living with us since she was just an infant. 0h. mandrake, what say you? what about her? she should do. based on the novel by diana wynnejones and directed by goro miyazaki, son of ghibli s founding father, hayao miyazaki, earwig and the witch follows the adventures of a young girl from a children s home who is adopted against her wishes by a mysterious couple. i m a witch. great!