Review of Earwig and the Witch (2021) by Healingtoolbox — 15 Jun 2021

Not for kids. A failed ANTI-DISNEY ANIMATED FEATURE. Sadly the amazing CGI art direction cannot save an ill-conceived project. If you asked me what genre this is, I couldn't tell you. It's NOT Charmed, a lovely young girl playing at wishcraft and witchcraft.

This is a selfish, self-centered, PERVERSE young girl whose goal is to get everyone around her to do what she wants; she says this three times. Despite the imaginative CGI look, the main character has no redeeming values.

Could this be a pre-quel to the 2021 Cruella prequel? I think the creators were perhaps following the book slavishly and did not consider what genre they were working in. Disney animated films are too formulaic.

Here we have the opposite problem of nothing at all famliar to kids. The only IP I can think of that did anti-Disney kids films well is A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket). Those books had a workable demented tone.

The tone here is unintentionally demented, especially compared to other Ghibli wonders.