Earwig and the Witch
GKIDS | Release Date: February 3, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
19
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Little White LiesLillian CrawfordDec 29, 2021
Doing his part to keep his father’s work alive and relevant, Gorō Miyazaki steers the Ghibli ship even further away than Yonebayashi dared, resulting in the studio’s most cheerily radical film to date. Read full review
75
ColliderDrew TaylorOct 28, 2025
For a studio renowned for the time and attention it gives both the technical and storytelling sides of its production, the finished product is remarkably uneven. Yes, it’s great that there’s a new Studio Ghibli movie, but that doesn’t mean that the new Studio Ghibli movie is great. Read full review
61
PolygonTasha RobinsonJan 31, 2021
Purists could well complain at how far Howl’s Moving Castle departs from Jones’ terrific story in order to wedge in Hayao Miyazaki’s longstanding personal obsessions, like flight, the destructive and horrific nature of war, and the way courage conquers evil and love saves lives. But at least the film has a point of view, and the benefit of its creator’s highly specific and recognizable voice. Earwig, by contrast, often feels generic. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentJun 12, 2021
Is this what Studio Ghibli’s future looks like? Probably not. But what Earwig lacks in animation elegance, it makes up for in sparky, kid-friendly adventurousness. Read full review
60
Time OutNick DentJun 2, 2021
The way Earwig (which was actually made for Japanese TV) sacrifices Ghibli’s visual USP is less of a problem than the way it surrenders the studio’s accustomed emotional beats. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 28, 2021
In common with My Neighbour Totoro, there is no menace here, only strange fun aimed squarely at younger viewers. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarFeb 11, 2021
If pitted against other entertainment aimed at young viewers with much less panache, “Earwig and the Witch” wins, at least in conceptual adventurousness. Even if far from being top-tier Ghibli, it’s not without its fantastical pleasures. Read full review
60
VoxAja RomanoFeb 4, 2021
There are some moments early on when there are still shots of nature, or slow Ghibli-esque pans across landscapes. But these isolated shots don’t connect to a larger overall mood, characterization, or thematic idea. They feel like pale imitations from a director who knows what Ghibli films do, but not why. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakFeb 1, 2021
It will entertain kids and adults alike with humor and magic before it fades away later that day. Read full review
50
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiFeb 4, 2021
Earwig and the Witch feels like a film going through the motions, but not understanding the emotion behind the big narrative beats it’s trying to pull off. It’s a film matched by its flat animation style: incomplete and uninspired. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 3, 2021
This may be Goro Miyazaki’s most eccentric feature yet, but it’s also his least engaging. Earwig and the Witch doesn’t move the way it should, and that’s lethal when your last name is Miyazaki. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeFeb 2, 2021
The problem with Earwig and the Witch has more to do with its confused plotting than its more or less serviceable animation. Read full review
50
SlateKaren HanFeb 1, 2021
Gorō is a talented director. The individual shots of Earwig are beautifully composed, the characters are delightful (the tiny demons who wait upon Mandrake seem destined to become merchandise hits), and the film’s flimsy plot isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the visuals sink the entire enterprise. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenFeb 1, 2021
Dispiritingly generic in both appearance and tone. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 2, 2021
While Earwig and the Witch is far from the ugliest film of its kind, there’s something uniquely perverse about seeing Ghibli’s signature aesthetic suffocated inside a plastic coffin and sapped of its brilliant soul; about seeing the studio’s lush green worlds replaced by lifeless backdrops, and its hyper-expressive character designs swapped out for cheap dolls so devoid of human emotion that even the little kids look Botoxed with an inch of their lives. Read full review
42
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpFeb 10, 2021
Frankly, Earwig and the Witch looks ghastly enough that storytelling merit doesn’t even matter. It’s a movie almost too ugly to consider beyond the surface. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJun 2, 2021
For a film about magic, there’s little sparkle to spare. Read full review
40
The GuardianCath ClarkeMay 27, 2021
There are some nice touches here and there, like the whirling little demons with batwings who are devoted to Mandrake. But the script ignores all the interesting bits of the story – who are the witches chasing Earwig’s mum and how does she shake them off? Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 4, 2021
Earwig and the Witch has all the parts needed to be a fun and memorable film, but seems to lack the manual for how to bring it all together. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerFeb 4, 2021
Combined with the glacially slow and uneventful narrative, the end result feels like a feature by a small, cheap animation studio in 2010 trying to make a Miyazaki-esque cartoon. Read full review
40
The New York TimesMaya PhillipsFeb 4, 2021
For one, it’s the abundance of red herrings in this fleeting 82-minute feature; connections and relationships are implied (and a plot point about a witchy rock band flies by) but end up leading to dead ends, making the journey feel incomplete. But the most regrettable part is the animation. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 31, 2021
Something’s clearly missing, and the most obvious answer is magic, both on-screen and in the project’s conception. Read full review
20
The TimesKevin MaherOct 28, 2025
Ultimately, bar some tedious spell-making scenes, nothing happens. Harrowingly poor. Read full review
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