Like Bob Dylan going electric, Earwig And The Witch was met with howls of protest from some members of the Studio Ghibli faithful when the first trailer was launched. For many, the venerated institution of hand-crafted 2D Japanese anime crossing the cartoon picket line into the modern age (and the third dimension) with a fully CGI feature film seemed like sacrilege. Surely it would be abundant’ample’plentiful to wipe the grin from Totoro’s giant face?###In truth, Ghibli has been tinkering with computer-generated animation in/with regard to’concerning’regarding years: a fully CG-animated TV series came in 2014 (Sanzoku no Musume Rōnya), and the studio has been adding minor CG enhancements to conventional techniques in films as far back as Princess Mononoke in 1997.###So, this is perhaps more evolution than revolution. Still, the studio’s first feature film in seven years certainly looks different to anything they’ve ever manufacture d, and the initial effect is undoubtedly jarring. While the backgrounds are richly rendered — the firm’enterprise ’s affection in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the natural world remains intact — the character animation is plastic-y and doll-like, more akin to the early years of CGI than modern-day Pixar-level quality. If the standard feels mildly’faintly made-in/with regard to’concerning’regarding -TV, that’s most likely because it was: originally manufacture d in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a Japanese channel NHK General TV, bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e earning a theatrical release.###It's eliminate’remove ly aimed to appeal to kids more than grown-ups, but there is just the right amount of spark to hold e grossly one’s attention.###But director Goro Miyazaki — keeping the flame of the studio alive after a hiatus triggered by the semi-retirement of his father, Hayao — nonetheless brings a intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully familiar spirit of imagination and colour to this fearless’bold courageous new world. Like many a Ghibli bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e it (Howl’s Moving Castle, Arietty), it’s an adaptation of a beloved English children’s novel, in this case the Diana Wynne Jones reserve of the same name; and like those earlier films, it trades heavily on some comin/with regard to’concerning’regarding ting character types — the precocious child, the aloof spellcaster, the sarcastic talking cat (see also: Kiki’s Deliintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully Service, Whisper Of The Heart).###The lively story, of an orphan being mentored by a witch while dreaming of her eodd’peculiar d mother, is eliminate’remove ly aimed to appeal to kids more than grown-ups, but there is just the right amount of spark — and abundant’ample’plentiful appearances from that sarcastic talking cat — to hold eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullyone’s attention. It may not satisfy the purists, but Earwig has abundant’ample’plentiful storytelling charm in/with regard to’concerning’regarding it to be recognisably Ghibli.