It has been 6 years since the release of the last film from Studio Ghibli “When Marnie Was There”. You’d think the announcement of a new film from the legendary studio would be cause for celebration. However, when I heard the announcement of “Earwig and the Witch“, my excitement was tempered once I saw the screenshots. Earwig and the Witch is going to be Studio Ghibli’s first CG film and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I’ve spoken before of the anime industry’s effort to create CG animation but I think another important question is “Why are CG animated films so prevalent now?”
It wasn’t too long ago when it seemed that American animation was close to dying. Disney’s animation division had been struggling throughout the late 70s and early 80s with the loss of Don Bluth who left Disney to set up his own animation studio. Even Ralph Bakshi was suffering as his 1983 film “Fire and Ice” was a box office flop which pretty much ended his career.
That all changed with the Disney Renaissance which saw the release of box office success after box office success (with two possible exceptions being The Rescuers Down Under and Hercules). Other studios took note and began to set up animation divisions of their own such as Dreamworks and Fox Animation Studios. While the world became obsessed with 2D animation again, a studio named Pixar released a feature length CG animated film in 1995 named Toy Story, the first of its kind.
The Disney Renaissance sputtered out by the early 2000s and saw a string of 2D animated films under perform at the box office. Fox Animation Studios was closed down and Dreamworks abandoned 2D animation after the box office bomb that was Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. During this time, Pixar was enjoying success after success with their CG animated films and Dreamworks struck gold with Shrek 2 which managed to become the highest grossing animated film ever when it was released in 2004 (the title now rests with Frozen II). Even Fox enjoyed a comeback with the success of their Ice Age series.
Since then, we have seen few 2D animated films come out of America with The Princess and the Frog being one of the few exceptions. 2D animation has held its ground relatively well outside of America but even they are slowly losing ground as animation studios become more desperate to crack the worldwide box office. Even the world of anime is feeling the pressure to switch to CG.
And yet, it is worth noting that 2D animation is not dead. An enormous amount of 2D animation continues to be churned out of Japan and even in America, the homeland of the CG craze, we are still seeing 2D animation continue to thrive on television with the success of Rick and Morty, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Steven Universe and more. It’ll be interesting to see if this success can eventually be translated to a revival of 2D theatrical films.
I am glad to see that Studio Ghibli is back but I do hope that Earwig and the Witch proves to be an exception when it comes to what animation style they are going to continue with. It is interesting to note that Earwig and the Witch is a television film and might not represent what future Studio Ghibli theatrical releases will look like. At the same time, I harbour no grudge against CG films but would like to see more 2D animated films released. Let me know your thoughts on Earwig and the Witch, CG films in general and whether you can see a return to 2D animated films in the near future.
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