The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Earwig and the Witch
Animation · Fantasy · Family · 2021
A headstrong orphan discovers a world of spells and potions while living with a selfish witch.
Movie details
Earwig and the Witch
“Enter a world of magic and music”
2021 Animation · Fantasy · Family 1h 23m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
A headstrong orphan discovers a world of spells and potions while living with a selfish witch.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Earwig and the Witch?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Boxtrolls
Animation · 2014
An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.
The Loud House Movie
Animation · 2021
The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
Mary and The Witch's Flower
Animation · 2017
Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordinary as it seems.
Strange Magic
Music · 2015
A love potion works its devious charms on fairies, elves and the swamp-dwelling Bog King as they all try to possess the potion for themselves.
Cinderella and the Secret Prince
Animation · 2018
Cinderella discovers a secret that could shake their world: an evil witch turned the prince into a mouse and replaced him with a look-alike. Cinderella and her friends must save the real prince and help him defeat the evil witch.
The Sword in the Stone
Animation · 1963
Wart is a young boy who aspires to be a knight's squire. On a hunting trip he falls in on Merlin, a powerful but amnesiac wizard who has plans for him beyond mere squiredom. He starts by trying to give him an education, believing that once one has an education, one can go anywhere. Needless to say, it doesn't quite work out that way.
Monster Family
Animation · 2017
The Wishbone family are far from happy. In an attempt to reconnect as a family, they plan a fun night out. However, the plan backfires when they are cursed and all turned into Monsters.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
TV Movie · 1996
A girl, sent by her parents to live with her two eccentric aunts, finds out on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch.
Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure
Animation · 2013
Tom And Jerry are among the last animals living in Storybook Town, a fairy tale-inspired theme park "where dreams come true, if you believe."
The Twits
Animation · 2025
When the meanest, nastiest villains pull a trick to take over their town, two brave children team up with a family of magical animals to bring them down.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Goro Miyazaki
Written by
Keiko Niwa · Emi Gunji
Kokoro Hirasawa
Earwig (voice)
Shinobu Terajima
Bella Yaga (voice)
Gaku Hamada
Thomas (voice)
Sherina Munaf
Earwig's Mother (voice)
Etsushi Toyokawa
The Mandrake (voice)
Yuji Ueda
Mr. Jenkins (voice)
Court is in session
Put Earwig and the Witch on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.