OK, in complete fairness, I didn't hate it, but even without comparing it to the rest of this studio's filmography, it comes across as a mildly amusing nothing-burger.

I think the animation is (mostly) better than what people may give it credit for. At best, I do like some of the creativity surrounding the house and spells. But at worst, it comes across as a kids movie you find in the $5 DVD bin at Walmart or something. It's unassumingly passable 3D animation that doesn't hold a candle to traditional 2D. Outside of the character designs, you would never guess this was made by Ghibli of all studios.

Story-wise, it tries to do the Ghibli formula of having characters wander around, but the whimsy and charm simply isn't there. Many scenes drag on, and by the end, you feel like barely anything happened. Any attempts at plot cohesion are all over the place (redhead left the band because rEaSoNs, the Mandrake being a writer doesn't add anything interesting, whatever the flying fudge the worms mean, etc.). The character dynamics between Erica and the Witch (whose name I already forgot) goes from "I hate your guts" for 90% of the movie, to "oh, you used to be in a band? Ok we cool now, all is forgiven" during the last 10 minutes or so, coming off as very rushed. And yes, that abrupt ending only leaves you scratching your head the minute you start thinking about it. The opening sets up Erica as being redhead's daughter whom she gave up at an orphanage, but now all these years later, she adopts Custard, and shows up to the house. Keep in mind it's never clearly established that Erica finds out the truth. And.....cut. Movie's over. Soooooo, what? No interesting conversation between them? Why redhead decides to return? Why the other two chased her all those years ago? Anything? That's it?

At best, Earwig and the Witch is mildly imaginative. Plus, Thomas the cat and the music are easily the highlights. But it drowns in an incomplete, unfocused, poorly-paced, and overall uninteresting plot that I don't care about. Not to mention having to follow these two unrootable characters. Idk, again, I didn't despise it or anything, but I'm struggling to find ANYTHING else to talk about. The more I type this down, the more I end up realizing: I don't friggin' give a shish. I found things to like in the moment, but in the end, this gets a monster shrug from me.

That said, I can't help but feel sorry for Goro Miyazaki. If Hayao walked out of Tales from Earthsea's screening, I can only imagine how the boomer of anime feels towards this. He's undoubtedly more talented than his son, but I'll give sympathy points towards Goro.