The anime industry has been making CGI animated films for a while, but we've recently seen the release of two major titles that are higher profile than anything we've seen so far. Studio Ghibli has released their first CGI feature, "Earwig and the Witch," based on the last book written by Diana Wynne Jones, and directed by Goro Miyazaki. Meanwhile, Marza Animation Planet, which gave us the "Harlock" movie a few years ago, is responsible for the first CGI "Lupin III" feature, titled "Lupin III: The First," and directed by Takashi Yamazaki.
From everything that I'd heard about "Earwig and the Witch," I was expecting a disaster. Goro Miyazaki had the unenviable task of trying to make a film using an entirely different system of animation at the famously old-school Studio Ghibli, and he hasn't had the greatest track record as a director. However, despite a few bumps and snags, I found "Earwig" a perfectly charming, modest little Ghibli movie. A bratty orphan girl named Earwig (Kokoro Hirasawa), is adopted by a demanding witch named Bella (Shinobu Terajima) and an unfriendly fellow named Mandrake (Etsushi Toyokawa), who can control demons. They live in a magical house with a lot of secrets. Though her new guardians initially seem frightening and harsh, Earwig soon takes advantage of the situation, befriends Bella's feline familiar Thomas (Gaku Hamada), and starts learning magic.
You can tell that "Earwig" is a Ghibli film from its design sensibility, which takes all the familiar visual cues we associate with Ghibli and translate them into CGI forms, sometimes rather awkwardly. While the lush vegetation and the cluttered interiors are passable, the character designs leave a lot to be desired. Earwig and her friends are plasticine and stiff, and look about a decade behind, technically, than the other major studios. The only character who really comes across right is the cat, Thomas, who looks exactly how you'd want a Ghibli cat to look in CGI. I appreciate that pains were taken to try and preserve some of the little animation tics and design features that always helped to set Ghibli films apart, but I think that the artists played it too safe. The camera stays stubbornly static for most of the film, and compositions are clearly still designed for two dimensions instead of three.
I've heard some complaints about how short the film is, and how it seems to be missing a third act where Earwig finally gets some of her questions answered. I would have liked a more concrete ending as well, but I found the characters and the story charming enough that I didn't mind that it stopped where it did. Other Ghibli films like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" have had similar non-endings. "Earwig and the Witch" is clearly one of the studio's cheaper, less ambitious features, made by mostly younger members of the staff, and often feels like a training exercise or a test run of the animation technology. However, I still found it entertaining, and enjoyed spending some time with Earwig and her strange little family. I think it would have been better if it had been traditionally animated, because Ghibli still has a lot of kinks in the CGI to work out, but it's still a perfectly good piece of work.
"Lupin III: The First," on the other hand, looks absolutely fantastic. I was a little worried about this project, because the "Harlock" film was so dark and murky, and the character animation wasn't much to talk about. "Lupin III" is a huge improvement, beautifully translating the cartoon designs and movements of the goofy Arsene Lupin III (Kanichi Kurita) and his band of merry cohorts into dazzling CGI forms. All the old physical gags, famous poses, and the most importantly the facial expressions are perfect. Lupin goofs and blusters and banters in CGI as well as he ever did in traditional animation, and he's as charismatic and fun to watch as ever. Takashi Yamazaki takes full advantage of the CGI animation, staging huge, complex action sequences, using lots of different environments, and executing plenty of complicated shots.
Once you get past the fun of the visuals, however, "Lupin III: The First" is a pretty typical "Lupin III" adventure. A young woman named Laetitia (Suzu Hirose) teams up with Lupin, in pursuit of the famous Bresson diary, a book that will lead them to a mysterious treasure. Lupin gets help from his usual crew - Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi), Goemon (Daisuke Namikawa), Fujiko (Miyuki Sawashiro), and even Inspector Zenigata (Koichi Yamadera). The villains this time out are an unscrupulous archaeologist, Lambert (Kotaro Yoshida), who is backed by a Nazi revivalist, Gerard (Tatsuya Fujiwara). The film is set in the 1960s, and has fun with vintage vehicles and period touches. It takes its cues from Indiana Jones, Tintin, and James Bond, of course. Compared to other "Lupin" media, it feels toned down to appeal to general audiences. The recent traditionally animated Lupin shows and movies have been geared more toward adults. In this outing, Lupin barely bothers flirting with Fujiko.
I got a little impatient with "Lupin III: The First" toward the end. The film puts Laetitia front and center as often as Lupin, and her story is pretty bland and predictable. I don't think we got nearly enough of Zenigata, Jigen, Goemon, or Fujiko, though I was happy with what we did see of them. There are a few winks and homages for Lupin fans to look out for, but this outing seems more interested in catching the eyes of new viewers. And there's nothing wrong with that, especially when it's a feature as beautifully put together as this newest "Lupin III" film.
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