“#Our opinion on «Aya and the witch» ” The latest Studio Ghibli film has also been available in Germany on DVD and Blu-ray since Friday. But does a film animated completely with 3D CG also offer the usual quality and depth that one knows from the studio through a multitude of defining classics? …
10-year-old Aya grows up in St. Morwald’s children’s home. With her lively manner, she keeps the employees on their toes and loves to create pranks with her best friend pudding and the other children. In order to deter potential adoptive parents, she does not always present herself at her best. Surprisingly, one day she is adopted by a mysterious woman named Bella Yaga and her companion Mandrakus and henceforth has to assist the unsympathetic witch. Understandably, this is not at all to Aya’s taste and she is looking for a way out. But there is a magic in the house and the project turns out to be more difficult than expected. Fortunately, she finds an ally in the talking tomcat, Thomas, who stands by her side.
Our opinion
With “Aya and the Witch”, a new film from the renowned Studio Ghibli has been released for many years, and he is following in big footsteps. The expectations are accordingly high, but unfortunately the film didn’t really convince me.
First of all, the innovation: “Aya and the Witch” is the first film from Studio Ghibli to be completely animated with 3D CG. There can therefore be no question of habit and that is also noticeable. The film is therefore a pilot project for the studio and in many aspects it is not yet fully developed. The animations seem very transparent and unrealistic and, above all, the characters cannot fit into the actually solid, successful backgrounds. The facial expressions are very successful in many sequences, but in some cases they seem too concise and therefore implausible. The general style is also remotely reminiscent of anime.
But there are also weaknesses in terms of content. For me, the film has no red thread and doesn’t offer any profound statements, such as “Princess Mononoke”. The emotions aroused, which was actually always Studio Ghibli’s top discipline, are quite clearly limited. The very open end is also unsatisfactory, which for me did not come to a clear conclusion.
“Aya and Witch” lives on three people, who unfortunately were only partially implemented in a credible manner. Aya is a strong, young girl who is very curious and always wants to assert her own head. That comes across well in the film, but the witch Bella, with her gruff manner, often seems fake and unfounded aggressive. The actually most exciting person, on the other hand, is Mandrake, who unfortunately gets far too little screen time and is only treated superficially.
Goro Mayazaki has given away a lot of potential in the film, even if the original is of course not quite as much as other works that the studio filmed.
In general, “Aya and the Witch” is a moderately well-done anime film, but given that it comes from the Ghibli studio, it is a big disappointment. The actual strengths of the studio are not played out at all. It is to be hoped that this will change again in the future.
Rating: 40%
If you want to convince yourself of the film, you are welcome to visit our >> Competition Prove your luck and win one of two copies of the film!
We would like to thank LEONINE Anime for the streaming link.
<
p style=”text-align: center”>
The article Our opinion on “Aya and the Witch” first appeared on BuradaBiliyorum.Com.
If you like watching anime, you can download the “AnimeX” application and watch it ad-free.
AnimeX – Watch Anime Movie Trailers
If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Google News too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.
