Earwig and the Witch, Studio Ghibli's first CG movie, rocks out to Kacey Musgraves in new trailer

The start of a new year means trying new things, and Studio Ghibli is doing just that.

A new English-dubbed trailer for Earwig and the Witch, the first CG movie from the studio that brought us hand-drawn-animated works like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, has arrived this week with a new tale about a young girl facing fantastical sights.

In the English-language version of the film, which is based on the Diana Wynne Jones book of the same name, Taylor Paige Henderson voices Earwig, an orphan living in the British countryside who's adopted by a selfish witch, Bella Yaga (Vanessa Marshall). Welcomed into a world of spells and potions, Earwig discovers a song that could help her find the family she always craved.

The trailer comes with a cover of the Japanese film's theme song by Kacey Musgraves, who makes her vocal acting debut as Earwig's magical mother. Richard E. Grant (as the Mandrake) and Dan Stevens (as Thomas) also feature among the cast.

Goro Miyazaki, son of famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, directed Earwig and the Witch following his Ghibli directorial efforts on Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill. The film will first air in Japan on Dec. 30 on NHK before GKIDS releases it in North America soon after.

Meanwhile, Hayao Miyazaki is still slowly but surely working to finish his years-in-the-making next film, How Do You Live?

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