Ged Senki

I realize that many people might not agree with what i'm going to say about this film, but please hear me out..

first of all.. i think too many people expected it to be like other miyazaki works.. but the worst thing you could do is assume it'll have the magic and light-heartedness of other studio ghibli films.. after all, it was miyazaki's son that directed it.. and for a first film, i don't think it could've been any better.. i suppose it's tough to keep this in mind, as the art style is the same as other ghibli films.. but please try..

that being said..

Story-i loved ... the story.. that might be partially because i really enjoy this genre.. a sort of medieval setting with fantasy elements.. dragons and sorcery.. but none of the fantasy elements are too over-bearing.. the film focuses instead on the lesson it intends to convey.. sounds lame.. but i think it did a perfect job of getting the point across.. i felt like i would burst when the movie ended.. i really felt the impact of what was being said.. to deny death is to deny life.. being afraid of death is being afraid of living.. i know it sounds cliche, but it makes sense and it really hits home.. heh.. for me at least.. it's a very epic telling of the story.. and you need to keep in mind also that this was literature to begin with, and you can tell by the content of the story.. it may seem to move a bit quickly and is at parts confusing.. but that's just the way it goes whenever literature becomes film.. nothing tough to keep up with though.. just a few holes..

Animation-the scenery was breathtaking as usual.. you could really feel the tone of the setting.. the art, the music, the story-all truly strike a chord.. the character animations could have been better, that would be my only serious complaint.. since it's a more recent film, i thought they could have done more with the effects-especially in scenes involving the use of magic.. more similar to the animation in spirited away or howl's moving castle.. then again, it might have been intentional.. and i'm not sure i liked the design of the dragons.. but overall.. great stuff.

Sound-probably my favorite music in a film ever.. bah.. i love that stuff.. perfectly orchestrated.. gave me chills actually.. heh.. it was dramatic, but it added to the epic feel of the film.. it was never cheesy.. and i especially love when it sounded a bit irish with the flutes and such.. and uh.. the closing song made me break down and bawl like a baby.. it was that beautiful.

Character-the characters were totally fitting for this movie.. nothing felt like it was out of place.. the main characters had plenty of depth and were very likable.. one thing i noticed was that one of the leaders of the bad dudes, the guy with the frenchie stupid-lookin mustache, looks exactly like a bad guy in nausicaa valley of the wind.. this also, may have been on purpose.. he acted like him too.. kinda weird.. and the evil sorcerer gave me chills.. that voice.. shudder*.. so yea-the characters were perfect in my opinion.. enough said.

Enjoyment-i enjoyed it thoroughly.. yea.. that's all.


*please remember to watch this film with an open mind, not expecting the usual miyazaki 'magic'

Even a prolific animation studio like Ghibli can turn out a lesser effort. Hiroyuki Morita's THE CAT RETURNS was my personal least favorite Ghibli movie, but that film, simplistic and shallow as it was, seems to have much more accolades than 2006's TALES FROM EARTHSEA, arguably one of the first productions from the studio to split audiences and critics alike.

Ironically enough, the controversy actually began prior to the film's release. It has been stated that Hayao Miyazaki had expressed interest in directing a film based on Ursula K. LeGuin's famous fantasy novels, but the author, displeased with previous attempts, declined... until the success ... of Miyazaki's HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (arguably one of the director's least excellent but still brilliant efforts). However, it was ultimately decided that the film would be handled by Miyazaki's own son, Goro, under the persuasion of producer Toshio Suzuki. Miyazaki Senior was most displeased by these turn of events and it is said that his relationship with Goro became strained during the production period. Perhaps Hayao had reason to fear that his son was not ready to tackle such an ambitious story; although TALES FROM EARTHSEA performed well financially, it was attacked by critics and even fans of the books. In fact, Goro received the "Worst Director" Golden Raspberry Award for his first attempt. All of this sounds like a cruel, undeserved fate for the debut of the son of Japan's most respected animator, but even author Ursula K LeGuin has been disappointed with Goro's film. In fact, TALES FROM EARTHSEA would not even see a release in the United States for another five years.

The criticisms TALES FROM EARTHSEA has received are not without merit. Anyone expecting another PRINCESS MONONOKE or CASTLE IN THE SKY will probably be disappointed for, while this film shows moments of brilliance and imagination, it falls short from the upper echelon of those films. The problems lie in the storyline and characterizations.

Fans of LeGuin's books will probably be even more let down by this movie. It is based heavily on the third book, "The Farthest Shore", but while most of the situations and characters survive the transition to the screen, Goro attempts to incorporate elements from the other books into the film. But he does so in a way that only results in a tangled, confusing plot which not only feels rushed, but very incomplete and disorganized. Sometimes events happen without explanation, and what little explanation we get is unsatisfying; maybe fans of the books will grasp what Goro's intentions are, but others will find themselves asking questions which unfortunately, never get answered.

The film gets off to a promising start with a stormy sequence in which a ship at sea witnesses a bloody clash between two dragons. It's exciting and intense, with a brief flash of gory violence that brings one to mind of the similarly graphic moments from PRINCESS MONONOKE. TALES FROM EARTHSEA is still on that fine start when we see Arren, a teenage prince, inexplicably murder his father and escapes into a desert. He is rescued from wolves by Sparrowhawk, a kindly sorcerer with a scar on his face (for reasons that readers of the first book "Wizard of Earthsea" will recognize). Sparrow's mission is to restore the balance that has been disrupted in the mystical land of Earthsea.

However, when these two adventurers cross paths with other characters such as a moody, introverted “slave” named Therru, a warmhearted farmer, and an evil wizard intent on gaining (predictably) eternal life, it becomes evident that Goro is trying to cram too much story worth of at least four books into a two hour film. Aside from giving the characters little time to fully develop into fleshed out personalities, the film works in a very confusing and frustratingly murky subplot about a shadowy “clone” of Arren that shows up from time to time to torment the youth. This is handled very awkwardly, with zero foreshadowing and the whole “explanation” behind the whole thing leaves questions instead of answers. I was also very unclear about the climactic finale in which a girl transforms into a dragon; again, this is done with no explanation, that it only makes the audience baffled instead of thrilled.

Perhaps another big issue with the film is the pacing; as mentioned, the film’s best sequence is the opening dragon fight, but such action moments are rather scanty throughout the rest of the movie, resulting in long, extensive stretches where nothing really happens. For instance, at the halfway point, there is a long sequence in which the characters end up working on a farm. Although intended to provide character development, this sequence only slows down the film and feels more like padding than anything else. Brief moments such as Sparrowhawk and Arren talking about blistered hands after helping to plow the field feel strangely detached from the rest of the plot instead of anything else. The real areas in which Goro shows strength as an animator are the dream sequences—and there are quite a few in this tale—in which the characters find themselves standing on sunlit landscapes with luscious colors one moment and nearly drowning in an ooze-infested lake the next. These are actually far more interesting than much of the talkier scenes in the movie.

The lack of compelling characters is another major shortcoming with TALES FROM EARTHSEA. Sparrowhawk, for instance, is nobility personified, and as such, is pretty boring. Arren could have been a compelling troubled hero — sort of a darker version of Ashi-taka from MONONOKE, but his character development comes across as rather hazy to be interesting. The slave girl Therru, despite showing some backbone and the bitterness of San, isn’t much more endearing than her co-stars. Cob probably ranks as the most disappointing villain in any Ghibli film; oh sure, he’s creepy and acts evil, but he doesn’t have much of a personality, and lacks the charisma of, say, Muska from CASTLE IN THE SKY. That he doesn’t get much to do in the film is also a letdown. Cob’s slavetrader captain henchman, Hare, is much more effective as a badguy, and arguably is the only interesting character in the whole movie to display any personality. He sneers, cackles, rasps threats, and is remorselessly ruthless. It also helps that he is voiced by Cheech Marin in the Disney-produced English dub... who naturally gives the best performance in the whole film!

Speaking of the dub, this is probably my least favorite of the Disney Ghibli dubs, not because it is badly done—Disney has never produced an unlistenable dub as far as I’m concerned; their past dubs have all been fantastic, contrary to what others may say (yes, even the ones with extra dialogue and music). Perhaps because of the murky nature of this movie, it is difficult for the dub to be as effective, despite the efforts of everyone involved. Still, the performers and voice director Gary Rydstrom do their best: As mentioned, Marin plays the part of Hare perfectly and steals the show. Timothy Dalton does an excellent job as Sparrowhawk, embuing him with wisdom, warmth, and subtlety. Mariska Hargitay is also very good as the kindly farmer Tenar. Matt Levin as Arren is a bit of a trickier issue: he starts out somewhat flatly, but he gradually improves and gets especially good at the end. On the other hand, Blaire Restaneo’s Therru is the least effective of the voice cast; she shines brilliantly in singing the film’s only song, a melancholy acapella solo originally rendered by Aoi Teshima and does all right in the tense scenes, but I wasn’t so sold on the rest of her scenes. Willem Dafoe’s Cob works best in the climactic scenes where he rasps his way to the tower, but otherwise spends most of the time talking in a very soft, monotonous voice. I don’t know if it was supposed to convey darkness or not, but I didn’t find it particularly effective (in fact, I was chuckling upon hearing him speak for the first time) and I’m still not sure if he was the right choice for the character. Simply put, he’s no match for Mark Hamill’s Muska. The rest of the voices are fine, although they’re not nearly as memorable as in any of the other Ghibli dubs. Even purists who insist on watching the film in Japanese will probably be disappointed, as the voice acting, or at least what I’ve heard, isn’t much more effective than that of the dub.

Probably the most pleasing aspect of the film is its musical score contributed by Tamiya Terashima. Ghibli films have excelled with gorgeous soundtracks, and this is no exception. Using melancholy melodies and a full orchestra and chorus reminiscent of Hans Zimmer, Terashima provides a gorgeous and poundingly dramatic symphony that compliments the mood of the story perfectly. (As mentioned, Therru’s song midway through the film is a haunting highlight.) And of course, the animation is as richly detailed and beautiful as any Ghibli film.

There are moments where TALES OF EARTHSEA does exude some haunting visuals, but all in all, it’s probably the weakest of the Studio Ghibli movies by far. Had Goro Miyazaki opted for a less daunting storyline, then maybe he wouldn’t have received so much backlash for his debut feature. As such, the obvious failings of EARTHSEA shows that he is not yet ready to fill his father’s shoes. But even with all that said, is this movie still worth watching? Absolutely, especially if you’re a Ghibli completist. Even with its faults, TALES FROM EARTHSEA still has its share of high points to make it worth a look. But don’t expect another instant classic; on that level it falls short.

I have not read the Earthsea novels, and have only seen this film once, so I am going by first impressions, and while admitedly this may not be particularly thorough, first impressions do count for a lot.

I did not enjoy this movie as much as other Ghibli, or anime films in general. Most of this was because I felt that many questions I had about the film and the world in which the film was set were left unanswered. This may have been because I did not read the book, however, I believe an addaptation should be able to stand on ... its own without needing to be familiar with the source material. For example, Gankutsuou still makes sense to those who did not read Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Christo and can stand alone as it's own piece of work. The Earthsea movie for me left too many questions. "Why are there slaves? Are there only certain people who become slaves or is everyone free game?" "Why do people fear witches and wizards if they're so useful? What's the basis for this prejudice?" "Why did the Prince stab the King? Why is this problem not addressed? How can people not notice a missing Prince and stabbed King?" These are only a few of my questions.

Secondly, the magic of the worlds did not seem adequately explained or built up. 'True Names' have power, but this is only really brought up halfway into the movie. Unlike Spirited away, this magic not based on an already well known or established folk lore or canon, so more explanation or build up would have helped to make it more effective.

Characters do not seem quite as sympathetic as subsequent Ghibli films. When reasons are given for characters to be sympathetic, it is simply mentioned in exposition, while showing it through flashback or dream sequence might have been more effective. Tennar mentions how Sparrowhawk once saved her a couple times during the film, but this and her relationship with Sparrowhawk is mostly left up to exposition which is not nearly as effective as showing it. Theru is a mysterious abuse victim who hates people who do not value life, why not show the audience why rather than having a character simply mention it? Why not give the audience more clues about her past to build suspense? And then there's Arran, who is supposedly our main character who seems entierly unsympathetic and uninteresting. I honestly did not see, throughout the whole film any good qualities what would draw me into his character or psyche. For a character with a past and backstory like his, I was really expecting more, and what was built up felt like a letdown by the end of the film. Really, his 'shadow'/split personality seemed far more complex and interesting (though that was not really explained either). What really makes it disappointing though is that the cover of the DVD and film posters show a picture of Arran with a Dragon, giving the audience the impression that this will be a film about a boy and a dragon, which, it isn't.

The sound was excellent though. Unlike other ghibli movies, it went with a very medieval and Celtic sounding soundtrack with reed instruments and even what sounded like bagpipes in some segments. It was truly beautiful to listen to and was a refreshing deviation. It helped drive home that this is a medieval fantasy world. The art and animation were stunning as usual, with breathtaking scenery. The film honestly did create its own, beautiful world.

My overall problem with the film was that the rules of the world were not properly explained and left too many questions. I am very aware that certain aspects of the story are lost in medium translation, but the audience should not be left thinking at the end of the film, 'I think I would have understood what that was all about if I had read the book.' As for the 'moral of the story' it feels like the writer is trying to beat it into the audience's head rather than let them figure it out. In past films, it is left up to the audience to be mature and clever enough to figure out the moral, whether it was environmentalism, pacifism, increased urbanisation, or even just being yourself. In this fim, it was repeated over and over until it honestly became annoying to listen to. I think after the second or third time, we get it already.

This film, unlike other Ghiblis, is certainly not for young children who are easily frightened. There is blood, hints of drug usage, human trafficing, violence, abuse, and frightening images that can upset young children and those who are easily frightened.

Overall though, it was not a terrible film. The story had potential, and was unafraid to touch on dirty, gritty subject matter. I would equate it to a well done B-movie, but it was a very far cry from being an A-lister. For a first film, it was very well done, and hopefully Goro Miyazaki can step up his game and fill the shoes of past directors. This film and director really do have potential, and I hope to see great things in the future.

Let me explain first that I am not a Studio Ghibli fan. I find when I watch their films that I am constantly seeing the same recurring characters. Not the same TYPE of characters, just the same art. That greatly bugs me. I saw many of the same archetype characters that i've seen in every Ghibli film in this one as well.

Story: Adapted from Ursula K LeGuins Earthsea series. I've never read the series myself but from watching the anime I might just pick up a couple. I want to ask what part of the story inspired Goro Miyazaki ... to want to direct this. There's nothing in here that really justifies creating an anime. The major problem I find is that all the times they could be doing alot of character scenes the characters are really doing nothing. This takes way too long and there are entire scenes that don't do anything to contribute. The action that happens in this anime is very....inconsistent. There were a few scenes that I thought were really well done and others that left me bewildered, and not in a good way.

Art: For a 2006 movie it was desperately mediocre. The art was very basic and the characters where very Ghibli...men have gigantic beards and women all look the same. There were a couple marketplace scenes that I paused to take a look at some of the art and it was pretty decent, but for the rest of the scenes I was bored. If you really want a comparison...watch Totoro or Porco Rosso and then watch this and scene how the art has barely improved.

Sound: I remember being slightly bothered by the music occasionally....but not too much. There are definitely better soundtracks out there but there are probably worse ones if you searched hard enough.

Character: When the art is lacklustre an anime is based completely on the story and the characters. The characters in this anime spend too much time being ambiguous and not enough time bonding with each other. There's alot of anger swelling in the two younger characters and it comes off mainly as angst instead of anger.

Enjoyment: I did not enjoy this anime. Even now I can't really remember anything of it, which is usually a bad sign. As far as Goro Miyazaki's first film...it isn't great...but it isn't terrible either, he'd work alot better in a different studio.

Tales from Earthsea is adapted from a series of novels written by Ursula K. LeGuin. It was also Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro's, directorial feature debut. I'm loathe to call any Studio Ghibli film a half-baked mess but that's exactly what this film is. Miyazaki felt his son lacked the experience to direct a feature length film-- especially one as ambitious as Earthsea-- and it's a shame that he was proven right (and that it damaged the relationship between father and son). While the animation quality is on par with some of the other Ghibli movies, it just fails.

The mediums of literature ... and film are completely different; adaptation from one to the other is extremely difficult to do, and even harder to accomplish well. Earthsea apparently failed as an adaptation; the author commented that it was an entirely different story being acted out by characters that happened to share names with hers. But even taking the film out of the context of the book series, it fails as a film (I’m using this word a lot...). Despite being one of the highest grossing movies that year in Japan, it was met with mixed reactions. The movie is just incompetent. In addition to mythos spouting and plenty that goes unexplained, there's little time allotted for character development nor any insight into their motives, which is unforgivable considering Earthsea is two hours long and spends so much of its time accomplishing nothing. The movie is boring, and by the end, the conflict comes and goes, but you're left confused as to what happened in the first place. The only reason to sit down and watch this film, is to say you’ve seen them all.

Better luck next time, Goro.

Back in my review of Kiki's Delivery Service I talked about how much I love Studio Ghibli and mentioned that their films generally range from good to excellent. This is not only the third exception to that I've found but also the very worst Studio Ghibli film I've seen.

Let's start with the story. The balance of a planet is being destroyed, a prince murders his father for unknown reasons and joins up with a traveling wizard. And all of this has virtually no bearing on the plot whatsoever. Yes, these scenes are mentioned later, but nothing gets done with them. Well, except for the ... part about the prince joining a traveling wizard. After several long minutes of walking scenes the pair end up in a town with an active slave trade and an evil wizard. From there you can probably guess the main plot. At first it seems like a pretty standard fantasy story with atrocious pacing, since a lot of time is wasted with padding scenes of farm work, but then you get to the last thirty minutes or so and two massive plot holes drive through what was a mediocre story and make it atrocious. There are also some major moments that are almost unbearably cheesy, Adam West's Batman series was less corny. The ending is especially guilty of this.

Overall the characters fill out cliche roles. One problem that comes in with the characterisation is that characters have knowledge that the narrative has given them no way of knowing. Hooray for plot contrivances? An even bigger issue is that most of the characters are very poorly fleshed out and, as a result, don't have any real motivations or they have motivations that are completely unbelievable. There's also some really clunky dialogue for the sake of exposition.

The art is spectacular. That, at least, hasn't changed. The only real problem is that the character designs make it so obvious who's a villain just by looking. Subtlety, who needs it?

The voice work is capably done. The music is decent, but it gets repetitive really quickly. Probably because they keep playing the same song segments over and over and over again.

There is no yuri in this film. I give it a yuri factor of 1/10.

I hate to say it, but my final rating for Tales from Earthsea is a 3/10. It's a bad movie. The story suffers from massive plot holes that could take out most of Asia, the characters are dull, plot points are brought up and turn out to be completely superfluous to the plot, and the ending is bollocks.If you're looking for a decent film to watch, pick anything else out of Studio Ghibli's library and let this one rot.

An epic story of a young prince with a dark side, a wise old wizard and a mysterious, scarred girl. I was so full of hope for this one.

At a first look, it looks like what you would expect; the art is very familiar, especially the character design; the detail of the latter Studio Ghibli movies present, with grandiose scenery and breathtaking settings; the music appropriate, ushering us into the right mood; yet... something is missing.

This is very serious movie, gone is the usual playfulness and humour; there is a strong lesson being taught throughout, not unlike in Mononoke Hime, warning us about how ... we treat the Earth and our lives. However, that plays almost a second fiddle to the characters, saving of the world doesn't seem as important as their own adventure.

Oh, I'm so torn. I've always been a big fan of Studio Ghibli and they can do no wrong. Almost. This time round, I wasn't "wowed". Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad movie, not by a long shot, but it just isn't Hayao Miyazaki. Off I go to re-watch Tonari no Totoro or Hauru no Ugoku Shiro.

I had great expectations for Earthsea, mostly because I loved the song by Terru and the beautiful poster with the dragon. I'm disappointed to say the movie did not live to my expectations. You can't really sympathize with any of the characters, and even though the art is outstanding at times it's also plain. I couldn't believe how unimpressed I was with the town, the most colorful part of the movie.

The thing that really drags this movie down is the most important part: the story. Things happen with little to none reason (and those reasons are either stereotypical or absurd), the pace is dreadful; drags ... and drags you to hastily tie all the knots at the end. They show the unbalance of the world and almighty dragons at the beginning, but all that gets easily forgotten by the characters' conflicts. Although there is a connection between the world events with the characters intentions, it's a sloppy one.

It matters not if you're a Studio Ghibli fan or not, the truth is that the movie needed a better story-teller and a stable pace. Maybe if Hayao Miyazaki had put his pride aside and helped or supervised the movie in any way we could have ended up with a more polished movie, because Goro shows promise, but his inexperience shows.

Tales from Earthsea is the debut work from director Goro Miyazaki (From Up on Poppy Hill), son of renowned director Hayao Miyazaki, so naturally you might expect great things. Sadly, the film lacks the magic and sense of wonder of many of its Studio Ghibli predecessors, and fails to deliver much of a story at all in the nearly two hours it spans. Although it starts out strong, featuring an action-packed dragon battle in the skies, a good king trying to determine the source of the strange events in the world, and a shocking murder, it soon becomes slow and uneventful, dedicating nearly an hour ... to a handful of minor plot advancements and weak character development. When it finally picks up again with the entrance of the villainous Kumo, the chain of events is painfully cliche. The story’s sole redeeming feature is its philosophical message, which focuses on the relationship between life and death, yet even this is single-dimensional and beaten like a dead horse, reinforcing the film’s image as a cheap imitation of the elder Miyazaki’s work.

This is all quite disappointing because one wants nothing but the best from the often-superb Studio Ghibli, and for Miyazaki’s son in his premiere. It is even more unfortunate because the Earthsea series has been well-received for creating a rich and detailed fantasy world along the lines of The Lord of the Rings. Yet rather than dedicating time to exposition, Tales from Earthsea‘s treatment of the underlying world and state of affairs is so superficial that it will only be intelligible to those who have read the books. What the film lacks in story development it attempts to make up in character development, but its efforts add little depth or evolution to the characters, who are far too ordinary (think good wizard versus bad wizard) and static to be of any moment.

Despite its story and characters, Tales from Earthsea is still a Studio Ghibli film, and the production values are as you would expect. The animation is gorgeous, and adds to the Ghibli repertoire with its stunning scenic shots of the medieval Earthsea world. The dragons are also impressive, with a realistic design that adds a sense of darkness and primal fear in the few scenes where they make an appearance. The only time the animation falls short is when the effort is lacking: whereas the opening scenes contain some of Ghibli’s best, many of the scenes in the latter half of the film are plain and dark.

The soundtrack is very good, with a standout track in “Therru’s Song,” a moving a cappella piece by Aoi Teshima (the voice of Therru, the young girl character) that should be counted among Ghibli’s finest. (Teshima’s “Song of Time” is also quite good). The rest is a collection of orchestral pieces that are truly beautiful, albeit repetitive. The English voice cast is on the whole great, with a memorable role from Willem Dafoe as Kumo.

While Tales from Earthsea boasts exceptional production values, they can’t make up for its disappointing story. At two hours, this is a difficult film to get through, and the only reasons to watch are for the music and animation, and to be able to say that you’ve seen everything from Studio Ghibli.

Honestly, the only thing I can really say about this movie is that it's... average, and definitely subpar when compared to other Ghibi films. Like any Ghibli film, the art is amazing, and the overall quality of the film is good, but as far as the story and characters go, nothing special. I just rewatched it, and yet I can barely remember it. It's very forgettable, and the story is very hard to follow, the characters are bland, and motivation for many of the biggest plotpoints are completely ignored and overlookedOverall, I'd give it a pass, unless you really want to see every Ghibli film.

Hayao Miyazaki is considered to be not only one of the greatest writer/directors of animation but of all time. I've seen my fair share of his movies and I would agree with that sentiment. Spirited Away is one of my top 5 favorite animated movies of all time, I thought Ponyo definitely should have been seen by more people and My Neighbor Totoro is one of the most enjoyable films you and everyone in your family can watch. Did you know though that before his first film in the Studio Ghibli canon, Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, he was interested in adapting another project? Ursula ... K. Le Guin had been asked by many directors to have her Earthsea trilogy adapted into films and she had refused every single one including Miyazaki-san when he first approached her. However when he won an Oscar for Spirited Away she had a change of heart and said that if anybody is allowed to adapt her novels into film it would be Miyazaki-san. He was however occupied with directing Howl's Moving Castle at the time and could not take on the project, however Miyazaki's son Goro Miyazaki expressed interest in directing a feature film and Hayao's producer convinced Goro he should take on the project never realized by his father.

Tales from Earthsea looks absolutely gorgeous. The colors are fantastic, I love the character design and the backgrounds look incredible. Studio Ghibli always has the absolute best animation for their films and this is no exception. There are scenes in this movie that are straight up beautiful, unfortunately it seems like they were all in the beginning. It seems like the production budget for this movie was a little less than most Ghibli productions, that really is the only reason I can see why the climatic final battle takes place on a friggin rooftop. Though the aniamtion for that scene is nice you get the feeling that there could have been more done with it and in better locations. It still doesn't detract from the rest of the animation in the movie though which looks fantastic as always. The film itself on the other hand....

Most of the time I prefer the English dub over the Japanese vocal track when it comes to anime? That usually is proven for Ghibli movies that are put out by Disney. Since they have the name of the most powerful media corporation on the planet they're able to get voice actors who not only are good for the role but are famous for their on screen persona as well. That's why you get people like Christian Bale, Liam Neeson and Anna Paquin to dub your movies. I'm not saying that voice actors need to be famous in order to be good, lord knows that usually isn't the case but Disney manages to find good actors who just happen to be famous to dub their flicks. Unfortunately it seems that with Tales from Earthsea they managed to make a misstep. The actors they got for the kids sound dull. There doesn't seem to be much emotion to their voices. Even during scenes of really high tension they still speak in a monotone fashion. Especially who they got to play Therru. The adult actors do a decent job especially Willem Dafoe who doe swell in any psychotic role because he's just that damn awesome. I also liked Timothy Dalton as Sparrowhawk and felt it was one of those natural fits Disney got right again. The one person I thought felt out of place though was Cheech Marin. They certainly could've picked a worse voice actor and he's not a stranger to these types of roles as Lion King can prove but he just doesn't seem like he's playing role in this flick. It feels like he's just playing himself and every time I heard him talk it took me right out of the world.

Now to my main problem with this movie: the plot. The plot is actually pretty hard to follow. Most Ghibli movies do have imaginative plots yes and they can get a little confusing but this one didn't even have the usual charm that their movies usually carry. Let's take Ponyo for example. Ponyo's story can be a little confusing with questions like where did the magic that Fujimoto uses come from? Or what the hell are these ancient fish doing here? Questions like these are answered though, albeit a little roughly but still answered, throughout the course of the movie. In Tales of Earthsea however there are multiple questions that are not answered. I usually don't demand that a movie spells things out for me directly but when they're this crucial to the plot it kinda bears witness.

I'm gonna head into spoiler territory here so be warned. But seriously, why the hell did Therru turn into a dragon at the end? I mean I know at the beginning they said that men and dragon used to be one but dragons chose freedom and men chose possessions so it kinda makes sense that they would make her a dragon since they used to be that way but if it happened to all dragons shouldn't the hybrids not exist anymore? And what does that make Therru? Does she have magic powers, was it after she died she became a dragon or did she not die at all and could've turned into a dragon at anytime but she decided not to? What the hell is keeping Sparrowhawk from using his magic inside castle walls? Was there a charm placed or something? Why the hell does Cob need slaves? It doesn't seem like there's any vegetation that grows around his castle so why the hell do they need like a hundred maids and butlers? All of these questions didn't have to be summed up through actions on screen either. One or two lines of dialogue here or there would have sufficed. This plot was needlessly confusing and really frustrating to sit through.

The other main problem I had with this movie is that nothing really happened. At the end one man was defeated and you found out some girl was a dragon. I guess that's reasonable enough for an ending and it did sorta wrap things up while leaving room for a sequel but seriously it didn't feel that interesting. I didn't care about any of the characters because they were so bland and underdeveloped. The action scenes weren't that well choreographed, the dialogue felt like it was spit out by a computer whose parameters were just make a fantasy story. It's such an inconsequential, forgettable film that it seems like there could've been so much more to it. I'm sure somebody in the studio could've stepped in and made this a worthwhile watch but in the end it ends up being just bland.

Tales from Earthsea is far from being an abysmal movie but it's still not very good. This project screams for a bigger budget and better writers. It could've been a welcome addition to the Studio Ghibli canon. Unfortunately it just turns out to be a big misstep in the wrong direction. It's head is in the right place but it's heart is not. I give Tales From Earthsea 2 stars out of five.

2/5

The movie tries to stay true to the book in "tone" and also tries to convey many of the main themes apparent in the books and people who have read the books I think will appreciate that and feel very comfortable with this movie. However for this review I will assume that most of the people who would want to watch it aren't familiar with Le'guin's world.

You will not understand the majority of the plot here if you haven't read the books. There is so much material crammed in here (from 3 books) that you will be left wandering what is going on and why ... do the characters do the things they do.

However, apart from the almost incoherent story all the other aspects of the movie are great. The art style and soundtrack are superb and albeit some characters not looking faithful to their in-book descriptions (Ged is more dark-skinned and Therru shoud have been far more severely scarred) I was ok with their overall presentation. The landscapes, Hort town and the dragons look especially good and captivating. As for the music score, it conveys the "feel" of earthsea quite successfully - the pieces have a folk celtic element which befits earthsea's world.

As someone who has read the books my enjoyment of this movie was quite high and I would definitely reccomend it to everybody who would like to experience this beautiful world again (as I said, the "feel" and "themes" of the movie are very close to the books). I wouldn't be so quick to reccomend it to viewers who are not familiar with the books because the plot will be very confusing and they will not experience a proper introduction to the characters, since a lot of their actions remain unexplained in the movie and appear unmotivated. It is still a solid audio-visual experience though. But overall my advice is to first read the books and then see the movie, because otherwise you might feel a teeny-weeny lost in this world.

This is probably my least favorite Ghibli movie. I feel as though this movie would have been wonderful if it were not for a few wasted and unneeded scenes. At some parts, I was holding my breath to wait to see what would happen......and then, minutes later, let it out and laugh a little when I realize that I had been led on.

+ The Art+
Of course it was great. Particularly when Arren was wandering around in the market by himself. ... It was absolutely wonderful to see the old stone buildings (some of the run-down houses even looked like Howl's castle), the water fountains, the vendor, the flowers, trees up-close. And then, in the very end, when those stones crumble, the ripple effect before they finally fall was pretty amazing.

+The Story+
Plot holes big enough to fly a dragon through.....it just didn't make sense. All that time on the farm should have been used instead to fill the viewers in on the story. Heck, even flashbacks would have been welcomed, even though I haven't seen much of those in Ghibli movies. There was so much to work with! A world losing its magic? There are plenty of things to get from that. Isn't the point of watching movies to find out what happens at the end?

The script was a bit cliche. "Let me go!" "Where are you taking me?" "You'll never get away with this!" Not many morals to be found, except for the whole "live your life" thing.

+The Sound+
Music was okay. Reminded me of Lord of the Rings, actually. All Celtic and whatnot.
Voice acting was pretty good (but I'm terrible at judging voice actors). Cob's was my personal favorite; it made me laugh with how overdramatic, monotone, and quiet it was. Sparrowhawk (can't stand that name) sounded like Gandalf....Arren's voice was very pleasant.....did not like Therru's voice.

+Character+
Underdeveloped, flat characters. This is mostly due to the underdeveloped story. It's not the characters' faults. Arren's personality was rather confusing, but again, not his fault. Cob....mediocre villain. The artwork of him was magnificent, especially at the very end. I was actually scared of it (and then he spoke).

+Overall+
You could probably be doing two things at once while watching this. You will not miss much. Do make sure to look up every now and then so you can see the artwork, and be sure to listen to the music. It is worth watching though. Sometimes unfinished stories make for the best inspiration of all.

Writing a good fiction requires a good level of imagination, character development, and an engaging plot. Goro Miyazaki's Tales of Earthsea fails at several of these points. It is flat, not engaging. It felt like a chore to watch.

The film starts off with a huge negative action: the main character's balance is already stacked heavily against him. In order for the plot to progress, he must overcome that negative balance and progress to a positive balance. Vices must be overcome with virtues, past actions forgiven, lessons learned, etc.

Even as the main character goes on a journey (part of the Hero's Path) the main ... character never really progresses. There is no remorse or guilt. There is no character development: he remains as he was at the beginning: wimpy, despondent, and fatalistic. His guide in the journey can only do so much.

To those of you who seek a sense of justice, who expect a sense of comeuppance, stay away from this film. There is no retribution. Wrongs happen and no one is there to amend them. At the end, you are left feeling that too little was done too late.

I don't know if there is a source material for this movie, but I imagine it was much better than the film.

This was the worst movie I've ever seen in my whole life. Yes, I'm aware that this was directed by Goro Miyazaki and not Hayao Miyazaki so I adjusted my expectations. However, after watching the movie, I now understand why Hayao Miyazaki walked out of his son's film to take a smoke break. Halfway through this film, I wanted to just stop watching altogether but I finished to give it a fair chance.

The pacing was bad, the story was bad, the characters were hollow. I could not give a fck about the characters or the story by the second half of the film, and ... that's not a good thing to feel as a viewer. Nothing made sense, nothing mattered. The lines the characters delivered were beautifully written however there was no impact behind the words. There's barely any build up and a whole lot of nothing happening for the longest time.

The only good thing about this film was the background art. The art of the city and the castle were beautifully drawn.

Please just save your time by skipping this film.

I suddenly have heard many things about people who didn't enjoy this movie...and frankly I don't know why :(
I am both an Earthsea and a Ghibli fan, with Ghibli being my favorite movie studio (hayaoi miyazaki my favorite director) and Ursala LeGuin being one of my favorite authors, no-one need say that I expected much from this movie. While it is true that I had not yet got to the fourth book (which this is based off of, those who do not know earthsea) of the series, I enjoyed recognizing the characters and the world.
Naturally, a few thigns were changed, and another few adapted, ... but honestly, I dont think that Goro's father could have done a better job! He was able to capture both the breathtaking atmosphere as well as the bittersweet, and sometimes somewhat terrifying, aspects of Earthsea.
I know, you fans of Ghibli, that Goro used many things that you would expect more in the typical anime film--the slight overuse of blood in the dragon battle, the odd look of the lead antagonist--but really, it was needed.
And for those earthsea fans, yes, yet again Ged looked a bit too western, and the island culture may have been a little different than one have imagined, but goodniess knows I felt Earthsea!
but, even ignoring all of that, the movie was good jsut as a movie! Well acted, well drawn, and coupled with a beautiful fantasy music score.
I dont know about the critics and anime fans who rated this movie before me, but I personally thought it quite a wonderful work, and would gladly watch it quite a few more times, and definatly buy it! :)
Highly reccomended, jsut keep in minds that things chagne when a book is adapted, and jsut be glad the character's are recognizable and that they idnt pull an Ella Enchanted :P

Gedo Senki isn't a horrible movie by any means, certainly not. However, it is severely lacking. Given that this is Goro Miyazaki's first time out it is somewhat understandable how this turns out. The movie is absolutely beautiful to look at....and thats about it. The movie takes much too long to even get near even beginning the plot that by the time it decides to, the plot has to be mashed together haphazardly and nonsensically. What we're left with is that is full of beautiful scenes that ultimately amount to little or nothing. Nice looking but with a weakly executed story.

Tales from Earthsea seemed to me at first like an interesting movie. The DVD was given to me by a friend and the design for the cover very much intrigued me with the beautiful dragon and background. However, I later found out that the movie had been adapted from a series of books and was directed by Goro Miyazaki, not Hayao. Still, I watched it with an open mind and hope for a good film. Sadly, I was let down.

Story: 3/10
The plot of Tales from Earthsea really throws the entire movie down. From the beginning to the last 20 minutes of the movie, ... I had honestly no understanding of the plot, why things happened, or even what was happening. This may be contributed to the fact that I haven't read the books that the film was adapted from, but even so I still should have had a grasp of the happenings. The pacing was messy and confusing, with parts being unexplained until the climax, where the answers came flying all at once. It vexed me very much when it shouldn't have. I note that the movie was mostly focused on the third book of the saga, but it still should have explained most of the setting from the start.

Art: 10/10
You can never go wrong with Ghibli art. For a film originally made in 2001, the animation and background effects were as breathtaking as ever. The character design was a bit plain, but their facial expressions, gestures and the like still pleased me. The world of Earthsea looked magical in my eyes, like a true place from a fairytale, as it should be.

Sound: 9/10
Art and sound go hand in hand when it comes to Ghibli films, so the sounds of Earthsea were almost as good as its art. While the soundtrack didn't pull at my heartstrings enough for me to give it a full 10, the orchestrated music was still amazing. I always love the full sounds of dramatic instruments playing throughout movies to make the scenes more dramatic, and Earthsea does this. The voice acting wasn't too shoddy, though. The actors sounded a little too serious for my tastes, but perhaps it was the personality of the characters that contributed to this.

Character: 6/10
None of the characters in the movie were I barely able to sympathize with. Arren was interesting at first because of his first scene, but his personality confused and scared me. I couldn't understand him and his development was messy but he was somewhat likable. Therru, I thought, could have been developed more. She has a strong personality but her overall impact on the film wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. Sparrowhawk, while noble, was boring and I expected more from the titles he had in the movie. The villain freaked me out and I couldn't hate him or like him because I was confused to what his point was until the very end. All other characters were either neutral to my opinion or played very meager roles. I could barely feel emotion for any of them in the end.

Enjoyment: 5/10
The first three-quarters of the film I was absolutely confused and at times uncomfortable. I really tried to keep a positive mind while watching all the way through and give it a chance, but it didn't happen. The climax gave me a little hope, with the ending leaving me with some satisfaction. Overall enjoyment was average, the same as how I started the movie.

Overall: 6/10
Tales from Earthsea was conducted rather poorly. Judging broadly from the plot, it had the potential to be an interesting movie, but the way it was paced blew the whole the thing out of proportion. I would recommend watching this film with a very open mind and without high expectations.

Having only just finished watching Gedo Senki: Tales from Earthsea which was done by Miyazaki's son I have a few things to say. I am a Ghibli fan, and I was curious as to how Goro Miyazaki would make his first movie.Since I had already read the accompanying book "The Earthsea Trilogy" by Ursala K. Le Guin I expected to be disappointed, but I was curious as to what would disappoint me.

The story takes place some time after certain events in the book, but before the final events. So an audience that's never read the book will never find out why magic is failing, ... why the crops and animals are still dying, etc. Which is interesting because this is brought up in the begging, but then the story drifts off to the main plot. There was a lot more violence, dismemberment, and death in this movie that stood out in the film. It was darker and it did shroud it's characters well. I wasn't sure I liked it.

The movie does touch on some places that show up in the book, and if you did read the book you find out what happened to some characters that just disappeared after their part in the book.

The book's main character, Sparrowhawk, is a supporting character as we follow the boy Arren in the movie. I didn't particularly like this film because it isn't as deep as the other ghibli films I've seen, but the art is really really good.

All in all, the story itself, is definitely something different from what papa miyazaki does, and the characters aren't as easy to love, but if you're open to a different take to story telling then this movie might be one you should see.

SPOILERS (obviously)

Studio Ghibli films is famously directed by Hayao Miyazaki. And for good reason, I mean, he’s amazing in almost every piece of animation he touches. However, in this case, Gedo Senki ,which can be roughly translated to “Tales From Earthsea”, was directed by Hayao’s son: Gorou Miyazaki. For sure, I would say it is as bad as a lot of its viewers make it out but, first of all, I’d like to applaud Gorou’s efforts in his attempt to direct in a way fitting for a Ghibli title. I don’t think he should be put down for not quite reaching his Father’s standard but ... should be celebrated as someone who probably did a better job at directing than most veteran directors in his first try. And yes, this was his first official work as director.

But as bad as Gedo Senki could be, the one thing I felt was preserved, albeit not really built upon as it should’ve been, was the fictitious world that you can obviously tell has a lot going on yet nothing at all. For whatever reason, Gedo Senki is, conceptually, an anecdotal story inside a world of many happenings. This was the crux that should’ve been the selling factor for this entire series but, oddly enough, it hardly felt like they built upon any sort of history. The one thing we got was that humans and dragons lived in harmony as “one”, whatever that means.

I should mention that this was the opening cinematic to the film. Two dragons appear in the middle of the sea; fighting it out and one gets wounded and then the king of Elad gets word that dragons were sighted by a crewship. So, he takes a walk and chats about it with his “Wizard Root”..? Which, I think it is just another way to say “Court Wizard”. We should probably just call him the court wizard. Anyways, that’s the last mention of dragons until, like, almost the very end of the movie. Thankfully or maybe unfortunately, you kind of forget it very quickly because right after this conversation; where they even bring up the fact that the king’s son is missing. His son turns up right behind him and just gives his Daddy a good ol’ shank! They later confirm that the king died from his wound but nobody cares anyways. The son’s name is Arren, except, it isn’t and we’ll get to that.

We’re not really given a thorough explanation of why Arren killed his Father. The whole idea is that he has this split personality but it isn’t very clear if it is a split personality. He just kind of gets really angry randomly and super aggressive. For whatever reason, this doesn’t present itself as a huge problem later on. In fact, the uh… “Ghost” of said personality almost finds solace for some odd reason. It doesn’t exactly explain that either. I am guessing because the “real” Arren started to “care about life” thanks to Therru (Teru, in case you’re wondering how it is pronounced). Except, her name isn’t Therru but we’ll get to that.

Ged, the bloody archmage; the strongest wizard in all the lands runs right into Cob’s trap and finds himself held captive along with his lover, Tenar. They make it pretty clear they have storied history. To shed more light upon the “Arren finds enlightment through Therru” part, they do this sudden cinematic where they’re standing atop a hill near the house Therru and Tenar lives in and as the waves crash against the rocky shore; a dragon, that we later find out is actually Therru, flies above their heads. This is where you’re supposed to remember that this movie opened with hinting at Dragons being a huge story element of some kind; which left me kind of confused for the rest of the movie. Well, more confused than I already was. Cob chokes Therru to death while Arren is hanging from his sword that got stuck inside stone. Except, she doesn’t get choked to death. This is the scene where she slowly stands up, reveals she has a sharingan and also reveals that she’s a dragon. And that’s really all you need to know about that. Granted, I think this was an effective way of giving Therru’s backstory some leverage. We only had words to define what happened between Therru and her Mother but what we didn’t know was that Therru was the dragon in the start of the film and the dragon she was likely battling against was her Mother.

Therru gives Arren a ride back home on her back and completely forgets about Ged and Tenar who end up walking the entire way. Mind you, Tenar had to have Ged lean on her shoulder because Ged was injured. You can probably tell I am super pissed at Therru; the little bitch! Although, somehow, Ged and Tenar get there not long after Therru and Arren do. Which is kind of immersion breaking; I’d imagine a fucking dragon flying is much faster than a middle-aged woman partly carrying a middle-aged man. Yet, they get there almost on par with the speed of a flying dragon. I feel the need to dwell on this more than I should but… eh, fuck it.

That’s really it. They wave goodbye as Ged and Arren set out to travel once again. Tenar and Therru continue to work on the farm and they have no real discourse over the fact that Therru’s a FUCKING dragon bro! Not even a sheer mention of how metal that shit is! But that wraps things up. Thanks for your time… Oh the names! Right. So, like, Arren and Therru have “true names”. Arren’s true name is “Lebannen“ and Therru is “Tehanu“. As you can imagine, it isn’t clear why this is even a thing. Apparently Cob needed him to confess his true name to gain immortality bla bla… Actually, I wanna talk about that scene for a moment. Cob, a random stranger who’s probably gay, let’s be honest, stands bedside to Arren; gives him a drink and tells him “don’t worry it’s not poison”. Arren drinks it. What? Bro… What kind of stupid mental fuckwit do you have to be to actually be that stupid.

Ah, the names! Ok, so… I thought about it for a little while and I conceived it was some sort of ancient law or unspoken rule that dictates that you need to hide your true name and use a replacement name in your regular day-to-day lives. Then, I realized maybe that’s too much of a stretch. But for the life of me, I do not understand this. Ged’s also called “Sparrowhawk” but I think that’s just a nickname. I don’t wanna assume there’s a Mother ,even in fiction, that would name their son “Sparrowhawk”. It is unthinkable. It seems to me that’s a nickname. So, are these the only two people with “true names”? There’s no indication that other beings we’ve seen have true names.

We can safely say that there’s much to be desired in the writing department but it still left me wondering. Right in the corner of my mind; a phrase so devilishly apparent popped in: “I bet it’s better in the manga”. Except, this didn’t feel like anything a Japanese person would make. Gedo Senki had major fantasy western vibes, just by looking at it anyone could tell. I clashed my fingertips against the keys on my keyboard to find that it is a series of American novels written by Ursula K. Le Guin and Gedo Senki was an attempt at adapting parts of the 4 books while, strangely, also including some of The Journey of Shuna, a manga written by Gorou’s Father, Hayao Miyazaki which was published back in 1983. To be clear, it’s mainly mentioning a lot of the story elements, not necessarily a retelling of a story that you might find inside of Le Guin’s series of books. This was to the extent that Ursula felt the need to clarify to Gorou that because the plot is “entirely” different that it is “his” movie and not “her” book. She goes more in-depth in her critique of the film in her blog. An insightful read, might I add. LINK: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GedoSenkiResponse.html

As proud as I am of Gorou Miyazaki’s direction and neat depictions of the creatures and landscape of Earthsea; I would’ve liked to see him do smaller, less challenging films for Studio Ghibli before Hayao let him take this up. The context, of course, was that Hayao was thinking about retirement at the time. But given that Gorou doesn’t seem interested in following in his Father’s footsteps in the animation world, I wonder if this was an attempt by Hayao to motivate his son.