(no spoilers)

I'm embarrassed for Goro Miyazaki. This is less a stumble, and more a tumble down a flight of stairs. Preachy, cliched narrative delivered from characters who are much the same in a film that's needlessly padded out and feels lethargic for it. It's not like his father's movies never had their messages, but Goro's utter failure to comprehend the notion of subtlety practically screams "Do pay attention to the man behind the curtain!" Up its own butt, Tales From Earthsea is the laziest form of moralizing dressed up in threadbare, cobbled together narrative elements drawn from fantasy 101 while Emperor Miyazaki believes it wears but the finest silks. Tales from Earthsea is pathetic.

While Ghibli's trademark watercolor landscapes are on full display, the animation, while decent, lacks typical Ghibli panache. Music and seiyuu alike fail to stand out, seeming bland, if not a bit stale. The plot is such bogstandard "good vs evil" I can only picture Goro's father heaving a sigh. My goodness, Cruella de Vil had more nuance than Cob. Throw in halfbaked elements that go nowhere (for example, the darkness, "true names," etc.), boggling directorial miscues (for example, an extended lingering on ships in a harbor that never winds up paying off) and a two-hour runtime for an, at best, one-hour narrative and you're putting together the pieces of a terrible film.

Goro Miyazaki, I've seen both of the films you've directed now, and I have zero confidence in you to direct a third. Ghibli certainly needs someone who can keep the ship afloat once your father retires/dies, but with you at the helm it'd be as good as sunk. You do incredibly sloppy work. Whoever takes over need not necessarily be able to make the next Totoro, but they certainly shouldn't be someone who'll make the next Tales from Earthsea. Saved from a 1 by virtue of its art and animation. I assure you, precious little else exists to salvage this wreck.
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