Tales From Earthsea

 

 

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"Tales from Earthsea" is a Miyazaki movie. Just not THE Miyazaki.

No, this extremely loose adaptation of Ursula le Guin's Earthsea series is directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki. And it has the earmarks of a promising first effort -- the visuals are hauntingly lovely, the dialogue is sometimes beautiful, and there's raw passion in its making. But honestly, the story is often confusing.

The archmage Sparrowhawk encounters a young boy named Prince Arren in the desert, and takes him under his wing. Arren is on the run from his own kingdom after committing a horrible crime, and Sparrowhawk is out to find out why magic seems to be draining out of the world, and darkness is creeping into people's hearts.

After some misadventures with slavers, they make their way to Sparrowhawk's friend/love interest Tenar, and her adopted daughter Therru. Unfortunately, the malevolent mage Cob has learned of Sparrowhawk's presence nearby, and plans to use Arren in his quest for eternal life and revenge againt Sparrowhawk... unless Therru can help her friend come to terms with his inner darkness.

For the record, "Tales From Earthsea" is just a stunning movie visually -- ivy-draped cities, azure seaports, dark looming castles against twilight skies, and long sweeping green fields dotted with trees in the morning sun. There's a genuine sense of magic and mystery to this world, and you can really feel the passion that Miyazaki had for his story.

However, the story itself is kind of mixed. The dialogue is strong and often hauntingly powerful ("But only to men is it given to know that we must die, and that is a precious gift"), and the story has some scenes that are . But the narrative is often confusing -- the murky cosmology, undeveloped backstory (what are the tombs of Atuan?), and the whole subplot about Arren is just befuddling.

Most of the story's character development centers on Arren. He seems like a nice polite young boy, but from his very first shocking scene we see that darkness and despair are slowly consuming him. Miyazaki crafts a solid father/son relationship between Arren and Sparrowhawk, and the archmage is also a powerful character -- understanding, forgiving, and universally kind.

Miyazaki also spins up a solid bond between Sparrowhawk and his old friend Tenar, who have the comfortable feel of an old married couple. Therru is flawed, though -- she's not really fleshed out much, and she does something near the movie's end that left me scratching my head. It wasn't really foreshadowed or hinted at -- it just happens.

As for the villain Cob... uh, he seems like just a pallid effeminate villain at first, but he gets progressively creepier as we see more of him. Example: the scene where he slips Arren a roofie to get his true name. That was... disturbing.

Goro Miyazaki isn't the master that his father is, but there is still plenty of power, beauty and promise in his movie debut, "Tales From Earthsea." It's kind of confusing (especially if you've never read the books), but a worthy anime.

My expectations were high for this one waiting over 2 years for this movie and I was let down hard. This was Goro Miyazaki's first movie, I get that. However for this kind of movie I don't think he should have taken this on.

The movies pacing is so bad. It runs so slow for 3/4 of the movie and when it get's to the climax your so bored it's not what you expect. Don't get me wrong the movie is good but far from one of the best Ghibli movie out there. The American voice cast was well done and I like them a lot. I really did want to enjoy this movie and I was really looking forward to it. I had heard some bad press but didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I can say this is a rental at best.

Sadly, Studio Ghibli did not live up to its highest standards with this interpretation of Ursula K. LeGuin's incredible Earthsea books. Mashing together events, characters, and ideas from the 3rd and 4rth book, the tale would be much better if it wasn't so... darn... slow... at too many points. Hopefully Goro Miyazaki can learn to evoke quiet and the passage of time while not boring the audience. His father learned to do this admirably.
My other main complaint is the poaching of the visual design of certain events and characters from other Studio Ghibli creations. Watch the movie and you will see.
I was really excited to get this movie, and am still glad to have it, as I am a LeGuin completist and a big fan of Miyazaki senior and Studio Ghibli. Just don't put your expectations really high for this particular movie.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of character, not enough magic
I started watching this with very high expectations as I am a fan of Ursula K. Le Guin's books and a huge fan of Princess Mononoke and Stubio Ghibli's work in general. Read more

Published 14 months ago by S.J. Wist

3.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing for this Le Guin fan
I try to allow for "artistic license" ( I enjoy the Narnia movies) but I am a huge fan of the Earthsea books and I could not get by the near total abandonment of the original... Read more

Published 14 months ago by jadedGamer

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