Tales from Earthsea
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Tales from Earthsea is the first feature film for Goro Miyazaki, the son of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away). It is based on the third book of the Earthsea series, by Ursula K. Le Guin. Unfortunately Goro doesn't share his father's flair for design, humour or any of the charming elements which make his films so special.
The movie takes place in the world of Earthsea, where Prince Arren suffers from evil forces taking over his body, which compel him to kill his own father. He flees the scene and starts trekking the countryside, meeting Sparrowhawk, the most powerful wizard in the land on a quest to find out why the balance in the world is so misaligned. The pair travel together to the picturesque Hort Town, where they run into henchman of the evil wizard Cob, who is the source of Earthsea's troubles and who needs to capture Arren to complete his goal of eternal youth.
As you can see it's a fairly typical, solid Studio Ghibli affair plot-wise. However, very uncharacteristically the movie stumbles in the animation. Goro just doesn't have the attention to detail that Hayao does and the film comes off looking like a fairly generic, bland anime. The fact that his movie was adapted from only one novel in a series of six sees an overload of clunky, explanatory dialogue in the early stages of the film. When you couple this with the uncharismatic characters you don't really have much to keep you compelled. However, the final battle between Arrenand Cob made up for some of the movie's shortcomings, full of the elements which make Hayao's work so celebrated. Unfortunately, this comes as too little too late.
Ultimately, however it is a Studio Ghibli film, and as such it's still quite enjoyable and it should prove quite a popular movie for families.
3/5 stars
Wyatt Lawton-Masi
