Tales from Earthsea

Tales from Earthsea is a studio Ghibli film released by the son of legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, Goro Miyazaki. Hayao has made several animated masterpieces such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Hayao originally wanted to make this into a movie, but was not given the rights, so he made Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Eventually the author did give her approval, but Hayao was busy making Howl's Moving Castle so his son took over. This film has been picked up and dubbed in English and is set to have a limited theatrical release from Disney on August 13th in the states.

As many of you that know my taste in films probably already know, I am a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan. Every movie of his that I have seen has been great, so I was excited to see what his son could do. Goro Miyazaki is making his debut in film under a gigantic looming shadow, and as a result everything he makes will be scrutinized and compared against a filmmaker who has already proven himself a master -- pretty daunting if you ask me.

Tales from Earthsea follows a young prince named Arren who stabs his father, steals his sword, and fleas the castle in the beginning of the film. Before the King's death, his wizard explains the story of the dragons and man which essentially tells that dragons and men were once the same, but men chose possessions, land, and sea, and dragons chose freedom, wind, and fire. 

The first scene of the movie shows two dragons fighting to the death, which shows problems with "the balance" which is expanded upon throughout the film. These problems with the balance (which is also causing drought and famine among other things) lead the archmage Sparrowhawk to search for the cause. During his search he runs into Arren, and the pair spend most of the rest of the movie travelling together and unraveling the mystery of what is causing the plight.

The movie as a whole is pretty solid, not Hayao solid, but solid nonetheless. A few flaws can be seen as the movie tries too pull too much together (too much story into one movie) and tends to leave some of the stories at basically a dead end including the backstory of a character named Tenar, whom Sparrowhawk knew prior to the time the movie takes place. On the other hand, the animation, dubbing (I watched it in English), and soundtrack are excellent as to be expected from any Studio Ghibli release.

The movie could have excluded some aspects of the book that were merely shown, but not expanded upon, but overall this film is good and very enjoyable for all ages (it is somewhat graphic for young children however, which landed it a PG-13 rating). If you like Studio Ghibli films in general, you'll like this one.

Grade: B-