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Mar 06 – Anime - Posted By Adam
Tales from Earthsea Review - Ghibli Gone Bad
It's not often that we review anime DVD releases but Tales from Earthsea seemed destined for an exception:
(1) It's the first film directed by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki's son. Famously, Goro made this movie against his father's wishes. (We wish he would have listened to his old man...)
(2) It's by Studio Ghibli, so it has that Ghibli art style we've all grown to love.
(3) It's a Disney release, so the DVD production quality is first-rate.
Unfortunately a famous last name, famous voice actors, and a famous art style do not a good anime make. Tales from Earthsea is an overlong mess of a movie.
There's a young male hero. Except he's not so much of a hero since he kills his noble father to start the story. This might have made for an interesting twist in a better movie, but there's literally no motivation for the deed so we're left rooting for a patricidal maniac.
There's a magic sword that the hero spends the entire film trying to unsheathe. But why bother? Even holstered the sword is already stronger than any other weapon it encounters. And when against all odds it's finally unsheathed--well, let's just say the result is utterly anticlimactic.
There's an "archmage" who is the most powerful wizard in all the land. Except he's not. In any scene where having such a title would matter, he does nothing, often waiting for someone else to save the day. Sure, narrative excuses abound: "You entered my castle so your powers are worthless here!" but strangely such excuses don't apply to any of the other characters.
There's a little girl and her adopted mom. They both have something to do with magic, but it's vague. Somehow they maintain a huge farm by themselves, even though the mom also runs a potion-selling business (which involves giving magic potions away for free to ungrateful customers).
There's a villain who not only looks exactly like Orochimaru, but I'm pretty sure IS Orochimaru. Seriously, he's even obsessed with brooding boys and is pursuing eternal life. Take a look:
There are dragons. I don't understand why there are dragons since their presence is closer to a cameo than a plot point, but I guess dragons are cool...?
There are cliches at every turn. It's bad enough that the movie is filled with Eastern anime cliches, but it's also ripe with Western fantasy cliches. See: eye scars, knowing the "name" of things, imbecile generals, being lured by the dark side, etc., etc., etc.
The movie is tedious. It runs at almost two hours, which is maddening because you'd think they'd actually use some of that length to explain some of the gaping plot holes.
...And the art, despite the Ghibli pedigree, lacks any sort of "wow" factor or charm.
I know that curiosity will propel a lot of you to want to see Tales from Earthsea. Please resist, the movie is just bad, in every way that a movie can be bad. I wish Goro Miyazaki the best of luck for future projects, and I hope that being around Studio Ghibli veterans will help foster his creative growth, but for now...ugh.
