ANIME

MOVIE REVIEW . Tales from Earthsea

Long ago, dragons and humans lived in harmony. Then the desire for material wealth led the humans to inhabit the earth and sea, and the dragons stuck with fire and air. This is the backdrop for the newest feature from Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies), Tales From Earthsea, a sword and sorcery epic that despite its flaws, burns with a quiet and resonant power.

As with Howl’s Moving Castle and many other recent Ghibli movies, Tales From Earthsea is based on non-Japanese source material (from the Earthsea fantasy novel series by Ursula K. Le Guin) and it retains a very European flavor which is accented by the Celtic-inspired score (reminiscent of the Lord of The Rings movies). The usual Ghibli trademarks are here: great animation and art, emphasis on magical and spectacular events, and strong female characters.

The film follows the paths of many characters who don’t fit into society: a wandering sorcerer, a troubled prince on the run, and a tortured young girl who mostly keeps to herself. The characters spend a lot of time pontificating on what life means to them, and how magic fits in with that. In the world of Earthsea, the practice of magic is all based on whether or not you know an object’s “True Name”. When you have that information, you can control anything. The early part of the film sets up a confrontation with one of the most powerful and few remaining sorcerers in a classic battle between good and evil over what is truly important.

The pacing at the beginning of the movie is rather slow and reinforces that this is not the Ghibli movie to wean your kids or your little cousin on — start them off with Kiki’s Delivery Service. There are lots of quiet, beautiful moments that showcase the art and animation and give you time to appreciate the beauty of the settings. The extremely detailed and colorful backgrounds really stood out. I was constantly wowed by how beautiful it was.

Upon first viewing, I can’t say that it is my favorite of the Ghibli movies (that would probably be Spirited Away as I think Castle of Cagliostro was too early), but it will no doubt win over fans. I am torn between feeling like the story has a charming amount of inexplicable mystery to it and feeling like there are just things that don’t make a lot of sense and aren’t really explained. I felt like I had to piece together what happened at the end of the movie and make some guesses as to why things happened, but maybe that was the point. It did have a nice message, but the somewhat jumbled way that it was presented might have dampened the impact of it.

Tales is the first feature by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaa, My Neighbor Totoro), so he might be experiencing a bit of a learning curve. It is not clear if Goro will end up directing films that will stand up with his legendary father, but I am excited to see what he comes up with next, regardless of the failings of this film.

I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles and there is still something strange about watching a movie where the characters are all look Caucasian yet they are all speaking Japanese…

About the Author:

Gregory Masaki Jenkins is a busy musician who happens to work in an office 40 hours a week. He is lucky that Chris is so busy, otherwise he wouldn’t get to review any of the cool movies for dreamlogic.net..he’d be stuck with Daddy Day Camp or Phat Girlz