Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki) is a 2006 Japanese animated fantasy film
directed by Gorō Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli.
In the land of Earthsea, crops are failing and livestock dying. Two dragons
appear from the storm clouds and devour each other – an omen of impending
disaster. The balance of the world is in peril of tearing apart.
In his search for the cause of this encroaching catastrophe, the Archmage
Ged, the greatest of wizards, meets Arren, exiled Prince of Enlad, in flight
from a nameless Shadow. They journey through ruined landscapes to Hort Town –
a city where blank citizens deal only in fake goods, slaves are traded and
addicts wander the dangerous streets – and cross paths with Therru, an orphan
girl with a fire-scarred face.
Ged learns that the wizard Cob, in his search for eternal life, is preparing
to open the door between the realms of the living and the dead. An old and
defeated adversary, Cob has sworn to take terrible revenge on Ged.
From the Studio Ghibli Collection.
Special Features:
- Storyboards
- The birth story of the film soundtrack
- NTV special
- Behind the microphone
- TV spots
- Trailers
Tales From Earthsea Movie Review
By EyeforFilm.co.uk
"Like the storm-tossed ship with which it opens, Tales From Earthsea has
had to face some rather rough waters since its launch. Critics the world over
have allowed it to be overwhelmed by comparisons both to the novels that
inspired it, and to the works of its director's celebrated father, Hayao
Miyazaki. Taken on its own terms, however, Tales From Earthsea is a seaworthy
effort, both as an impressive debut from someone who has never previously worked
in animation, and as a fine (if somewhat bewildering) piece of synoptic
adaptation.
Comprising a trilogy of novels (The Wizard Of Earthsea, The Tombs Of
Atuan, The Farthest Shore) and numerous related short stories, Ursula K Le
Guin's Earthsea series takes its place alongside JRR Tolkien's stories of
Middle Earth and CS Lewis' Narnia chronicles as one of the most cherished
fantasy myths of the 20th century. Miyazaki Senior has long been a devotee of Le
Guin, and claims to have copies of her books permanently at his bedside. His
Nausicaa: Valley Of The Winds (1984) was made as a result of his failure to
secure the rights to adapt her works, and he is on record as stating that all
his subsequent films are thoroughly imbued with the ideology found in her
writings. The worlds of Le Guin and Ghibli, it seems, have long been intimately
connected.
After viewing Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Le Guin came to the
conclusion that Hayao Miyazaki was the right man after all to direct an animated
version of her fantasy. Hayao, however, felt that he was now too old to take on
such a task, and sought her permission for someone younger from his studio to
helm the feature. It was only when Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki settled on
Hayao's untested son Goro for the job that Hayao's enthusiasm waned, and he
withdrew from the project entirely (even breaking off communications with Goro).
Invidious comparisons between the work of father and son had now become
inevitable – so much so that Goro chose bravely to encode such Oedipal
conflict in the very fabric of the film, introducing his hero Arren as an
inexperienced young prince compelled by forces he does not himself comprehend to
murder his own father.
Thereafter, Arren flees the kingdom of Enlad and his own dark self, only
to find himself torn by two very different substitute fathers, the modest
Archmage Sparrowhawk and the immortality-seeking Lord Cob. The struggle between
these two men, and Arren's own inner conflict, are both symptom and cure for a
world plagued by ills – a world whose balance will eventually be restored as
surely as long, dark night is followed by sunrise.
Le Guin fanatics have lined up to deride Goro and his co-writer Keiko
Niwa for the liberties taken with their beloved texts – but, in truth, both
the film's generalising title, and its claim in the closing credits to have
been inspired by ‘the Earthsea series’ (as well as by a story of his
father's, ‘Shuna's Journey’), seem an open acknowledgement that
Goro's allegiances are to the spirit rather than to the letter of Le
Guin's oeuvre. This is no literal adaptation, no overfaithful, overlong epic
like Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but instead a feature-length
cross-section of Earthsea. Arren's adventures with Sparrowhawk are drawn
largely (if not slavishly) from The Farthest Shore, but Arren's nightmarish
encounters with his own shadow are closer to Sparrowhawk's experiences in The
Wizard Of Earthsea, and Lord Cob's dungeons are said explicitly to be “like
the Tombs Of Atuan”.
Goro's Earthsea, you see, is a composite rather than a copy, and the
better for it. If you want the ‘real’ Earthsea, read the books – but if
you want a dragon's eye view of Le Guin's universe, from the luminous riches
of Enlad to the worldly decadence of Hort Town, from tempestuous sea to
windswept countryside, from cottage to castle, all rendered in the Ghibli house
style with an exquisite attention to detail, and presented in a digestible
package coming in at under two hours, then Tales From Earthsea is a dream come
true. And in the true spirit of Studio Ghibli's finest works, Tales From
Earthsea offers an allegorical critique of our own consumerist society (a world
out of balance indeed), and also arrives with its fair share of irrationalities
and loose ends, ensuring that multiple viewings will be rewarded.
Is Goro a match for his father? Well, no, not yet. The characters here
are decidedly flat (although the epicene Cob makes for a winningly louche
villain), and a little humour would have brought them some much-needed
warmth – even if the story's great earnestness is in itself a commendable
rarity. Still, these are early days, and Goro has many decades yet to take over
Hayao's mantle – or indeed to forge his own path. The talent is certainly
there, if not fully formed, and one suspects that with time Goro will, like
Arren, prove worthy to wield his father's sword and to continue his
father's bid for immortality. In the meantime, Tales From Earthsea is an
estimable enough start to what should be a long career in the magical art of
animation." 3.5 out of 5 stars