Gedo senki (2006)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Goro Miyazaki

Writers:

Ursula K. Le Guin (novel)
Goro Miyazaki (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 July 2010 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange...

Plot Keywords:

Dragon | Asian | Earthsea | Anime | Based On Novel

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Junichi Okada	...	Arren (voice)
Aoi Teshima	...	Theru (voice)
Bunta Sugawara	...	Haitaka (voice)
Yûko Tanaka	...	Cob (voice)
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Hare (voice)
Jun Fubuki	...	Tenar (voice)
Takashi Naitô	...	Hazia dealer (voice)
Mitsuko Baisho	...	The Mistress (voice)
Yui Natsukawa	...	The Queen (voice)
Kaoru Kobayashi	...	The King (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeff Bennett	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Susanne Blakeslee	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Suzanne Blakeslee)
Kathryn Cressida	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Kat Cressida)
Willem Dafoe	...	Cob (voice: English version)
Timothy Dalton	...	Ged / Sparrowhawk (voice: English version)
Pat Fraley	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jessica Gee	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Jessica Gee-George)
Brian George	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Grant George	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Mariska Hargitay	...	Tenar (voice: English version)
Jess Harnell	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Steve Kramer	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Matt Levin	...	Prince Arren (voice: English version)
David Lodge	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tress MacNeille	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Cheech Marin	...	Hare (voice: English version)
Liam O'Brien	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tara Platt	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Blaire Restaneo	...	Therru (voice: English version)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Mark Silverman	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Terrence Stone	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Karen Strassman	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Russi Taylor	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

Tales from Earthsea (International: English title)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Italy:T | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:12 | UK:PG | Ireland:12A | Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:6 | Finland:K-11 | South Korea:All | Sweden:11

Company:

Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Trivia:

Initially, "Earthsea" author Ursula K. Le Guin wanted Hayao Miyazaki to direct the film. At the time, however, the elder Miyazaki was tied up working on Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004), and thus could not come on board at the right time. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to make the film, Miyazaki's son Goro Miyazaki stepped up to the plate and decided to make this his first film.

Quotes:

Theru: You think your life belongs to you? Tenar gave me life. That's why i have to live, to give life to someone else. Lebannen... that's the only way we live forever.

Movie Connections:

Version of Earthsea (2004) (TV)

A wonderful vision, if not a faithful adaptation

I am a great fan of the LeGuin books, and when I learned that Studio Ghibli was going to be involved in making of the film I eagerly looked forward to its release. I hoped it would make up for the awful SciFi Channel-aired film. The good news in this outing is, there is genuine respect for the source material, even if it is not done genuine honor.

The plot of the film is an amalgamation of elements of several of the Earthsea books, creating a new villain and having characters interact that indeed barely met in the books. While I could not help but feel disappointed by these changes, the film is still visually enjoyable to behold. It does not compare as favorably to Howl's Moving Castle, a story drastically altered from its own source material that still manages to stand on its own as a story.

I could not help but think, as I watched the character Arren develop, why? Why, when there is such wonderful source material, that his introduction came across so muddled and poorly reasoned. I viewed the film with someone who had never read the books, and she really enjoyed it. Despite the film's shortcomings, you generally care for the cast by the end.