Tales from Earthsea (2006)

In a mythical land, a man and a young boy investigate a series of unusual occurrences.

Director:

Gorô Miyazaki

Writers:

Ursula K. Le Guin (novel), Gorô Miyazaki (screenplay)

Stars:

Timothy Dalton, Willem Dafoe, Mariska Hargitay

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jun'ichi 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 Baishô	...	The Mistress (voice)
Yui Natsukawa	...	The Queen (voice)
Kaoru Kobayashi	...	The King (voice)
Timothy Dalton	...	Ged / Sparrowhawk (voice)
Willem Dafoe	...	Cob (voice)
Matt Levin	...	Prince Arren (voice)
Cheech Marin	...	Hare (voice)
Mariska Hargitay	...	Tenar (voice)

Storyline

Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged.

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Plot Keywords:

studio ghibli | three word title | based on a novel | dragon | directorial debut | 

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Taglines:

Once humans and dragons were one. Then, humans chose land and sea, and dragon chose wind and fire. [Japanese release]

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violent images

Did You Know?

Trivia

Studio Ghibli's only film to be Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes (Standing at a 41%).

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Quotes

Haitaka: Listen to me, Aaren: everything you see under the sun and stars owes its very existence to the balance: the wind and seas, the powers of earth and light, all these do is well and rightly done within the equilibrium. But now, men hold the power to control the world. Men must learn to do what leaf and whale and wind do naturally. It is for us to keep the balance. Everything that exists has its true name. The power of magic is nothing more than the power to command based on the knowledge of a ...

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Connections

Featured in JesuOtaku Anime Reviews: Tales from Earthsea (2012)

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Soundtracks

Therru's Song
Lyrics by Gorô Miyazaki and music by Hiroko Taniyama
Performed by Aoi Teshima
Lyrics inspired by "Kokomo", a poem by Sakutaro Hagiwara

User Reviews

Disappointing schematic jumble

I am a fan of both Ursula K. Le Guin's books, and Studio Ghibli's animation. I've read all of the Earthsea books, and I've seen most of Miyazaki's work, some of the movies dozens of times. I was putting off watching this adaptation, having read Le Guin's review of it, but I finally saw it and I am sorely disappointed. First of all, why are all the characters white? In the books, the peoples of most of the islands are dark-skinned (light brown to pretty dark), with the exception of the inhabitants of the Kargad lands, who are white. Notably, Tenar comes from Kargad and her white skin is the main reason why she is distrusted by the people in the village she lives in - in this adaptation, everybody is white, and so the women's dislike of Tenar was completely unmotivated, so they made her into a witch. The adaptation mixes together three different books, and rewrites all of the characters so that they are not complete and are unmotivated. If this was an adaptation of Lord of the Rings, it would be about the journey of a village of Hobbit-Elves in a fleet of ships to fight Sauron and his army of intelligent spiders. It is impossible for me to realize how anyone would be able to follow this movie without having read the books, and I myself was only able to figure out what I am supposed to think about why the characters in the movie did what they did because I recalled the original character and mentally "added" the aspects that the creators of the adaptation simplified, changed and botched. The characters are unrealistic and announce their lines with little motivation (as in you don't know why they're saying something and what it's supposed to mean), and not only they, but most of the elements of the plot and the world are unmotivated, like the people who made the movie introduced them but then forgot that they were supposed to make sense. One example is the very first scene of the movie, with two dragons fighting. Why are all those people so surprised when they see the dragons and when they fight? The books weave the world of Earthsea into one internally coherent and motivated whole, but in this movie all we get are like section titles on the index page. The main plot theme of the movie, of the wizards losing their powers, as well as the other main themes of dragons, the Equilibrium, the abuse and disregard of women from certain characters, Jungian shadows, and the story of Therru, are completely unexplained and just presented in a way that makes them pretty pictures but not a masterful story like in the Earthsea books. Even the typically gorgeous animation and artistic quality are in my view one of the worst in Ghibli's roster (apart from the beautiful backgrounds). The only thing that stands out is the Japanese voice-acting, which is top-notch, with Yuuko Tanaka's Cob the most masterful performance (although I had to get used to a female voice on that character), and Aoi Teshima's Therru also standing out. The score is also pleasant to the ear, as always in a Ghibli production. All in all, it's a hunge, washed-down, simplistic disappointment. Please do not ever watch it if you have not read the first four Earthsea books, even if you're not planning to read them - you may wind up with the whole set after a plane crash on a desert island one day, and then what you see in your mind will be sullied by having watched this adaptation.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

29 July 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Tales from Earthsea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,614, 15 August 2010

Gross USA:

$48,658

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,673,762

Company Credits

Production Co:

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, DENTSU Music And Entertainment, GNDHDDT

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1