Tales From Earthsea (7 out of 10) – Directed by Goro Miyazaki; Written by Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa; Story concept by Hayao Miyazaki; Based on the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin; English Language version starring Timothy Dalton, Cheech Marin, Willem Dafoe; Rated PG-13 for some violent images; 115 minutes.
I am not familiar with the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin, and by some accounts neither was director Goro Miyazaki, but that’s not a debate I will wade into. Instead, I’ll talk about what I loved about this film and what I felt let down by.
We’re introduced to a story that feels as though it’s going to be a major fantasy epic, but when the king is murdered inexplicably by his son, the film narrows its focus to the emotional journey of the boy, Prince Arren, voiced by Matt Levin. He’s accompanied on much of this journey by Sparrowhawk, played beautifully by Timothy Dalton. Sparrowhawk is an archmage and acts very much as the venerable, old sword master in classic mythology tropes. While Arren is learning to forgive himself for what he’s done, there’s another plot by an evil magician of some sort named Cobb (voiced by Willem Dafoe) has a plot to gain immortality at the cost of the world.
The movie is gorgeous to look at, but it can, at times be incoherent. The story seems to take place in the silences and breathtaking landscapes between action sequences, and the silence seems to say as much as the dialogue itself. The world is richly characterized and instantly reminded me of something that Patrick Rothfuss might have used as inspiration for his Kingkiller Chronicle (namely the names of things and the city of Tarbean.)
Arren’s journey is a fascinating one and beautifully animated, if not slightly muddled. Afterward, my children were left searching for meaning in the film, though it was wonderful to look at.
It’s something that I feel like I want to go back and watch again, to see if there was something I missed, because it seemed to have all of the right ingredients. This was Goro Miyazaki’s first film and it would be easy to chalk these mistakes up to his lack of experience, but I got the distinct impression after the credits began that it was I who missed something, rather than something the film was missing.
The English language dub is great, if not stereotypical in spots. Cheech Marin was totally serviceable in the role of Hare, but he sounded just like every other character he’s every played in animation. At times I heard him as Tito, at other times he came across as Ed the Hyena and was the only voice who drew me out of the film. Dafoe, on the other hand, was hypnotically mesmerizing to listen to, especially when his voice is coming out of the bizarre and androgynous Cobb.
The standout for me, however, was Timothy Dalton. I was instantly drawn into his character through the characterizations he provided and wanted an entire film based on him. In fact, he fits the role so well, I’d love to see him playing the part in a live action version of the story.
At first viewing, I’ll be naming this film a 7 out of 10, for beautiful images, rich animation, fascinating characters, but a story that seemed all over the map.
“Tales From Earthsea” is newly out on Blu-ray and available now.