DISNEY - TALES FROM EARTHSEA(2006)
Welp, another one of those movies that I had to
watch a second time to really get a feel for it!
This is a very good movie, albeit rather long! But
if given a chance it will work its way into your
heart! A
From a reviewer at IMDb.com
Having never read the Earthsea books, I can only offer an
opinion on the movie on its own, and I regret to say that it's
a dud. Previous Ghibli movies that I have seen and loved
have been incredible and original fantasies that capture
the imagination. The story, characters, and animation work
together to evoke a sense of fascinated wonder at this window
into a bizarre and fascinating world. But, nothing like that
happened while viewing this film. Instead, I saw a few generic
high fantasy characters stumbling through a generic fantasy
land in a seemingly disconnected series of fights. I'm sorry,
but using exotic names for a setting does not excuse the script
writers of actually writing a story. The wandering wizard, the
corrupted sorcerer, and the fallen prince are all classic archetypes
which are simply not used effectively at all. I cannot comment
on the quality of the novels from which this movie is derived,
but I can only say that the script utterly fails at delivering the
intended sense of the epic. I don't care whose son directed this
film: it's simply not compelling. The animation is of good quality,
of course, but the bland script and uninspired philosophy simply
make this dull to watch. I cannot recommend this film. - psamathos