Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

richjc Tales from Earthsea is a film directed by Goro Miyazaki based on a book series by Ursula K. Le Guin and is about Arren who has run away from home after killing his father and stealing his sword. Arren soon runs into a man called Haitaka (Sparrowhawk) and they travel together and get themselves into trouble when they arrive at Hort Town.Now the reason that my description may have sounded vague is because, in truth, I have no idea what this movie was actually about. In the beginning they tell you that there is something strange happening, that livestock is dying and dragons are fighting and that something very ominous is taking place, but this ends up having nothing to do with the plot of the movie. Speaking of the plot, the movie, it doesn't make any sense there are a few things that happen in the movie that are never explained but definitely needed it. Besides it not making any sense it's just plain boring. Part of the reason for that is due to the poorly written characters which I cared nothing about. I'd say that the worst character in the entire film is the lead Arren. They put forth little to no effort in allowing the audience to understand or relate to him. I'd say the character they fleshed out the most was probably Theru, a young girl they meet about a quarter of the way through. They give her a backstory that helps you to understand why she acts the way she does but even she is still very flawed.On to the positives. This movie although not one of Ghibli's best looking films, has pretty great animation I'd say, except for the dragons which I thought looked to CGI heavy for a hand drawn animated feature (compare to Haku from Spirited Away). Another positive is the Score, which is very repetitive but, was well done and showed influences from Aladdin and other adventure movies such as Lawrence of Arabia.I thought that this movie would have benefited from an exploration of it's setting. Considering that it's a fantasy adventure movie they hardly go anywhere and the few fantasy elements there are, are hardly seen or even mentioned. For example this world has wizards and dragons but only at the very beginning and the end do you actually get to see any magic or dragons. In the end I think that compared to Ghibli's other work and especially to that of his father, Goro Miyazaki's Tales from Earthsea was a disappointment to say the least.

Alyssa Black (Aly200) While I have not watched the film in its native Japanese dialogue, only in the English dubbing, the outcome would probably be the same. Not a bad anime film by any means, but not exactly one of the greatest either.The story follows runaway prince Arren (voiced in the English dub by Matt Levine), as he flees his homeland after killing his father (why? I still don't know...) and meets up with the wise and kind wizard, Sparrowhawk (Timothy Dalton). The two journey to a farm run by an old friend of the wizard, Tenar (Mariska Hargitay) and her ward, Therrau (Blaire Restaneo). Things soon become complicated for the four when the evil dark wizard, Cob (voiced by a deliciously evil Willem Dafoe in the English dub), seeks to control all of Earthsea and become an immortal. It falls upon the two young characters of Arren and Therrau to rescue their mentors and stop the dark wizard's plan.As far the voice cast goes, the results are a mixed bag. The younger actors, Levine and Restaneo, are relatively irritating at times as they act childishly and aren't overtly compelling. There are redeeming moments for them at the end of the film as their maturity is brought out to give some growth to the characters. Actors Dalton and Hargitay are both satisfactory as their caring guardians. Dalton brings a wisdom and understanding to Sparrowhawk and is vulnerable to an extent while Hargitay's Tenar is kind, but brave when faced with danger and also headstrong but above the damsel in distress cliché. The film's best English dubbing comes from the wickedly sinister Willem Dafoe as the villain, Cob. Dafoe is known for his trademark low and gravely voice which he uses to perfection as Cob; mostly barely audible in more than a whisper but at times lifting the octave to a quick snarl before slipping back into his soft-spoken wickedness. The actor delivers his lines almost like a snake, putting us into a trance as each word slips out with a soft and almost off-putting hiss. The film's visuals are mostly subpar for a Studio Ghibli feature. The dragons in the film are impressive and the landscapes are pretty to look at. The characters are drawn quite vividly and are expressive during certain dialogue exchanges, but aren't nearly as animated as most anime features.

K B *I watched the English dubbed version of this so some aspects of this review might not apply to the original* I watched this thinking it was a Hayao Miyazaki film. Only after watching it I noticed it was his son's work, Goro.Unfortunately this is no Hayao work in any respect. The best term I can use to describe it is "flat". Really, from characters to settings, to plot, even colors, drawing quality or music score, this is a pale reflection of works like princess Mononoke or Nausica and Spirited Away. Why a famed studio chose to release such an unworked movie and a bad adaptation of a famous fantasy novel is beyond me. The film did a very poor job in capturing my attention, and it managed to extract very little sympathy for the characters and their adversities. Much of the plot seems naive at best and many supposedly sentimental scenes centered on inner conflict made me yawn. During the very lengthy song scene I had my eyes closed because there was nothing interesting to watch. The degree of elaboration and overall style in graphics reminded me of a very old Hayao Miyazaki's work for TV, Heidi done in 1974, not a very favorable similarity by today's standards. In all, this film fails to create an inhabited universe that the spectator will feel intrigued to explore or a credible plot that they may follow. It is watchable, and perhaps moderately entertaining but utterly forgettable. Too bad, another missed chance for great literature to find good representation on the big screen. If magic ever filled this world, it had disappeared long before Goro Miyazaki decided to depict it.This is what the author thinks about the film, very enlightening: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GedoSenkiResponse.html

Alexient I have never read Le Guins novels so I don't know if it was portrayed good or bad. I have avoided to watch this movie for a long time. I am a big fan of Studio Ghibli but my friends have told me that this was terrible and not worth 2 hours of my life. I watched the trailer for Tales from Earthsea and the animation looked beautiful, just like every other Studio Ghibli movie. Also set in the middle ages with dragons? Sounds epic! I have seen from up on poppy hill which also was directed by Goro Miyazaki and I thought it was pretty good so how bad could this one be? When I started the movie I tried to think positive but wow, it was way too long for its simple plot. Also there is not a single character I cared for which I usually do in Studio Ghibli films. I am not going to spoil anything but I would avoid this one if you are A. Not a die-hard Ghibli fan or B. Not a die-hard animation fan. The setting is great, the animation is great, the music is good but the story and character falls completely flat. Also there are some terrifying scenes which I have never seen in a Ghibli movie so this isn't for younger kids.