Tales from Earthsea

 Well, this isn't an easy one. Normally, I love everything Studio Ghibli does and has done, but this one just doesn't resonate with me at all. 

Why?

Several reasons.

Also massive disclosure: I have never read the books by Ursula Leguin, so I have absolutely no idea if this adaptation is faithful to the novels. But just judging by this film alone, I'd say: not particularly.

A young prince named Arren kills his father and then flees. After a while, he joins a wandering wizard called Haitaka/Ged, who just joins in because he is wandering the land, searching for the reason why everything feels so dark, as if the balance of the world has been shifted. They both stay at a farm with Ged's friend Tenar and a young girl called Therru, who is pretty hostile towards Arren for no apparent reason, except that he has some sort of darkness inside of him. 

While all this is going, there is also a witch of sorts who is an old adversary of Ged, but why or how they are so opposed to one another is vague. Heck, it's not even vague: you have no idea why they are enemies, except that the witch is obviously evil as the design of the character just breathes 'malignancy' from every inch. In the end, suddenly a dragon appears and the story just stops. 

If this all feels nondescript and disjointed, don't worry: that's how this entire film feels. You see, you don't get any real character development, of anyone. It just moves from one place to the next, there's no progression and you don't really care for any of the characters except Tenar, who feels like the only fleshed out character in this entire tale. Why and how things are happening is left in the dark and you can just think that the witch has something to do with it all, but it is never explained. Why did Arren kill his father? Same thing: no explanation. Why does Therru first hate Arren but then suddenly grows to like him a lot? No explanation. Almost everything comes out of left field and you're just staring at the screen, trying to make sense of it all. 

I'm pretty confident the books have all the lore and background you need, but this just feels woefully inept, storywise.

As far as the animation is concerned, that looks great, as usual with Ghibli. Especially the backgrounds are gorgeous to behold. But the character models are very stock. Heck, Arren's mount and Ged's design look just like characters from 'Princess Mononoke'! That one is far superior, I might add. 

Yes, I get that this was Goro Miyazaki's first time as a director and everyone deserves a chance to learn and grow. But as a film on the whole, this one feels unfinished, unpolished and unfocused. Nothing feels connected and you will not care about a single character at all. 

A shame really. This could have been better, but it just doesn't do anything for anyone. You can easily skip this one in the whole Ghibli-catalogue and you won't miss a thing.