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Ghibli’s Tales From Earthsea

Those of you with nothing better to do this summer should go now in search for a newspaper because Ghibli’s Earthsea hit theatres this Friday, and so far it’s going strong. Read on for a list of theatres in case you feel like catching it yourself, and a short review for those who feel like getting the DVD and checking it out.

C’mon, It’s Ghibli!

Studio Ghibli is pretty much like the Pixar of anime (more like Pixar being the Ghibli of CGI) they never screw up and all of their films are memorable blockbusters. They somehow manage to integrate everything that makes an animated film great, art, good story-telling, direction, a strong plot and an amazing cast, all without ever coming short with one of these elements. The final product of studio Ghibli’s films is always great and you don’t even have to be into anime to appreciate it, just as Earthsea has proven with its opening weekend.

Earthsea opened Friday the 13th (yeah, we know) on a very limited release of five theatres located in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu and San Francisco. The film managed to draw in around $20,500 on its opening weekend, which may seem a little disappointing considering that the rest of studio Ghibli’s films have raked in truck-full’s of cash even with a limited release. Truth be told, this one may seem like the financial black-sheep. But it’s not bad, oh boy, it’s completely far from that.

The film’s relatively weak (by Ghibli’s standards) opening weekend can be easily attributed to several factors such as having been released deep in the digital era and being available on the internet (not a matter of piracy folks, some very “official” sites have it up) as well as having a widely released DVD. Earthsea comes to us by the hands Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Myizaki, the man responsible for many of studio Ghibli’s greatest films. The question here is, does the apple fall far from the tree? The answer is a simple: no, it doesn’t.

Tales of Earthsea, or Gedo Senki as it’s known in Japanese, is an adaptation of a series of fantasy novels by Ursula K. Le Guin. So you can be sure that the film is in line with the likes of Princess Mononoke, having huge mythological creatures and some violence here and there for good measure (the film is the first animated film distributed by Disney to receive a PG-13 rating.)

Those of you living in the cities mentioned above should check the following theaters:

New York (Angelika/Manhattan)

Honolulu (Victoria Ward)

San Francisco (The Kabuki)

Seattle (Harvard Exit)

Los Angeles (The Landmark)

The rest of you should think of going to the DVD store to pick it up and here’s the reason why you should spend your money; Earthsea is from studio Ghibli, so you know it at least deserves a rental but it can be taken as a good movie in its own right as it presents to you an unique yet familiar story. The parallels with Princess Mononoke are plentiful, the styling and feel of Earthsea makes it seem like it would be at home in the same world where the events of Princess Mononoke take place. The visuals are warm and colorful, even when showing off such sights as a stormy sky or a slave market.

The film takes us to a land where pestilence and disease are wreaking havoc amongst the populace, and where bad crops are forcing farmers away from their homes and slavers are running rampant, but there’s more to it than that. The balance of life in the land seems to be breaking as a consequence of direct human interference, so we join Ged, an Archmage traveling the land to find the reason behind it and Arren, a young prince who fled his homeland and wanders alongside Ged to escape from his past, as well as a dark presence that lurks within him.

The plot itself is very basic but it still manages to draw the viewer in, save for a couple of moments where everything comes to a halt and we are taken into some plot exposition. There’s a peculiar point where the main characters become awkward and seem to get out of place with what was previously established about their personalities. But this gets integrated later on in a way that makes sense. In a way, this movie is one of those were you can’t stop watching it halfway through or it’ll seem bland and boring, but once you watch the whole thing and the little bits and pieces come together you can be sure to say “Wow” just as the credits roll.

The English dub manages to be far from cringe-worthy. I would even dare say it’s good, since there are times when it seems like Earthsea was made in English instead of simply dubbed. The voice actors really put some work into it this time around and if you look at the back and see the voice cast you’ll understand why.

Earthsea is good. It may not be the greatest from Ghibli (not that you can judge a film in such a view, since all preferences are subjective) but it sure stands out on its own two legs. The movie has some unresolved plot points that kind of sit there picking at the back of your head, some simply linger too long through the film to be treated quickly and taken out of the story in an awkward fashion, but others just remain sitting there. But at the end of the day this is a decent movie, not exactly action-packed but not too slow, perfect for a date or a calm, lazy day.

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