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.

hayashimegumi While it is a wonder that Tales from Earthsea (2006) is a box office success, this animated feature is certainly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The art is okay but the screenplay is beyond terrible. It is so terrible that I almost don't want to review about this film and am extremely tempted write several paragraphs of dots instead of sharing any of my analysis and thoughts on this film.Honestly, it is devastating. One hour into the movie and I am still clueless about the direction of the film or what they actually want to achieve through this anime film. I watched this film with an open mind; I thought this wouldn't be as bad as I've read online and actually intends to defend that it is too harsh to award this film the worst movie and the director as the worst director but... oh well.With no intention of bashing (and spoiling) this film but just for the record, I almost completely dropped this film after plenty of hours of breaks in between. It was truly an unpleasant experience as it spoils my mood so badly but I am glad that I've painfully endured and watched the whole film. At least, I have learned a little about this director, known a little more about this studio, seen one of the worst movies ever and be able to warn you all that you might not want to watch this film.PS. Still, kudos to the director for making his directorial debut. He has successfully entered the anime film industry with this one.

rjciez I was expecting this movie to be terrible after reading several comments suggesting this is the worst movie produced by Ghibli.Fortunately I was gladly surprised by the quality of the movie. I have not read the book series though.It is true that at times the movie tries to copy the same vibe of Mononoke (the soundtrack, the epic character of the movie, even Cob gets his hand chopped, something I have only seen once before in a Ghibli movie), but at the same time it has a totally different main plot (this does not try to deal with environmentalism but it kind of approaches our own limited existence).The end feels a bit rushed. I was utterly confused when Theru suddenly transforms into a dragon and then goes back to a girl (maybe I missed something), fortunately they wrap it up nicely at the end.Overall, I would recommend it. Very different from other Ghibli movies (not recommended for kids i guess), and not at the level of the best movies put by the studio, but this does not make it bad at all.

kylehaynes31 Tales from Earthsea was the first Ghibli movie to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki. It ended up being an alright (if somewhat pedestrian) movie, especially considering that Hayao did not consider Goro ready for the responsibility of directing a Ghibli feature film. The story follows a boy named Arren who killed his father and stole his sword. Arren ends up getting caught in the crossfire of an age-old war that had been going on between a powerful wizard and a powerful witch. The story more or less plods aimlessly along throughout the movie, especially so when compared to Hayao's masterpieces. This movie didn't even hit North America until 2011, and then only on DVD in spite of Disney's recent Bluray distribution craze, which kind of shows that even they acknowledge this movie's mediocrity. With that said, Tales from Earthsea is still worth the watch, if only to see Studio Ghibli's beautiful art and to appreciate how far Goro Miyazaki has come as a director.