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Tales from Earthsea comes with considerable pedigree. Not only is this the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, the son of iconic director Hayao Miyazaki, and produced by Studio Ghibli, the animation studio he founded, it is also based on the Earthsea cycle of books by iconic sci-fi writer Ursula LeGuin. Goro co-wrote the script for the movie and is responsible for the visual style of the movie as well. While he seems to have mastered the art of making his movie look stunning (the action sequences are a testament to that), he still has a ways to go before he can be considered a top notch director and script-writer. The end result is a movie that looks great, is enjoyable for the most part and satisfying to watch but falls short of feeling like an epic, and an epic is what this movie deserves to be.
The good parts of the movie feel like they're taken straight out of Miyazaki(Hayao)'s playbook - sweeping vistas, great action, classic battle between good and evil and imperfect protagonists. The movie looks absolutely stunning especially during the action sequences and this is where Goro excels. One of the areas he really falls short is the development of the story and his characters. We get no introduction to this fantasy world that the story is set in, just that the world is "out of balance". The characters are also poorly sketched out and we get little sense of their motivations and emotions, other than the usual good/evil characterisations. The pacing of the script is also uneven and the middle section is plodding. In the end, even as Goro borrows liberally from his father's bag of tricks, he fails to bring that little spark of magic that transforms an action-adventure into an EPIC action-adventure. Still, this is his first movie and he shows potential for a first-time director and I look forward to watching his second.
As a final note, I want to mention the excellent background score that really adds to the atmosphere of the movie and enhanced my enjoyment of it more than the script and direction really deserved.
8/10
