Patricide. Yeah I said it. Just keep that word in mind while I rattle off some backstory for this thing. Tales From Earthsea 2006 is generally considered the worst Studio Ghibli movie which I guess is no longer the case now that Earwig and the Witch 2020 exists. The biggest thing that these two movies have in common apart from being disappointing is that they are directed by Goro Miyazaki son of Hayao Miyazaki who really still has no business directing an animated feature. But lets backtrack. How did Goro end up in his first role? How did this movie come to be? Spoilers ahead for the inner workings of Goros mind. https://www.otaquest.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/5AF44435016145628C83FF10D90E8BF0.jpeg Hayao Miyazaki had been writing to Ursula K Le Guin for like thirty years begging and pleading for the opportunity to adapt her series of Earthsea books to film. Because she thought Ghibli was the Japanese Disney she always told him to leave her alone until like twenty years later when she watched My Neighbour Totoro 1988 and realised she had to get on that Miyazaki train. He was a legitimate auteur and his style fit Earthsea to a tee She contacted Ghibli and even sanctioned off this period in between the first and second Earthsea books allowing them to basically do whatever they wanted. This was perfect for a director like Miyazaki who prefers to do his own thing with source material rather than stick to a rigid adaptation. Unfortunately by this point Miyazaki was messing with Diana Jones Howls Moving Castle 1986 traitor and totally 100 trustmeonthisone retiring soon so he wasnt available. Toshio Suzuki former president of Ghibli decided it would be a fantastic idea to contact Miyazakis son and smoothtalk the kid into doing Earthsea instead thereby turning one of the most beloved and respected childrens series into a long and ambitious film. You know putting aside the fact that hed never drawn a frame in his life and all. Goro got done dirty. The fact that he ended up directing Tales From Earthsea is nothing less than an astonishing act of nepotism that was wholly undeserved and entirely irresponsible but it wasnt as if he demanded the job. He started as a mere consultant. Before that he was off studying landscape design convinced that he hated animation. But really he just hated his dad. You see Hayao Miyazaki was always busy with his movies so Goro didnt have the best relationship with him growing up. It was only after he was roped into designing some part of the Ghibli museum that he realised he might actually have some latent love for the medium stating in his bloghttp://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/index.html that I had discovered within myself a love of animation which because of my relationship with my father I had pretended for a long time not to notice until now. He also had a special affinity to the Earthsea series having grown up with the books. Alas it was a rocky journey. Miyazaki senior was furious that someone with no directorial experience was occupying such an important role. He threw this big tantrum planned an animator strike as an act of elaborate sabotage and barely talked to his son during what had to be the most stressful period of the kids life. What a guy. Father of the century. Against insurmountable odds Goro finished the movie on schedule. It wasnt exactly a roaring success. His father talked a bunch of shit Ursula K Le Guin talked a bunch more shit and fans were pretty underwhelmed. He even received the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Movie beating out Sinking of Japan 2006 which is literally an adaptation Japan Sinks 1973 without Masaaki Yuasas artsy shit tricking you into thinking its good. You have to feel a bit sorry for Goro. https://thewallpapers.org/zoom/36123/talesfromearthsea068.jpg Anyway I sit down to watch this movie fully expecting it to suck and by all means it kind of does. There are some random dragons flying around this generic fantasy setting that doesnt really capture the Earthsea magic and then this kid just straightup murders his father. Thats it. Thats the opener. As the movie goes on we learn his father was a great man who made the kid feel intensely inadequate however because the dad was the king of our generic fantasy country we can assume he didnt have all that much to do with his attentioncraving son until said son took a sword and ran it through his stomach. Ohhhh my. AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES HOW BLATANT THIS IS? It turns out no I am not and Goro himself had to deal with some suspect accusations by people who wondered if the opening murder was a playful jab stab at his father. He claimed that the desire to kill ones father simply represented the desires of the many young people in Japan who felt oppressed by their own parents. Okay Goro. Sure. I toootally believe you. It was for all the kids We stan artistic expressions of national patricide. So yeah. Goro begins the movie by notsosubtly killing his father. Ill get back to that. For now more on the plot. The reason why Arren a marvelous little projection of Goros psyche kills his father is never stated. Theres some vague darkness at play that occasionally takes hold of his body and turns him into a bloodthirsty monster like some angsty Shonen Jump deuteragonist. Frustrated with how lame he is Arren takes a sword flees and his abstract fantasy castle for some other Earthsea location. Its there that he runs into Sparrowhawk an old wizard guy who rescues him from slavers turns him away from drugs and gives him a nice place to heal on a farm. He stays on that farm for a while until he runs away and gets abducted by Cob this big bad dark wizard voiced by Willem Dafoe in the English dub lol. Cob controls Arren through his true name which is an important concept in the movie that is never properly unpackaged. I hope youre noticing a trend here. http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/40000000/TalesfromEarthseaScenerystudioghibli400298611280727.jpg As far as adaptations go this one is a bit awkward. Goros Earthsea is not Earthsea as fans know it. Though the film is based on The Farthest Shore 1972 the third book in the series Goro pulls names characters and iconography from the first two books splattering them carelessly throughout his movie. He ends up with a strange hodgepodge of Earthsea material lacking the essence of the original. It is a good movie Le Guin told Goro after their initial screening in America trying to be nice. She added it is not my book. It is the tonal shifts that startle the most. Dont let the pretty colours trick you: Goros Earthsea is a remorseless world. Before Hawksparrow finds him Arren traverses a wasteland teaming with rabid beasts. Forests and farmlands are fading away consumed by a mysterious evil. If you think this invites some typical Ghibli environmentalism not so: this is as decidedly unGhibli as you could possibly be. No Ghibli movie as far as Im aware has presented to the audience systematic slavery villains who attempt to literally rape a young girl or a protagonist that would murder a family member for seemingly no reason. As Le Guin wrote in her own bloghttps://www.ursulakleguin.com/gedosenki1 blog wars the film was maintained by violence to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books. This speaks to Goros inexperience as a storyteller. Most of the film is heavyhanded bumbling over its themes and failing to complete them without using quick fixes like stabs and slashes. Thats where his immaturity shows the most. The actual animation direction looks fine at least to me. Im sure Goro had a lot of help from a Ghibli team that were committed to realising his vision no matter how problematic it could be. But what did Hayao Miyazaki say on the matter? You shouldnt make a film based on your emotions. Pshht. Preachy and hypocritical. He did the same thing in Porco Rosso 1992 and The Wind Rises 2013 and they didnt suck. But he does have a point insofar that the Earthsea series as popular and respected as it is shouldnt really be your artistic sandbox to act out your latent patricidal desires. Lets get back to those https://studioghiblimovies.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/12/01.png Heres another excerpt from Goros blog: Once the publicity for Tales of Earthsea starts up regardless of whether I like it or not as the director I can easily imagine that I will be labelled with the adjective Miyazaki Hayaos son. Faced with this the conclusion Producer Suzuki came out with was that obviously I should let the work itself speak for me but in order to showcase the work itself you still need to let them know you not as Miyazaki Hayaos son but as the individual human being Goro Miyazaki. Very insightful Goro. You see it throughout the filmthis bloodlust for identity. I go as far to call this the main theme far more pronounced than those to do with life and immortality. Goro refutes his fathers central ethos embracing an ugly violent protagonist and depicting the world in a state of increasing ruin. This is no Hayao Miyazaki movie. For better or worse this is a Goro Miyazaki movie. His neurotic urge to detach himself from his father manifests in the artwork. Le Guin was unhappy with the way the film looked stating the animation of this quickly made film does not have the delicate accuracy of Totoro or the powerful and splendid richness of detail of Spirited Away. Shes right but Im not convinced thats because Goro was cutting corners. In Earwig and the Witch and its TV series predecessor Ronia the Robbers Daughter 2013 Goro employed CG animation deciding he wanted to experiment with new animation styles instead of rehashing the triedandtrue formula. One might speculate that this is another jab at his dad who is known for belching at anything CG. Tales From Earthsea doesnt go quite that far but the animation is decidedly unMiyazaki. Apparently its more of a tribute to his favourite movie which is Isao Takahatas The Little Norse Prince 1968. Which means Goro was team Takahata all along Take that dad along with the sword to the stomach. The character designs and general style reflect this core influence. Of course its understandable why Le Guin would be so pissed seeing as she signed up for that vintage Miyazaki goodness. To make my position clear not that it really matters I like the idea of moving beyond the Hayao Miyazaki mould because obviously only one person can do that. I admire the decision to take artistic risks. I should note that there are some other cool creative decisions including the use of these interesting classiclooking paintings for the night sky. Quite nice. Of course no one really talks about this stuff in a positive light. Goro is reduced to Miyazakis son whether he likes it or not and that means people will always smirk at these awkward flailing innovations as the boy writhes and screams eternally bound to his fathers shadow. https://i2.wp.com/caps.pictures/200/6earthsea/full/earthseadisneyscreencaps.com1367.jpg Does this horsey thing look familiar to you? Its a lot like the horsey thing from Princess Mononoke 1997. Really Arren has a lot in common with Ashitaka in addition to the obvious physical resemblance. Hes a young cursed terribly bland prince of all the Ghibli protagonists Goro why did you transplant that one? Im bringing this up in order to condradict my previous point perhaps this is why I never passed a high school English essay. There is a very interesting paradox here For all Goro tries to escape Miyazakis shadow he deliberately pays homage to his father in certain ways. The Mononoke similarities are just the first ones I noticed Miyazaki stans of a greater calibre than I have pointed out countless recreations of classic Miyazaki scenes dating back even before the foundation of Ghibli. Ive also discovered that the plot of this movie in some ways draws more from Miyazakis watercolour manga The Journey of Shuna 1983 than it does from Le Guins books. Why would Goro do this? Weve established he wants to forge his own identity as a filmmaker and thats understandable. Why does he force himself into imitation? An act of spite perhaps? Besmirching the Miyazaki name? Assassinating not only his person but his work? Mayyybe. Id love to make that argument but Im coming at it from a different angle. I see this as an act of sincerity. Broadly this film maps a conflicted relationship with the past. Its actually quite metafictional considering its role in the Ghibli canon. We see Goros protagonist stuck after killing his father in a hellish repetition of Miyazaki scenes characters and iconography. It is only after he and his dragon girlfriend call each other by their true names that they escape this cycle of grief allowing Goro to ideally transcend the Miyazaki mantle. Am I giving Goro too much credit? Because I do not think this rehash of classic Miyazaki content is an example of unoriginality or even reverence. It is not as many have accused an attempt to copy his father. Instead its a legitimate attempt to reason with the man who raised him not through physically being there but through the films he produced. No deep dive into his familial strife would be complete without Miyazakis work. But its not just Miyazaki This movie is a fullfrontal assault on the past. One need only look at the world around Arren to see that this film is trying to comprehend what once were esteemed structures falling into ruin. Considering Goro is a literal landscape designer the disrepair of Earthseas surroundings are more relevant. When it comes to ruined buildings at least he probably knows what hes talking about. And we can take this further The past in many ways is embodied by the films villain. Cob again Willem Dafoe really is a shallow cheesy character but they serve an interesting thematic purpose. Cob is in pursuit of immortality. When they are vanquished at the end of the movie Arren tells them that there is no point living anymore at some point you have to go off and die even if you are immensely powerful and acclaimed obsessed with extending your wretched life. Addressing that to someone in particular Goro? Hehe. Seriously though In lieu of those who came before and all the great things they made the movie flails around picks itself up and constructs an alternate future. Arren Therru Sparrowhawk and that one white girl band together and live as a family. One family destroyed another formed. Out with the old and in with the new. I see this trend across Goros filmography. Ever noticed that not a single one of his protagonists have living present fathers? Arren promptly disposes of his. In Up From Poppy Hill 2011 Umis died in the war. In Earwig and the Witch Ayas dad is not mentioned once and her rockstar mother abandoned her as a child. Of course this doesnt mean theyre alone. Found families abound Goro trivialises the past before building a new one. He takes his role as the new guard of Ghibli literally and emotionally. http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/40000000/TalesfromEarthseaScenerystudioghibli400298701280727.jpg Weve established that Tales From Earthsea interesting as it is to talk about isnt that good. It fails as an Earthsea adaptation and doesnt handle its themes too well. But I want to end this review positively. About halfway through Arren stumbles across the main girlTherrusinging atop a grassy hill. This is going to sound cheesy but bear with me. Therru sings this song and its just her voice. No music no soundtrack. It goes on for quite a few minutes too. In several interviews Miyazaki senior harps on about ma that Japanese word that describes a break in the action. In these scenes the audience is allowed to breathe relax and in Goros case properly grieve. These scenes are to me a marker of maturity. Believe me when I tell you Therrus song is legitimately gorgeous The girl stands on that grassy hill wishing someone might understand how sad and lonely she is. Sounds melodramatic? It doesnt come off that way. The song shines a light not only on her but also Arren. We see him shed a tear for the first time in the movie revealing that hes not a soulless edgy Ashitaka skin but a traumatised boy dealing with his own demons. I should note that the lyrics of this song were not penned by the films composer Tamiya Terashima who Goro selected because Joe Hisaishi was too old for them to get along I find this funny. Instead they were written by Goro himself. Straight from the heart His emotions here are pure undiluted and beautiful. And his expressions in this scene. If theres one thing this movie does better than damn near any Ghibli movie Ive seen its the facial expressions. There is just so much pain bottled up in Arrens hurt little face. A blessing of the Takahata style? Or is it Goros secret genius? I dont know but the faces simple as they are communicate so much in this film. Arrens sad default expression contrasts effectively with his twisted mask that belongs to his doppelganger. After the song Arren and Therru sit down for a heart to heart. We learn that Therru has been shortchanged by her own parents nothing says anime abuse like a burn mark and actually seems to like Arren a lot more when he cries and confesses his patricide. From then on the two form a strong believable bond that gives the movie some muchneeded stability. I really love that scene. As mean as Ive been I hope Ive also proven Goro is not a lost cause. He is capable of beautiful heartfelt moments. He is capable of tossing together a featurelength film with Hayao Goddamn Miyazaki actively lobbying against him. He is capable of a lot of things really. I hope like Arren he finds his true name someday. Here are some links to Goro Miyazakis journalshttp://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/index.html and Ursula K Le Guins responsehttps://www.ursulakleguin.com/gedosenki1 to the film both of which Ive quoted throughout. Oh and heres that videohttps://www..com/watch?v=kfahLM3qKnwabchannel=Caracacan where Hayao Miyazaki walks out on his sons movie. Yikes. At least he attempted to make up for things in future movies working alongside Goro instead of sabotaging his first attempt at direction. His parenting gets about the same score as this movie. Maybe a little lower. Thanks for reading