For a long time, Studio Ghibli films have been something of a standard for me. A measurer by which I judge any Japanese animated film. The first film like this I ever watched was Spirited Away and I was completely blow away by it. So when I saw that another of their films would be aired on TV I was excited.
However, upon seeing this film?..I was rather disappointed.
This story is set in a world called Earthsea. The film opens to the story of a young man named Arren, who for reasons unknown to the audience, kills his father, the king, and flees with the family sword to a faraway land. During his travels, he comes across a wizard named Sparrowhawk who, again for reasons unknown, tries to help this boy he has never met to make his way in the world.
Along the way they come across a so-called witch named Tenar and a farm girl named Therru, whom Arren saved from slavers earlier in the film. During all this there is an evil wizard named Lord Cob, who was banished long ago and does typical villainous thing to achieve eternal life.
To say any more would spoil the story for those who have not seen it. This is a fairly basic story but for me it fails on many levels. The biggest problem is the characters. Don?t get me wrong, characters like Arren, Sparrowhawk, Tenar and Therru are not unlikable it?s that their actions and interactions with each other don?t make much sense without any explanation. We never fully understand why Arren does what he does, nor do we learn why Sparrowhawk does what he does. All we ever get about these characters? back-story or motivations are just a few lines of exposition shoved into the dialogue.
The worst offender by far is Lord Cob. He is by far one of the worst villains I have ever seen on screen. He is given the barest minimum of motivation and even then it?s such an over-used villain motivation that it?s easy to just dismiss it. Not only that but not once was I ever intimidated by this so-called ?villain?. While we are given some inkling as to his plan, not once do we ever see how he is affecting the world, how long he has been doing it, or how he was able to return to the world if he was so easily banished long ago. The only explanation we get regarding any of this are just a few lines of dialogue thrown in near the end of the film.
The story, as I said, is fairly simple but there are a few moments that will have you scratching your head in confusion, the most notable of which is near the end. A character does something to resolve the final situation in the film and my jaw was on the floor when I saw it. Not because it was impressive, but because it was so confusing. It left me with many questions like ?why didn?t they do that earlier?? or ?why were we never told until this critical moment that they could do that?? or ?why on Earth does nobody ask any questions about this or bring this up after the danger passed?? It is by far one of the biggest dues ex machina moments I have ever seen in a film, and the fact they offer no explanation for it is just mind-boggling.
It?s not all bad news however. The animation is very impressive to look at, as it is a Studio Ghibli film after all. Not only that, but the music is nice to listen to, especially towards the end.
I know people will bring this up if I don?t, but this film was an adaptation of a series of books. I have never read any so I do not know if this is a decent adaptation of it.
All in all, this is a nice film to look at and listen to but if what you want out of a film is a deep story, complex characters and a ?makes sense? resolution, then I would recommend you look elsewhere.
Final verdict ? 5/10
However, upon seeing this film?..I was rather disappointed.
This story is set in a world called Earthsea. The film opens to the story of a young man named Arren, who for reasons unknown to the audience, kills his father, the king, and flees with the family sword to a faraway land. During his travels, he comes across a wizard named Sparrowhawk who, again for reasons unknown, tries to help this boy he has never met to make his way in the world.
Along the way they come across a so-called witch named Tenar and a farm girl named Therru, whom Arren saved from slavers earlier in the film. During all this there is an evil wizard named Lord Cob, who was banished long ago and does typical villainous thing to achieve eternal life.
To say any more would spoil the story for those who have not seen it. This is a fairly basic story but for me it fails on many levels. The biggest problem is the characters. Don?t get me wrong, characters like Arren, Sparrowhawk, Tenar and Therru are not unlikable it?s that their actions and interactions with each other don?t make much sense without any explanation. We never fully understand why Arren does what he does, nor do we learn why Sparrowhawk does what he does. All we ever get about these characters? back-story or motivations are just a few lines of exposition shoved into the dialogue.
The worst offender by far is Lord Cob. He is by far one of the worst villains I have ever seen on screen. He is given the barest minimum of motivation and even then it?s such an over-used villain motivation that it?s easy to just dismiss it. Not only that but not once was I ever intimidated by this so-called ?villain?. While we are given some inkling as to his plan, not once do we ever see how he is affecting the world, how long he has been doing it, or how he was able to return to the world if he was so easily banished long ago. The only explanation we get regarding any of this are just a few lines of dialogue thrown in near the end of the film.
The story, as I said, is fairly simple but there are a few moments that will have you scratching your head in confusion, the most notable of which is near the end. A character does something to resolve the final situation in the film and my jaw was on the floor when I saw it. Not because it was impressive, but because it was so confusing. It left me with many questions like ?why didn?t they do that earlier?? or ?why were we never told until this critical moment that they could do that?? or ?why on Earth does nobody ask any questions about this or bring this up after the danger passed?? It is by far one of the biggest dues ex machina moments I have ever seen in a film, and the fact they offer no explanation for it is just mind-boggling.
It?s not all bad news however. The animation is very impressive to look at, as it is a Studio Ghibli film after all. Not only that, but the music is nice to listen to, especially towards the end.
I know people will bring this up if I don?t, but this film was an adaptation of a series of books. I have never read any so I do not know if this is a decent adaptation of it.
All in all, this is a nice film to look at and listen to but if what you want out of a film is a deep story, complex characters and a ?makes sense? resolution, then I would recommend you look elsewhere.
Final verdict ? 5/10
