It's not the most well known of Studio Ghibli's movies, nor is it particularly praised but Tales from Earthsea explores the world of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea in a way very unlike the previous mini-series produced by the Sci-Fi channel. Unable to work on this one due to commitments to development of Howl's Moving Castle, this one was directed by Hayao Miyzaki's son Goro instead.
The Earthsea series of books are extremely popular and revolve around a world of magic which comes from known a true name. As is very popular in legends and fables (such as Rumplestiltskin), Earthsea explores the supposed power in knowing one's true name. It is because of this that most of the characters in the film and indeed the books, are known by two names - the "said" name and the "true" name.
As the story opens we see a pair of dragons fighting and being observed by a war ship. When this news makes it back to land the news disturbs the King who sees it as a bad omen in addition to his son being missing. We learn the history of how dragons and men were once one until men chose possessions instead of freedom and begun to upset the balance of nature. This balance the King talks of is something which will be mentioned again in the explanation of where the worlds magic comes from. The Prince, Arren, turns out to be back in the castle according to some servants who also say he's being acting strangely. Shortly after Arren kills his father and flees the castle taking his father's sword with him. Upon leaving the castle and his home on a self-imposed exile he become filled with sadness and rage. Whilst in exile he comes to despise life and when attacked soon resigns himself to die until he is saved by a stranger - Sparrowhawk, the Archmage (voiced by Timothy Dalton, a former James Bond actor).
Along their journey to the city of Hort, Sparrowhawk comments than Arren does not yet have the magic to unsheathe his father's sword. It's obvious from that comment that this will be something he'll manage to do close to the end of the film - it's a pretty predictable outcome really as Arren follows the hero's journey to it's conclusion. Anyway moving on, Arren eventually parts company with Sparrowhawk and stumbles upon a girl who is being attacked by slavers - in this world humans are a commodity who can be sold as slaves. This is one bit I didn't really understand - how can they just pick people up off the streets and sell them into slavery, even when they have a home. There might be an obvious answer to this but I didn't spot it. Arren attacks the four slavers, declaring to them that he doesn't care about life and they flee, saving the life of Therru who also flees. We see at this point a distinctive scar on her face which we learn later was from her parents burning her.
Through various twists we eventually see the confrontation we knew would happen, Arren facing the evil Lord Cob. Before this happens though Arren is tricked into revealing his true name, Lebannen, to Cob and he uses this to his advantage to when capturing Sparrowhawk who had been led to the castle by the capture of Tenar. Powerless to do anything whilst under the control of Cob we see that Therru is on her way to the castle with Arren's sword being led by what turns out to be a "shadow"of Arren made from the part of him which is light. He tells Therru his real name which empowers her to free Arren. In doing so she also tells Arren her real name showing a real bond of trust.
The character development is fairly average as we learn more about Arren, Therru and a little about Sparrowhawk, Tenar and Lord Cob. We see Arren evolve from being a impulsive youth who does not want to be around people and is filled with rage in to someone who has a purpose in his life, and understands that a life without death is not life - having a finite time is what makes it precious and it is this understanding and the helping hand of Therru which causes this change in him. Therru's character isn't developed as much as Therru - she is a character that facilitates the required change in Arren's character whereas Sparrowhawk (Ged) is the one who is like the mentor figure throughout most of the film. Therru's surprising true nature which is eventually revealed also helps to explain her behaviour and her beliefs. We are also treated to a small amount of back story that takes place between Sparrowhawk, Tenar and Lord Cob.
For the most part I didn't really notice the music throughout the film except for the occasional bit which probably means that it wasn't really that good, or was just too subtle to be memorable. The animation however whilst not the best I've seen was still good enough and was comparable to many modern anime films.
As it happens there is also a novel called "Tales from Earthsea" however it is a collection of short stories which are totally unrelated to this film. The plot and characters from this film are actually a combination from three of the books, mixed and matched to suit the whims of Hayao Miyazaki's son who directed it (Hayao was busy working on Howl's Moving Castle). I don't think this is a particularly bad film, I enjoyed watching it, but Ursula K. Le Guin comments that it is disappointing and not true to her books. That seems to be a fairly common stance these days from authors whose works have been reproduced on film - it's like a way of them distancing themselves from any potential criticism from people who prefer the books as that is the author's core audience.
To sumarise I found this an enjoyable film and a better introduction into the world of Earthsea than the attempt by the Sci-Fi channel. Suffice it to say, this endeavour into Earthsea has led me to visit Amazon to purchase the books from the series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, and The Other Wind). If anyone wants me to I can report back on what the books are like and how the story of them compares to what was covered in this movie - I expect them to be pretty good though!
