Tales from Earthsea - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Tales From Earthsea

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
As of this last year Studio Ghibli has officially cut ties with Disney proper for their releases and have moved over to Shout Factory as their new distributor. Over this last month they have released 8 of their original titles that were given to Disney, and are in the works to redistribute just about all the rest of their titles (minus the ones licensed to Universal and Up on Poppy Hill and Grave of the Fireflies), INCLUDING the single title that even Disney couldn’t get. My Neighbors, the Yamadas. I missed the opportunity to review for you all 8 titles that were released on the 17th of October, but over the course of the next month or so there will be another set of batches that are coming over via Shout, and I’ll be putting those out for you. Disney did some great stuff with their Studio Ghibli releases, but there were a small handful of titles (such as Princess Monnonoke) that had subpar subtitles as Disney used “Dubtitles” (translations of the English dub) vs. traditional direct translations from the Japanese language tracks that REALLY frustrated purists (myself included). With these new releases, Shout Factory and Studio Ghibli have worked together to rectify those small issues and re-release their lineup on Blu-ray once more at a substantially lower price than Disney was able to.

Tales from Earthsea is based upon a series of novels by American author Ursula K. Le Guin, and more accurately takes information from the 3rd and 4th novels in the series. This gives a lot of backstory to fit into a two hour movie, and unfortunately there’s a few hiccups in the storytelling as a result of that. Our story revolves around the mystical world of Earthsea, where the magic of the realm is slowly being drained away for some mysterious reason. The balance is out of whack, even the powerful dragons are turning on each other in this time of confusion. The powerful arch mage, Sparrowhawk, who is trying to find the cause of the mysterious loss of magic, crosses paths with a young man who is fighting inner demons of his own. This young man, Arren, is running from a past where he inexplicably killed his domineering father and ran off into the wilderness to hide. There the Arch mage runs across the young boy in need and takes him under his wing.

Sparrowhawk narrows the source of the magic drain down to a lone mage who still has his powers, a Lord Cob by name. Ironically, Lord Cob has his sights set on the young boy, Arren, who he feel can help him gain eternal life. This sets off a series of events that will bring Arren and Sparrowhawk into meeting a young waif named Therru, a girl that may hold more answers to the secrets of Lord Cob’s obsession than anyone though possible.

For the first and second act of the film I was puzzled as to why Tales of Earthsea was considered one of the weaker of the Studio Ghibli films. However, when the third act unfolded I started to understand more and more. The problems come from trying to adapt a series of novels into one movie, especially considering the fact that the movie is based off of information from part way through the series. Many of the plot devices early on in the film just aren’t answered as well as they could be. For example, why does Arren fear his “shadow” self so much? Why did he even kill his father? What are his motivations? Also, the reason for Cob’s power, the background on the conflicts etc. All of these seem to be unfolding at a decent pace, but in the third act you realize that these are all points that you’re supposed to just accept at face value rather than be told in the story. As a result the movie leaves you with some questions and a feeling of being incomplete.

On the other hand, even a poor Ghibli movie is still a good movie. I had a great time watching the movie unfold, even if there were some storyline muddling that happens along the way. The characters themselves are fascinating, and while Goro is not as nuanced and whimsical as Hayao, he has the ability to make villains that truly creep you out. The androgynous villain Cob is both terrifying as a domineering mage, but once his true form his revealed he can creep out even the hardiest of us. Something that Goro has demonstrated time and time again in his animated films. The movie keeps well within the PG guidelines until the third act when the violence level jumps up to the labeled PG-13 rating. There are some impressively dark scenarios, including a lesson on the uses and misuses of power and drugs. Also the inner demons of Arren make a great counterbalance to the wisdom and temperance that Sparrowhawk so obviously demonstrates.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images




Video:

Tales From Earthsea comes to Blu-ray with simply fabulous looking 1.85:1 AVC encoded image. The movie came out in 2011 on DVD, but the Blu-ray was delayed for some reason by Disney, and now gets re-released by Shout. However, the film’s beautiful hand drawn animation looks superb on both formats. Lines are crisp and full, no DNR or digital manipulation to mar the animation in any way. Film grain is evident, but never oppressive and the natural look of the way it was transferred is stunning. Colors lean a bit to the softer sides, with most colors being a bit pastel shaded, even the primaries. There are brief moments (think the end scene with Therru) where some brilliantly bright primary colors burst through the soft color palette, but the majority of the film is a bit more subdued. Black levels are incredibly strong and leave nothing to the imagination, even in the darkest scenes. Overall it hovers just shy of perfection. An excellent video presentation to be sure.






Audio:

I was EXTREMELY pleased to find out that the film retained the 6.1 Japanese track in full DTS-HD MA lossless glory, as well as the remixed 5.1 American track as well. A/Bing the tracks I have to say that they both to an exceptional job (if you can stand American dubs for Japanese Animation films), but the Japanese track edges out of the English one by a small bit. The voice actors seem more comfortable with the material, and several characters obviously are better translated with the native speaking actors. Dynamic range is incredible, as the track can go from soft and subdues to blazing in your face with the pounding of horses hooves accompanied by deep wallops of LFE. The surround use is amazing as I swore several times that the crickets chirping in the background were ACTUALLY coming from behind me down the hall. Footsteps would echo down a hallway with pinpoint directional queues, and the sounds of water flowing down a cliff sounds eerily accurate no matter the direction. These are the exact same audio mixes for the Disney release, so fear not, nothing has been lost moving over to Shout Factory.






Extras:

• Japanese Storyboards
• TV Spots and Trailers
• The Birth Story of the Film Soundtrack
• Behind the Studio: Origins of Earthsea
• Exclusive Booklet
• NTV Special

Final Score: ​

Tales from Earthsea was never the bastion of Studio Ghibli film making, but Goro Miyazaki (aka, the OTHER Miyazaki), crafted a fun fantasy tale that certainly eclipses many other animated films of the last decade. It’s got that fantasy flair and some good adult action to go along with it. The animation is simply gorgeous, and Shout Factory has replicated the stunning video and audio from the Disney release 3 years ago (with the added bonus of new artwork, and an exclusive artwork booklet). Once again, if you’re going to be looking at UPGRADING from the Disney release, don’t bother. They’re identical in all major aspects, but if you never did pick up the Disney release, then this is the perfect time as Shout Factory has priced these very competitively (I’ve seen them go for as low as $12.99 vs. the high prices of the mouse house). Definitely give it a watch.





Technical Specifications:

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Tomothy Dalton, Mariska Hargitay, Jun'ichi Okada, Aoi Teshima, Bunta Sugawara
Directed by: Goro Miyazaki
Written by: Goro Miyazaki (Screenplay) Ursula K. Le Guin (Novel)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD MA 6.1, French DD 5.1
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 115 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 6th, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Watch It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I have this one on DVD. Very good movie.