“Tales of the Earthsea” ( Japanese ゲ ド 戦 記 Gedo senki ) is a full-length anime by Goro Miyazaki based on the Ursula Le Guin series of books on the Earthsea , which was released in Japan on July 29, 2006 . The film is mainly based on the third book of the cycle (“ On the Last Bank ”).
| Tales of the Earthsea | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster | |
| jap. ゲ ド 戦 記 gedo senki ( kiriji ) | |
| Genre / Theme | fantasy adventure |
| Animated film | |
| Producer | Goro Miyazaki |
| Screenwriter | Keiko Niva , Ursula Le Guin |
| Producer | Toshio Suzuki , Tomohiko Ishii |
| Composer | Tamiya Terasima |
| Studio |  Studio ghibli |
| Licensee |  RUSCICO Toho |
| Premiere | July 29, 2006 |
| Duration | 115 minutes |
“Tales of the Earthsea” is the first work of Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki , as a director .
Story
Difficult times have come for the inhabitants of the Earthsea archipelago: equilibrium in the world has been disturbed, nature has rebelled - drought, poor crops, mysterious cattle diseases. Dragons , never before appearing in the eastern edges of the archipelago, now terrify civilians.
Tormented by a split personality, the seventeen-year-old Prince Arren kills his father, King Enlad, and escapes, taking away the family magic sword . The young man himself does not understand why he did this, and wanders around the world in the hope of hiding from a certain shadow that haunts him.
In the desert, Arren meets Archmage Ged , and then they travel together to the city of Hort. Arren accidentally witnesses the attack of slave traders on the girl Terra and saves her. Later that evening, Arren himself becomes a victim of slavers and loses his sword, but Ged saves him and takes him to the farm of his old friend Tenar .
Characters
Arren (true name: Lebannen 17 years old) - Crown Prince of the wealthy kingdom, who committed the murder of his father for unknown reasons. After that, his Shadow constantly follows him.
- Seiyu : Junichi Okada
Terru (true name: Tehanu ) is a girl with a strong character and a very difficult past, which left an imprint on her face (red scar). Shy and reluctant to make contact with strangers. At first, she was afraid of Prince Arren, despite the fact that he saved her from the slave traders. Actually a dragon. Born like a dragon, she is at the same time a man, which happens once a generation.
- Seiyu: Aoi Tashima
Hawk, or Haytaka (true name: Ged ) - the supreme magician. Has a white scar on the left side of the face. Despite the fact that he is a strong magician, he does not like to use magic in everyday life.
- Seiyu: Riot Sugawara
Tenar - a woman who knows the art of healing (neighboring women come to her for medicine), sheltered the mutilated Terra and lives in her rural house. He cured Arren after Ged saved him from slavery.
- Seiyu: Jun Fubuki
A spider is a magician with the appearance and voice of an androgyne , who, due to the fear of death, lost the meaning of life and, obsessed with a craving for immortality, committed the unacceptable: he opened the door between the worlds of the living and the dead. He harbored evil against Ged, who once convicted him of forbidden witchcraft.
- Seiyu: Yuko Tanaka
Hare - leader of the Spider's henchmen. It hunts people for the purpose of selling them into slavery in the future.
- Seiyu: Teruyuki Kagawa
Musical Compositions
Tamiya Terasima became the composer of the anime.
Awards and nominations
- 2006 - nomination for the Academy Award in the category "Best Full-length Cartoon of the Year" .
Creation History
Filming began on September 6, 2005 and lasted a total of 8 months and 17 days [1] .
Criticism
The opinions of critics regarding the film were divided. Many called Goro Miyazaki's debut unsuccessful and incomparable with the work of his father. [2] First of all, the reproaches concerned the fact that Goro’s work is secondary and mainly uses the achievements of Hayao [3] [4] .
Also, from the shortcomings of the film, the length of the narrative, the illogical storyline [5] and the inanimate world [6] [7] were noted.
The artistic decision of the film provoked opposing critics' opinions - some were dissatisfied with the level of character rendering [8] [9] , others, on the contrary, called it “masterful” and compared the film with the “animated picture” [10] [11] .
Positive reviews related mainly to the musical accompaniment of the picture [12] [13] .
Ursula Le Guin herself was not impressed by the film, although she recognized the author's right to interpret and called him “good” [14] .
Also in Japan, the film received the “Worst Film” anti-award at the Bunshun's Raspberry Awards (similar to the Golden Raspberry Award), and Goro Miyazaki was named the “Worst Director” [15] [16] .
Interesting Facts
- The anime was shown at the out-of-competition program of the 63rd Venice Film Festival . At the end of his show, the audience gave a standing ovation lasting more than six minutes [17] .
- In their homeland in Japan, “Tales of the Seaside” were a stunning success, raising $ 70 million for the entire rental period [17] .
- Due to licensing problems (the rights to film adaptation of Ursula Le Guin ’s books belong to the Sci-Fi Channel , which released the miniseries “ Legends of the Earth Sea ” in 2004 ) , the film could not be released before 2009 , when the license expires. The premiere in theaters of North America was held on August 13, 2010. The distributor was Touchstone Pictures .
- In the film " New York, I Love You ", the plot, the character of Orlando Bloom - David - writes music for foreign films and cartoons. And David’s next order is the cartoon “Tales of the Earthsea”.
Notes
- ↑ See the FAQ section at http://www.nausicaa.net Production began on 6 September 2005 and finished on 23 May 2006, a total of 8 months and 17 days.
- ↑ Review on the site Gazeta.ru “Miyazaki replaced”
- ↑ See the review of Leonid Kaganov
The son is not an artist and did not bother to draw something of his own. Sketches are, without exception, borrowed from his father's works - you will recognize them without difficulty; there was no shortage of such material in the archives of the museum. The plot tricks are also taken from his father's legacy and mixed up chaotically. Well, the heroes spend most of the film frozen for the sake of animated savings, and with their moving lips they read boring morals to each other in such general terms that it’s not clear, but only the tone that calls for something generally known. - ↑ See review
What could be considered a drawback of the film is the repeatability of the video. Cob spider, treating sticky mud like monsters in Howl Castle, a flock of wolves as if from Mononoke, a boy absorbed by water, dull faces of vicious guards, general outlines of cities, strange mechanisms, even like a horse - were in previous films . - ↑ See the review “Dragons and Wizards” on the website of the magazine “Fantasy World”
Most of the questions are caused by the plot of the picture. He was transferred to the film with due diligence, but instead of just one book, all four were pushed there. - ↑ See review
Anyway, according to Goro Miyazaki, the world of the Earth Sea turned out to be insultingly empty and lifeless. The landscapes, for all their magnificent beauty, are clearly lacking in any additional living creatures, vegetation, or at least stones scattered here and there, in a word, those little things that make the worlds of Hayao Miyazaki truly alive. The feeling of emptiness does not leave even during urban episodes, when from the busy streets the action, for no reason, is transferred to some abandoned ruins. And on the streets, extras, rather, play the role of furniture, managing to never be remembered. - ↑ See the review of Alexander Ivanov on the website volgograd.ru
But the plot and the study of heroes let us down. There is almost no intrigue: good characters must defeat the evil (does anyone doubt the outcome?), The initial message is that the gates between the world of humans and dragons will open and there will be a khan, somehow it will be completely forgotten, and dragons will hardly appear (in general, it’s not clear why they are needed here), the main villain is raving with some kind of gate between life and death, by opening which one can get immortality (this nonsense reminded me of a similar search for some unknown gate in our wretched “Volkodava”), there are so many heroes and with pleasure they say, and River such banal truth that sometimes you get tired of it. Of the main characters, only one is spelled out in more detail - Arren, who is fighting his second, dark "I". The rest are such frozen and unambiguous characters that you don’t even need to think much about what they will do or say at one time or another. - ↑ See the review of Alexander Strelkov on the Vedomosti website
There is no hypnotic household magic in all of this. Although the film was made at the same Ghibli studio and by the same artists who work with the senior Miyazaki, the quality of the details, the personality of the characters and even just the backgrounds can not be compared. - ↑ Review of Ruslan Nazmetdinov
The artistic solution of “Tales of the Earthsea” in general leaves much to be desired. The images of the main characters are little detailed, and their movements and facial expressions lack plasticity. The background was worked out in places unevenly and as if painted in watercolor. - ↑ See the recitation of Elizabeth Derenkovskaya on the site of Kino-Govno.com
“Tales of the Earthsea” is primarily struck by beautiful landscapes: cities, seas, sky, fields - everything is done so skillfully that you yourself want to turn into a cartoon character. - ↑ See the review of Alexander Ivanov on the website volgograd.ru
The strongest side of The Tales of the Earthsea is the visual. Like dad, Goro Miyazaki proves to be a real perfectionist, which makes his cartoon almost turn into a living picture ... And so looking at the handiwork of Goro and his team is a real feast for the eyes: picturesque landscapes, bizarre urban architecture, a variety of character clothes. Particular attention is paid to the sky, which in the Tales of the Earthsea has many shades - just like in real life. - ↑ See the review Voice acting is one of the film’s greatest successes. It makes the animated film not just realistic - real. Not only well-chosen tunes and an amazing song to Tehanu ...
- ↑ See the review of Alexander Ivanov on the website volgograd.ru
The Tales of the Seaside has another big plus - this is wonderful music by composer Tamiy Terasima performed by Spaniard Carlos Nunez. - ↑ See translation of the interview.
Mr. Goro Miyazaki asked if I liked the film. Given the situation, the question was complex. I replied: “Yes. This is not my book, this is your film. The movie is good. ” - ↑ Agnia Levskaya. Anime as a mirror of the Japanese soul . Expert Magazine (March 12, 2007). Date of treatment August 14, 2010. Archived June 1, 2012.
- ↑ Earthsea Wins “Raspberry Award” - Anime News Network
- ↑ 1 2 Radio "Culture" .
Links
- Official site (Japanese)
- Movie info at Nausicaa.net
- Ursula Le Guin about the film
- Ursula Le Guin about the film (translation into Russian)
- In databases
- The Tales of the Earthsea anime in the encyclopedia of Anime News Network