(no subject)
Oh yeh, I was supposed to write something on the Ghibli film.
Hmm, well put it this way, it's not one of their best.
The stunning animation is still there (although sometimes it looked like that was all there was to it..) although they really didn't take advantage of the plot possibilities with the material they had. The Earthsea books have so much to offer and it felt like most of the time they had just taken the names of the characters and places and then made up their own plot. It didn't jog my memory at all for the book...there were just a lot of bits where I was going: Now, I'm pretty sure that didn't happen...
About half way through I'd decided that I really had lost the plot. It didn't feel fluid at all. At the beginning there really is no explanation at all for what's going on. You have no idea who Ged is, why he's where he is and what he's doing. I think it was explained extremely briefly in a few minutes but was then never touched on. Arren's role felt like he accidently bumped into Ged and then just followed him because he had nothing better to do. There was no explanation at all for why he stabbed his father or why he took the sword. All you heard about the sword was that it was magical...and that was it. The plot just never deepened into anything significant and it was extremely frustrating. I mean, they put dragons in it, but then never did anything with them! I skimmed through the book briefly after watching it and there is a point where Ged meets and speaks with a dragon but they never took that opportunity.
There was plenty of space for them to add these bits in. There was one bit half way though where you have to sit and listen to one of the characters sing for a good few minutes while you stare at pretty back-drops. It really didn't do anything for the plot at all and seemed like a waste of time. One verse and th chorus is acceptable, but the entire song? It was just not necessary.
There were 2 things that really annoyed me about this film:
1) Cob. What the hell did they do to him?! For a start he looked like a transvestite and then he had a female voice actress and don't get me started on what he turned into at the end -_- I think what really annoyed me the most was that his motivation and objective was barely touched upon. He just became this evil guy, doing something (never properly explained) which was ruining the balance. I actually had to skim through the book to find who he actually was and found that they had made references to it in the film, but the average person wouldn't get any of the references without having read the bloody book!
2) THERE IS NOTHING BETWEEN TENAR AND GED!!! They were trying to imply there was >.> Geez, I remember that Tenar was, what, 15 or something when Ged came to rescue her. Ged must've been in his thirties by then! There was never any romance between them! GAH! It also annoyed me that they referred to Tenar's past in the tombs but never gave a short flashback or anything, so that to the average viewer it was completely pointless to include. Sure, put details in for fans by all means, but at least help out those that have never read the books.
Overall, I put this on the same level as The Cat Returns. It's no where near as good as Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away/Howls Moving Castle. If you want to watch a Ghibli, watch those. You might want to give this one a miss. I've decided its not worth putting onto DVD. The ending was completely ridiculous and by all rights, made about as much sense as the rest of the film. I didn't expect much from it, but I expected more from Ghibli. Overall, a disappointing watch.
Hmm, well put it this way, it's not one of their best.
The stunning animation is still there (although sometimes it looked like that was all there was to it..) although they really didn't take advantage of the plot possibilities with the material they had. The Earthsea books have so much to offer and it felt like most of the time they had just taken the names of the characters and places and then made up their own plot. It didn't jog my memory at all for the book...there were just a lot of bits where I was going: Now, I'm pretty sure that didn't happen...
About half way through I'd decided that I really had lost the plot. It didn't feel fluid at all. At the beginning there really is no explanation at all for what's going on. You have no idea who Ged is, why he's where he is and what he's doing. I think it was explained extremely briefly in a few minutes but was then never touched on. Arren's role felt like he accidently bumped into Ged and then just followed him because he had nothing better to do. There was no explanation at all for why he stabbed his father or why he took the sword. All you heard about the sword was that it was magical...and that was it. The plot just never deepened into anything significant and it was extremely frustrating. I mean, they put dragons in it, but then never did anything with them! I skimmed through the book briefly after watching it and there is a point where Ged meets and speaks with a dragon but they never took that opportunity.
There was plenty of space for them to add these bits in. There was one bit half way though where you have to sit and listen to one of the characters sing for a good few minutes while you stare at pretty back-drops. It really didn't do anything for the plot at all and seemed like a waste of time. One verse and th chorus is acceptable, but the entire song? It was just not necessary.
There were 2 things that really annoyed me about this film:
1) Cob. What the hell did they do to him?! For a start he looked like a transvestite and then he had a female voice actress and don't get me started on what he turned into at the end -_- I think what really annoyed me the most was that his motivation and objective was barely touched upon. He just became this evil guy, doing something (never properly explained) which was ruining the balance. I actually had to skim through the book to find who he actually was and found that they had made references to it in the film, but the average person wouldn't get any of the references without having read the bloody book!
2) THERE IS NOTHING BETWEEN TENAR AND GED!!! They were trying to imply there was >.> Geez, I remember that Tenar was, what, 15 or something when Ged came to rescue her. Ged must've been in his thirties by then! There was never any romance between them! GAH! It also annoyed me that they referred to Tenar's past in the tombs but never gave a short flashback or anything, so that to the average viewer it was completely pointless to include. Sure, put details in for fans by all means, but at least help out those that have never read the books.
Overall, I put this on the same level as The Cat Returns. It's no where near as good as Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away/Howls Moving Castle. If you want to watch a Ghibli, watch those. You might want to give this one a miss. I've decided its not worth putting onto DVD. The ending was completely ridiculous and by all rights, made about as much sense as the rest of the film. I didn't expect much from it, but I expected more from Ghibli. Overall, a disappointing watch.