June 20th: TALES FROM EARTHSEA (Goro Miyazaki, 2006)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
A long-held balance between dragons and humans has become upset, and a wizard must team up with a young and troubled prince to find out why, in a journey that takes them across an entire kingdom to face powerful opponents both external and internal.
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the most acclaimed and influential science-fiction/fantasy writers of the last 50 years, having won the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, and a lifetime achievement "distinguished contribution" medal from the National Book Awards. Her Earthsea series of novels and short stories is among her most cherished works, begun in the mid-1960s and after a long hiatus resumed in 1990.
Filmmakers had been trying to acquire the Earthsea property for decades, but Le Guin had turned down all offers, including one made by legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki earlier in his career. Years later when she was acquainted with his work and became a huge admirer, she began a correspondence and meeting with Studio Ghibli's producer Toshio Suzuki as well as Miyazaki himself to discuss adaptation ideas, but the latter opted to retire from filmmaking at that time.
While the senior Miyazaki would come out of retirement to complete another film, Howl's Moving Castle, his son Goro was chosen by Suzuki to take charge of the Earthsea project, over the protestations of his father, who felt him too inexperienced for such a massive undertaking. Goro and co-writer Keiko Niwa opted not to adapt a single Earthsea novel or even a condensation of the original trilogy, but freely borrowed characters, plotlines, and settings from all four existing novels. Hayao's 1983 graphic novel The Journey of Shuna is also considered by many to be a story influence.
Goro did many of the storyboards himself, and was able to draw on the talents of many of Ghibli's veterans, including art director Yôji Takeshige (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke), key animator Shinji Hashimoto (Akira, Perfect Blue), and editor Takeshi Seyama, who had worked on almost all of the Ghibli features.
Voice actors for the English language dub include former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton, Mariska Hargitay (TV's Law & Order: SVU), Matt Levin (Starship Troopers), and Willem Dafoe. The musical score was composed by Tamiya Terashima, with instrumental contributions from renowned Galician musician Carlos Nuñez.
While critical reception was mixed, the film was a big success at the box office. Comparisons to Hayao Miyazaki's legacy were not favorable, but Tales From Earthsea went into much darker territory than the usual Ghibli fare (it was distributed in the U.S. by Disney and would be their first PG-13 animated film). Le Guin herself was disappointed with the result, under the impression that Hayao would be more involved with the project than he actually was. Goro would find greater success with his follow-up, 1960s period piece From Up On Poppy Hill.
Running time is 2 hours.
A long-held balance between dragons and humans has become upset, and a wizard must team up with a young and troubled prince to find out why, in a journey that takes them across an entire kingdom to face powerful opponents both external and internal.
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the most acclaimed and influential science-fiction/fantasy writers of the last 50 years, having won the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, and a lifetime achievement "distinguished contribution" medal from the National Book Awards. Her Earthsea series of novels and short stories is among her most cherished works, begun in the mid-1960s and after a long hiatus resumed in 1990.
Filmmakers had been trying to acquire the Earthsea property for decades, but Le Guin had turned down all offers, including one made by legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki earlier in his career. Years later when she was acquainted with his work and became a huge admirer, she began a correspondence and meeting with Studio Ghibli's producer Toshio Suzuki as well as Miyazaki himself to discuss adaptation ideas, but the latter opted to retire from filmmaking at that time.
While the senior Miyazaki would come out of retirement to complete another film, Howl's Moving Castle, his son Goro was chosen by Suzuki to take charge of the Earthsea project, over the protestations of his father, who felt him too inexperienced for such a massive undertaking. Goro and co-writer Keiko Niwa opted not to adapt a single Earthsea novel or even a condensation of the original trilogy, but freely borrowed characters, plotlines, and settings from all four existing novels. Hayao's 1983 graphic novel The Journey of Shuna is also considered by many to be a story influence.
Goro did many of the storyboards himself, and was able to draw on the talents of many of Ghibli's veterans, including art director Yôji Takeshige (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke), key animator Shinji Hashimoto (Akira, Perfect Blue), and editor Takeshi Seyama, who had worked on almost all of the Ghibli features.
Voice actors for the English language dub include former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton, Mariska Hargitay (TV's Law & Order: SVU), Matt Levin (Starship Troopers), and Willem Dafoe. The musical score was composed by Tamiya Terashima, with instrumental contributions from renowned Galician musician Carlos Nuñez.
Running time is 2 hours.
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