is a 2006 Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

epic fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...

film co-written and directed by

Gorō Miyazaki is a Japanese director. He is the son of animator and film director Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli. Described as "reluctant" to follow his father's career, Goro initially worked as a landscaper for many years befo ...

. It was animated by

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...

for the

Nippon Television Network JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed sub ...

Dentsu Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners is a Japanese advertising and public relations company. It is headquartered at Akasaka Biz Tower in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. History Hakuhodo is one of the oldest advertising agencies in Japan and was founded by Hironao Seki at Nihonbashi-H ...

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,Mitsubishi and

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

, and distributed by the latter company. The film is based on a combination of plot and character elements from the first four books of

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

's ''

Earthsea ''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' ...

'' series (''

A Wizard of Earthsea ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' is a fantasy novel written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin and first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. It is regarded as a classic of children's literature and of fantasy, within which it is widely in ...

'', ''

The Tombs of Atuan ''The Tombs of Atuan'' is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the Winter 1970 issue of ''Worlds of Fantasy'', and published as a book by Atheneum Books in 1971. It is the second book in the Earthsea se ...

'', ''

The Farthest Shore ''The Farthest Shore'' is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published by Atheneum in 1972. It is the third book in the series commonly called the Earthsea Cycle. As the next Earthsea novel, '' Tehanu'', would not b ...

'', and ''

Tehanu ''Tehanu'' , initially subtitled ''The Last Book of Earthsea'', is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Atheneum in 1990. It is the fourth novel set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea, following almost twenty ...

''), as well as

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

's manga series '' Shuna's Journey''. The film's title is named from the collection of short stories ''

Tales from Earthsea ''Tales from Earthsea'' is a collection of fantasy stories and essays by American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Harcourt in 2001. It accompanies five novels (1968 to 2001) set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea. . Retrieved 2012-02 ...

'', published in 2001. The plot was "entirely different" according to the author Ursula K. Le Guin, who told director Gorō Miyazaki, "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie", although she later expressed her disappointment with the end result. A

film comic A or is a Japanese manga volume which uses illustrated images from an anime series, film, or video release, rather than original custom art. They generally contain the full dialog from the anime from which they are adapted. While usually publ ...

adaptation of the film has been published in Japan.

Plot

As a war galley sails through a storm, two

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

fight above the clouds, ending in one's death. In the kingdom of Enlad, the royal wizard Root proclaims the dragons to be a sign of a loss of balance in the world. The king is dealing with disease sweeping across his kingdom, and the disappearance of his son, Prince Arren. In the middle of the night, Arren kills his father, steals his father's sword, and flees the castle. Arren travels through the desert and is rescued from

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

by the archmage Sparrowhawk. Together they travel to the city of Hort Town. When Arren explores the town alone, he rescues a young girl named Therru from slavers, but is later captured by the same slave master, Hare. His sword is dumped in the sea. Sparrowhawk rescues Arren from the slave caravan and takes him to a farm run by Sparrowhawk's oldest and greatest friend Tenar, who lives with Therru. Sparrowhawk's intervention against Hare's slave caravan angers Lord Cob, a powerful

warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...

and the ruler of Hort Town, who wants the archmage brought to the castle. Meanwhile, Sparrowhawk tells Arren that he seeks a way to restore the upset balance, then resumes his search in Hort Town. While there he buys Arren's sword from a merchant's stall and manages to evade capture from Hare whilst learning about Cob's castle. Arren confesses to Therru that he killed his father and that he feels an unknown presence following him. Because of this, Arren leaves the farm, but is met by the presence, which is a mirror image of himself. Arren falls unconscious after stumbling into a swamp while fleeing from the image. Cob takes him to the castle, where he manipulates Arren into revealing his "true name", Prince Lebannen, to control him. Meanwhile, Hare captures Tenar as bait to lure Sparrowhawk into the castle, leaving Therru tied to a post as a messenger. She frees herself, and encounters Sparrowhawk, who gives her Arren's sword to give to Arren. Sparrowhawk breaks into the castle to save Tenar and confronts Cob. Sparrowhawk learns that Cob is causing the world's balance to collapse by opening the door between life and death to try and gain eternal life. Sparrowhawk tries to warn Cob of the dangers of upsetting the balance, and Cob sends Arren out to kill him. Sparrowhawk frees the prince from Cob's control but is captured by Hare after being weakened. Meanwhile, Therru sees the duplicate of Arren and follows him to the castle, where he reveals that he is the light within Arren and tells Therru his true name. Therru enters the castle and learns of Sparrowhawk and Tenar's sunrise execution. She finds Arren, guilty and hopeless, and brings hope back to him, calling him by his true name and confiding in him her own true name, Tehanu. They rush to rescue Sparrowhawk and Tenar. Arren confronts Cob, who tries to kill him. He fights back and finally unsheathes his sword, which was sealed with magic. Arren cuts off Cob's staff-holding hand. Unable to use any of his magic powers, Cob rapidly begins to age. He captures Therru and flees to the highest tower of the castle, with Arren in pursuit. Cornering Cob, Arren tries to explain what he learned about life and death from Therru and Sparrowhawk to Cob, but the withering Dark Lord refuses to listen and uses the last of his magic to strangle Therru to death. Instead of dying, she reveals her true form as a dragon, possessing everlasting life. Therru kills Cob with her fire breath and rescues Arren from the collapsing tower. Sparrowhawk and Tenar leave the castle while Therru and Arren land in a field where Therru changes back into a human. Arren tells Therru he will leave for home to repent for his crime, but will come back to see her some day. After he and Therru reunite with Sparrowhawk and Tenar, the four of them spend time together. Arren and Sparrowhawk depart for Enlad, bidding Therru and Tenar goodbye. Therru looks up to see her fellow dragons airborne, indicating that the balance of the world has been restored.

Cast

Bunta Sugawara was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 200 feature films. Dropping out of Waseda University, he worked as a model before entering the film industry in 1956. After years of work, Sugawara finally established himself as a famous actor at the ...

(

Timothy Dalton Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (; born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama '' The Lion in Winter''. He gained international prominence a ...

in the English Dub) as Ged/Sparrowhawk, a famous, powerful, wise, and noble sorcerer of Earthsea, known as the Archmage, who is trying to solve the mystery on why the world's Balance is collapsing. He acts as a father-figure to Arren. *

Junichi Okada is an actor and a former member of Japanese boy band V6, which was under the management of Johnny & Associates. He joined Johnny & Associates at the age of 14. Music career In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in ''Johnny's Pre-School'' ...

(Matt Levin in the English Dub) as Prince Arren/Lebannen, a seventeen-year-old boy who is followed by a shadow due to his fear of death and the darkness in his heart caused by the collapse of the Balance of the world itself. *

Aoi Teshima is a Japanese singer and voice actress from Kasuga, Fukuoka. She is known for singing and acting in several Goro Miyazaki movies including '' Tales from Earthsea'' and '' From up on Poppy Hill''. Early life Aoi Teshima was born on June 21, 19 ...

( Blaire Restaneo in the English Dub) as Therru/Tehanu, a burn victim who, like Prince Arren, is also seventeen. She was abused and abandoned by her birth parents until Tenar took her in. She originally thought of Arren as a monster after he saved her from Hare, because he seemed to lack any respect for life, but came to fall in love with him when she saw his compassion. *

Jun Fubuki is a Japanese actress. Career Jun Fubuki received a Japanese Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in '' Muno no Hito'', and won at the Hochi Film Awards. This role also won Fubuki the "Best Actress" award at the Yokoh ...

(

Mariska Hargitay Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (; born January 23, 1964) is an American actress, director and philanthropist. The daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Peopl ...

in the English Dub) as

Tenar This is a list of the names of characters in the stories about the fantasy world of Earthsea, created by Ursula K. Le Guin. Nomenclature In Earthsea, each individual among the Hardic peoples has several names over the course of their life: a chi ...

, Sparrowhawk's old friend. When she and Sparrowhawk were young, she was a priestess at the Tombs of Atuan until Sparrowhawk guided her to freedom. She raised Therru on her own and accepted Arren and Sparrowhawk into her and Therru's home with open arms. *

Yūko Tanaka is a Japanese actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She has won several acting awards during a long career working in both film and television, after she graduated from Meiji University. Life and career Early career At the beginning of her ...

(

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

in the English Dub) as Cob, a maniacal warlock. Years ago, Sparrowhawk defeated him before he could attempt to control the dead and was, therefore, banished to the Wastelands. Eventually, he escaped and upset the world's Balance in order to try and to gain eternal life. *

Teruyuki Kagawa is a Japanese actor, kabuki actor and boxing commentator. Biography Born in 1965, his parents are the kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke III and the cinema actress Yuko Hama. His grandmother is the film actress Sanae Takasugi. In the Kabuki world, ...

( Cheech Marin in the English Dub) as Hare, Cob's head slaver. Despite being somewhat bumbling and cowardly, he is very loyal to Cob and takes his slaver job seriously. * Kaoru Kobayashi (

Brian George Brian George (born 1 July 1952) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt in ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), the Indian gynecologist father of Raj Koothrappali in ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019 ...

in the English Dub) as the King of Enlad and Arren's father. He cares for his kingdom and its well-being. *

Yui Natsukawa is a Japanese actress. She co-starred with Hiroshi Abe in the 2006 Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko and in Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2008 film '' Still Walking''. Filmography Film * ''Sora ga Konnani Aoi Wake ga Nai'' (1993) - Kaoru Aoki * ''Yoru ...

(

Susanne Blakeslee Susanne Ellender Blakeslee is an American voice, stage and musical theatre actress. She is also known as Susan Blakeslee, Suzanne Blakeslee, and Suzanne Blakesley; Among her notable roles are the voices of Wanda, Anti-Wanda, and Mrs. Turner o ...

in the English Dub) as the Queen of Enlad and Arren's mother. She is very strict and believes that Arren is old enough to take care of himself. *

Mitsuko Baisho , is a Japanese actress, whose most internationally known work has been for director Shohei Imamura, from 1979 up to the director's final film in 2010. Baisho has also appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa. She won awards for best actress at the 10 ...

(

Kat Cressida Kat Cressida () is an American actress whose credits include voicing the character Dee Dee on the animated television series '' Dexter's Laboratory'', as well as playing the Bride in The Haunted Mansion at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney Wo ...

in the English Dub) as a Cloak Vendor, a middle-aged woman who according to herself, used to be a sorceress. Due to the world's Balance collapsing and the people's failing belief in magic, she lost her magic and was reduced to selling cloaks. * Takashi Naito (

Jess Harnell Jess Harnell (born December 23, 1963) is an American voice actor and singer. His notable roles include Captain Hero in the animated TV series '' Drawn Together'', Wakko Warner in '' Animaniacs'', Ironhide in the first three ''Transformers'' fil ...

in the English Dub) as the Hazia Dealer, who attempted to make Prince Arren try some Hazia, until Sparrowhawk intervened due to its addictive qualities.

Production

This feature film from Studio Ghibli is the first anime film adaptation of any part of the Earthsea series. In the past, many directors, including Hayao Miyazaki, had tried to adapt the Earthsea cycle for film, but were disapproved by the author herself. When Le Guin first heard of Miyazaki's interest in adapting her work, she had not seen any of his films and associated animation with the output of Disney, so she turned down his request. In 2003, after winning an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for his film ''

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distrib ...

'', Hayao Miyazaki received Le Guin's approval but was busy directing ''Howl's Moving Castle''. Studio Ghibli head Toshio Suzuki decided that Hayao's son Gorō Miyazaki, who was advising on the film, should be given his first directing job for the adaptation. Hayao was dissatisfied with the decision, thinking that Gorō lacked the necessary experience. They reportedly did not speak to one another during production of the film. Hayao later acknowledged his son's work upon its first preview. Some feel that a major section of the plot was adapted from the director's father, Hayao Miyazaki's '' Shuna's Journey'' graphic novel, with many direct references. Le Guin, who had become a devoted fan of Hayao Miyazaki's work following their first encounter and had wished for him to direct the film, was also disappointed by the selection of Gorō as director, but was told by Studio Ghibli that Hayao would oversee the film's production.

Music

The soundtrack for ''Tales from Earthsea'' was composed and managed by Tamiya Terashima and was released by

Tokuma Japan Communications is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, m ...

and Studio Ghibli Records as a multichannel hybrid

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

-CD on 12 July 2006. Carlos Núñez was a key collaborator on the soundtrack, contributing his ocarina,

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...

and

Galician gaita The Galician gaita ( gl, Gaita galega, pt, Gaita galega, es, Gaita gallega) is the traditional instrument of Galicia and northern Portugal. The word is used across northern Spain as a generic term for "bagpipe", although in the south of Spain ...

(bagpipe) to 11 of the 21 tracks. Newcomer singer,

, sang in 2 of the tracks. A follow-up album, "Melodies from Gedo Senki", was released on 17 January 2007 and included unreleased Gedo Senki OST tracks and new tracks by Núñez.

Release

Theatrical

''Tales from Earthsea'' was released in Japan on July 29, 2006. Studio Ghibli released the first and second trailers on its official web site. A three-minute Japanese trailer was first shown in Japanese cinemas starting Saturday 24 February 2006. It was aired on

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

on 23 February 2006 (the day the trailer was completed). Theo Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin's son, viewed the Japanese trailer and said this of it: "The images are really beautiful. The song too, it's not like something from Hollywood, but felt really like Ghibli." The trailers were made by Keiichi Itagaki, who had been responsible for trailers for all of the other Ghibli films up until then. In Australia, ''Tales from Earthsea'' premiered in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

on 15 April 2007. The film began a single print tour of major cities on 25 April 2007 and ended up playing at locations in

, Sydney, Melbourne,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

over the following months. It was notable that, unlike previous Studio Ghibli releases, only a subtitled version was seen in cinemas. The film was released in selected UK cinemas on 3 August 2007 by

Optimum Releasing StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, British, ...

, in both subtitled and English dubbed versions. The film was not released as widely as previous Ghibli movies, playing to 23 venues across the nation and making an unremarkable £23,300. Reviews were generally positive, but received mixed reviews when it was compared to the past Ghibli films. Radio Times suggested that it "lacks the technical sheen and warm sentimentality of some of Ghibli's earlier films", while the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' called it "ploddy, excruciatingly slow" and not in the same league as the work of Hayao Miyazaki. However, Empire magazine said it was "well worth watching" while ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it "An engaging piece of work". In Spain, ''Tales from Earthsea'' premiered only in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in two small theaters on 28 December 2007 by Aurum, only in a Japanese version with subtitles (an odd theatrical release compared to previous Ghibli movies).

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...

released the film in the United States on August 13, 2010 under the Walt Disney Studios banner. Unlike their release of ''

Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distributed by ...

'' the previous year, Disney opted to give the film a limited release in only five theaters. The film was rated

PG-13 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

by the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

for some violent images, making it the first and only animated film released under Disney's name receive a PG-13 rating. It is also the second Studio Ghibli film to receive this rating after ''

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...

'' (''

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI. It was rele ...

'', the third PG-13 film from Studio Ghibli, was distributed under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner). The reason for the movie's longer-than-usual release in North America was due to a existing non-compete arrangement with

RHI Entertainment Halcyon Studios, LLC., formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., is an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

, who at the time held the North American rights to ''

'' adaptations and produced the miniseries of the same name. RHI (at the time, Hallmark Entertainment) granted a specific rights reversion for Studio Ghibli in 2004 that allowed them to produce the animated movie, with the rights not expiring until December 2008.

Home entertainment

Japan

The movie was released on DVD and VHS in Japan by

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,Walt Disney Studios Japan released the film on Blu-ray Disc on November 16, 2011. The company later reissued the DVD with the HD remaster on April 20, 2022.

International

A 2-disc DVD was released on 12 September 2007 in Australia by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

, this time featuring both the English and Japanese versions.

released both the subtitled and dub, region 2 DVD for the UK market on 28 January 2008. To mark the release,

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

ran frequent sponsor credits for the DVD, as well as a prize competition, on the AnimeCentral channel.

StudioCanal UK StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, Britis ...

released the film on Blu-ray on June 25, 2012. In the United States,

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

released the film on DVD on March 8, 2011. The company later released the movie on Blu-ray Disc on February 3, 2015.

GKIDS GKIDS is an American film distributor based in New York with, according to the ''Los Angeles Times'', a focus on "sophisticated, indie" animation. GKIDS releases critically acclaimed, mostly hand-drawn, international films—such as the works o ...

re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on February 6, 2018 under a new deal with Studio Ghibli. A single DVD and a special 2-disc DVD were released by Aurum on 12 March 2008, this time with a Spanish soundtrack included.

Reception

Box office

The film reached No. 1 at the Japanese box office on its opening week, with a gross of over 900 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

, or 7.7 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

, pushing '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' to second place and becoming the number one movie in the country for five weeks. It became the year's #4 top-grossing movie in Japan, and the year's highest-grossing domestic Japanese film, with . , it has grossed in Japan and worldwide.

Critical response

During a private screening prior to the film's release, Gorō's father, Hayao, was asked what he thought of the film. He said, "I was looking at my kid. He's not an adult yet. That is all." In the early 1980s, animator and director

asked

, the author of the ''Earthsea'' series, for permission to create an animated adaptation of Earthsea. Le Guin, who was unfamiliar with his work and anime in general, turned down the offer. Years later, after seeing ''

My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story o ...

'', she reconsidered her refusal, believing that if anyone should be allowed to direct an Earthsea film, it should be Miyazaki. The film was ultimately directed by Miyazaki's son Gorō, rather than Miyazaki himself, which disappointed Le Guin. While she was positive about the aesthetic of the film, writing that "much of it was beautiful", she took great issue with its reimagining of the books' moral sense and its greater focus on physical violence. " il has been comfortably externalized in a villain", Le Guin writes, "the wizard Kumo/Cob, who can simply be killed, thus solving all problems. In modern fantasy (literary or governmental), killing people is the usual solution to the so-called war between good and evil. My books are not conceived in terms of such a war, and offer no simple answers to simplistic questions." She stated that the plot departed so greatly from her story that she was "watching an entirely different story, confusingly enacted by people with the same names as in my story". She also praised certain depictions of nature in the film but felt that its production values were not as high as previous works directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and that the film's excitement was focused too much around scenes of violence. Her initial response to Gorō Miyazaki was, "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie". However, she stated that the comment disclosed on the movie's public blog did not portray her true feelings about the film's vast departure from original stories; "taking bits and pieces out of context, and replacing the storylines with an entirely different plot..." Le Guin's mixed opinion of the film is indicative of the film's overall reception, particularly in Japan, where it found both strong proponents and detractors. Many of the opinions can be characterized by a response to Le Guin's comments on her website—that the film's weak points were the result of "when too much responsibility was shouldered by someone not equipped for it". The critical reception in Japan was favorable but mixed when compared to that of other Ghibli movies. Miyazaki was presented Japan's Bunshun Raspberry Award for "Worst Director", with ''Tales from Earthsea'' receiving the award for "Worst Movie" at the end of 2006. It was nominated in 2007 for the

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(losing to ''

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'') and was selected in the ''Out of Competition'' section at the 63rd

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

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reported that 40% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 40 critics with an average rating of 5.2/10. It was the lowest-rated film produced by Studio Ghibli on the website, up until '' Earwig and the Witch'' (2020) which was also directed by Gorō. On

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, it has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 11 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * * * * * *
''Tales from Earthsea''
at

* * Gorō Miyazaki'
Director's Blog

translation

at Ursula K. Le Guin's Web site
Official Hong Kong movie Web site
{{Ursula K. Le Guin

Tales From Earthsea (Film) is a 2006 Japanese anime epic fantasy film co-written and directed by Gorō Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Hom ...

2006 anime films 2006 fantasy films 2000s Japanese-language films 2006 directorial debut films 2006 films Adaptations of works by Ursula K. Le Guin Animated films about dragons Animated films based on American novels Anime films based on novels Dragons in popular culture Fantasy adventure films Fiction about murder Fiction about regicide Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels Films based on multiple works of a series Films directed by Gorō Miyazaki Films set in castles High fantasy anime and manga High fantasy films Nippon TV films Japanese animated fantasy films Patricide in fiction Studio Ghibli animated films Theft in fiction Toho animated films