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Tales From Earthsea

Play trailer Poster for Tales From Earthsea PG-13 In Theaters Aug 8 1h 55m Adventure Fantasy Anime Play Trailer Watchlist
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37% Tomatometer 41 Reviews 46% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
In the land of Earthsea, a mysterious force threatens to plunge humanity into destruction and chaos. A powerful wizard named Sparrowhawk seeks the source of his world's imbalance, and along the way rescues a runaway prince named Arren. When Sparrowhawk's powers begin to weaken, he and Arren must join forces with a former priestess and her daughter to defeat an evil foe whose quest for immortality will destroy Earthsea.

Critics Reviews

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Steven D. Greydanus Decent Films 09/05/2010
B-
A flawed but ambitious film, full of potent mythic images — battling dragons; a shadowy doppelganger — but one that fails ultimately to resolve those images in a satisfying way. Go to Full Review
Amy Nicholson Boxoffice Magazine 08/18/2010
3.5/5
As dark as The Last Unicorn or The Dark Crystal, though a shade less lyrical. Go to Full Review
Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter 08/13/2010
A workmanlike, humorless cartoon. Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 07/31/2023
2.5/4
The painterly backdrops and detailed scenery are the highlights of an otherwise slow-moving narrative told in a staid, formal style deficient of humor or passion for the material. Go to Full Review
Carla Monfort Espinof 07/24/2023
3/5
The ending reveals a surprise that isn't enough to be satisfying since no one has evolved and it seems this is where the movie should've started. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Rachel Wagner rachelsreviews.net 04/12/2019
B-
Think of this as a very lightweight Princess Mononoke. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Skeletal G @skeletal-ghost 4d This is not one of Studio Ghibli's best films, still having beautiful animations but not finishing the story in a satisfactory way. I think that the initial world building was interesting but did not fully develop as the film progressed. I also found that the voice for Lord Cob (at least in the English version) was at a different volume to the rest of the characters in the film which made the film unnecessarily hard to follow at certain points. See more Ben W @Username618 Apr 26 Is this the one with a strongly environmental message, about a virus taking over a forest? See more Ry N @RyGuy Nov 25 The kingdom of Enlad is imbalanced after a dragon is slain. An archmage (Sparrowhawk) meets a fleeing murderous prince (Arren) to fight a warlock (Cob) seeking immortality. This was a fun fantasy film with classic Ghibli animation, but it was pretty long. See more Brandon J. @BeeJae Nov 16 While I love the animation it doesn’t save the film. It dragged on and it was a pain to watch, I have not felt that way about a film in a while. The characters are very flat and uninteresting. The story was uninspired, the source material I cannot state upon. Some I am sure love it, but I cannot tell from this animated tale. I am sure there are fanboys and weebs that enjoyed it, I don’t care if it is from Studio Glibli or anime, it stinks. I am a fan of all kinds of animation, but this was a waste of time to watch. I would encourage a person to not watch, unless you like watching boring stale stories. See more Shane K @RT89429936 Oct 25 The main character Arren was perplexing at times. But overall I enjoyed the animation and story. Not Studio Ghibli's best, but still worth watching in my opinion. See more Momo A @RT76603737 Oct 23 I have seen this movie exactly three times. The first time, I was just confused, the second I tried to focus on it harder, and the last time, I tried to piece together the plot as best as I could. Throughout the movie, the plot is unexplained, the characters have no clear motivations, especially the hero-type characters, and the story kept adding random facts about the characters that have no foundation in the story and have never established as something that can happen in this world. I do not reccomend for regular or repeated viewing. Watching once is all that's needed to say you did. See more Read all reviews
Tales From Earthsea

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis In the land of Earthsea, a mysterious force threatens to plunge humanity into destruction and chaos. A powerful wizard named Sparrowhawk seeks the source of his world's imbalance, and along the way rescues a runaway prince named Arren. When Sparrowhawk's powers begin to weaken, he and Arren must join forces with a former priestess and her daughter to defeat an evil foe whose quest for immortality will destroy Earthsea.
Director
Goro Miyazaki
Producer
Toshio Suzuki
Screenwriter
Goro Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa
Distributor
Walt Disney Pictures
Production Co
Studio Ghibli, Walt Disney Studios
Rating
PG-13 (Some Violent Images)
Genre
Adventure, Fantasy, Anime
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 13, 2010, Limited
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Aug 8, 2026
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 19, 2019
Runtime
1h 55m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)