Having seen it last night, I'd say it's less bad, and more disappointing. It was probably too much for a directorial debut. That said, it might have some of the best music I've heard in a Ghibli film, and that's a HIGH bar.
Tales from Earthsea for me is a very good movie, because of its calm visuals and extremely well made soundtrack. Its true that the motivation of antagonist to kill his father is not very convincing but I like this movie anyway. I think I watched it 3 times so far. It was the reason I buyed the book series. Because I didn´t read it before I watched the movie, Ged /Sparrow hawk is like the Comic character european/caucasian looking. When I began to read the books I was kind of repelled by the Introduction of the author herself. Obviously woke feelings or the third feministic wave convinzed her to shade her own first three books, because she "regrets beeing focussed on male characters" . Which I feel is a shame. This caused me to dislike her as an author, because by occasion I am a male reader. I am only at the half of the first book, and so far I like it. But I don't have much sympathy for Ursula K Guin anymore.
Compared to all animated movies, it's pretty good. It's animation is so good some people would even consider it a banger based off of that alone. But compared to Ghibli movies, which always blow everything else out of the water by a mile, it disappoints.
Of course it's not because all off the narrative weaknesses, random asspullelery, blunt preaching, abandoned characters and themes. It's because for once someone wrote a character again that is evil and can't be stopped by mere moral preaching or passivity. But that's of course less realistic and human (whatever tf that means). So don't even think about such scenarios. Don't kill your enemies. Don't kill evil. I wonder who would benefit from normalizing this bs way of thinking. And it would have magically solved all the problems in Monoke and all the other films if it had been done thoroughly and early on. All these fractions might not be evil in themselves, fair enough. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter much to those who they inflict damage on. They might still be a danger andd thus bad to other people. You all go with the perspectivism and realitivity routine and then continue to determine the logical conclusion by making it it into some vague pacifist nursery home fairytale bs.
I think the dragons in Tales from Earthsea are better than Haku in Spirited Away. I tried to read "A Wizard of Earthsea," recently but couldn't as the third-person omniscient point of view was too distant from the characters. I thought Hayao Miyazaki didn't like "Tales from Earthsea," because it disrespects the source material so severely. "Tales from Earthsea," was one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films but now I can see how flawed it really is.
I love mononoke. Favourite film, but ahitaka is too pure for me to relate to well. I relate more with Arren in earthsea. I’m broken (not in an edge lord way) and seeing perfectly moral male princes kinda hurts my heart and makes me feel out of place when engaging redemptive stories like these. I love Earthsea. I admire Goro’s work in the wake of his father.
I didn’t realise it would be so scary and violent, as I was watching it with my young kids 9 and 5. I had to cover their faces with a blanket for most of the ending. Ugh Cob’s eyes and arm being cut off was the worst parts I wish I knew about beforehand.
Honestly. I liked this movie, It wasn’t boring nor stupid. The only thing that shocked me, was when the kid cutted of the hand of main antagonist. It was very detailed, and the fact that there previously wasn’t any scene like this (no blood) was a big shock. The music was beautiful, also the story, characters were great. Besides that, it was nice to have happy ending, not like in most of ghibli’s movies. I enjoyed this movie, and in my opinion, it’s one of the most underrated movies from ghibli studios. Regards
I really liked it. First of all the main character is 17 , thank god. I was so tired that every time the main characters are kids. So than the world and the soundtrack are just🔥. Plus the villain is scary lol that was cool too. So yeah it was a really good film
@@aronsmith2688same I just watched a few days ago and I am completely captivated. The story is simple, but the world, soundtrack, and charming characters (specially Arren) make up for it. My only problem was that a lot of the background wasn't explained. Still, I'm buying the novel 😼
@@eapoa4116 Hi, I’ve bought the novel. It has 900 pages lol. Unfortunately, I had to buy it in German because I couldn’t find it in Albanian, which is my mother language. But yeah, reading it in German is a bit weird, but till now I’m liking it. And there are a lot of people who recommend reading it 🔥
I like your discussion on this complicated topic. I watched Goro's "Tales from Earthsea" before I read through LeGuin's series fully years later. Even though I hadn't yet read the books, I had these same issues with the movie, and felt that it had deep flaws keeping it from being a masterpiece of beauty, as Hayao's Ghibli movies have always been. The storytelling and character writing issues run so deep, that despite there being beautiful moments in the story, and gorgeous animation, it ends up feeling incomplete. It takes an entire team to create a movie, and it makes me wish that Hayao could have been there, mentoring his sun and helping him as a director in this project--or if not him, another talented and experienced writer and director. Such aid would have been incredibly valuable, because it takes years of experience to get good at storytelling and editing and refining a story. LeGuin herself spent years honing her craft and learning why things work and why they don't, and she has a very unique and beautiful storytelling sense and style, and worldview revealed in her stories that could have fit Ghibli's style so well. I think part of the problem here might even be one of arrogance mingled with inexperience. Goro clearly put all of his effort into the project, but instead of choosing one of the Earthsea stories to adapt, and staying true to the characters and making the story beats work for film, which is a huge effort and very difficult task on his own, he adopted to take on the Earthsea project but then use the characters and world of the story to tell his own tale. This could work, especially in the hands of someone who is an experienced writer, or someone who is working alongside experienced writers, but I think that the method he chose was in a way, the worst of both worlds. He took beloved characters and reworked and rewrote them like he was writing fanfiction, and made Prince Arren into his own character with a completely different and unrecognizable arc. I think it would have been easier to simply write an Earthsea novel of his own within the world, making up his own characters entirely and perhaps only having them meet important characters like Sparrowhawk/ Ged, but the way that he choose to use the original characters but ALSO change and alter them into often unrecognizable forms to fit his own story binds him to expectation (the expectations of Earthsea fans) and yet also has him breaking those expectations in awkward ways. Hayao Miyazaki took on a similar project with "Howl's Moving Castle," another book that I love and have read. He did change a lot with the novel, cutting out a lot of plot points which wouldn't fit in the story, and adding events and story moments that didn't happen, or reimagining them. What he DIDN'T change was the characters. His depictions of Howl and Sophie are actually quite accurate, in the same way that an actor will bring their own interpretation to the table of a character when bringing them to life for a film, but they are still very recognizable to their book counterparts. There wasn't anything that happened in the film that felt like it betrayed or departed from their characters' core identity or goals. Because of this, though the movie has different focus and somewhat different scenes and conclusions to the book, they end up feeling like they are created in the same spirit and are faithful in a creative, interesting way, adding to the world of the book without betraying it. Hayao Miyazaki actually chose to do an easier thing, in my opinion, than Goro did when it came to adapting a beloved novel--he made sure he really understood the characters, and he stayed true to them and represneted them and their story, while reimagining the events that occur to them in places. Goro, in deciding to essentially write what feels more like fan fiction which departs and recontextualizes the characters and what their goals and personalities are entirely in order to serve a new story with ghosts of its inspirations, chooses a much harder and more difficult path to write a movie's story, and make it solid and good. He has to now come up with entirely new, amazing characters, good solid motives, and sell these changes to an audience who are familiar with those original characters. The changes have to be so good, and so interesting, that even people who love the original character need to enjoy the new character and accept this as an alternate world that they enjoy. Not only that, because the characters are no longer recognizable to their story counterparts, Goro also needed to come up with interesting character motivations and an entirely new storyline, because different characters move through a story differently and make different decisions. I'm not trying to blame or attack Goro as a person at all, this is a critique of his choice as a writer, and within the context of the fact that he was given control of a huge and very prestigious movie studio and also book IP BECAUSE of the success of his father, not because of his own. He hadn't built up his experience working with stories like this, he hadn't failed on his own projects and had to prove himself to others as a writer, director, or artist. He hasn't had to write stories in any way, and he was a fan of the Earthsea series, but he has never adapted his own, or anothers story to screen. Yet he was thrown behind the wheel of this enormous project, given what seems to be free rein and almost no guidance, and he did what most writers do when they are writing their own stories for the first time; he wrote derivative fan fiction, exploring his own characters within the characters of an already existing story, and testing out the themes that interested him. Those themes were fear of death and terror of failing, an powerful father whom the son slays and never has to really come to terms with, and fear of oneself and ones death being a major driving motivation for evil. These are all really interesting ideas that haven't achieved a focus yet, and could have worked well and been explored within LeGuin's current stories, had one of them been adapted, but Goro wanted to explore his own ideas and write his own story, I think, and when given the power to do so, he did. The result is a story which doesn't even come close to matching the excellence of LeGuin's novels, but could have. Nor does it live up to the reputation of one of the greatest and most experienced directors of all time. No surprise. Goro was extremely inexperienced and it shows deeply in his writing. I would like to see more films from him. I just wish the project that had been dropped in his lap to try adapting as a test run with wasn't Earthsea. Its an absolute missed opportunity and wasn't fair to LeGuin. She only accepted having her books adapted (something she had resisted happening in Hollywood for years despite their success, knowing how likely it was to botch it) because she trusted and loved Hayao Miyazaki as a director. To have an entirely new and untested director running the studio and rewriting her book as a kind of fan fiction reimagining is sad to see, when her fans can now only wish it could have been different. It takes so so so many people, so many hours, and so much money to make such a painstakingly animated film. If only the script had been looked over and studied by someone other than Goro, or someone willing to tell him no, or give him suggestions and edits--if even the writer herself had been brought on as a consultant, it could have been so, so much different.
Yes exactly!!! I couldn’t have said it better. I definitely think there is some fun to be had with the art direction and dialogue, some stuff is so camp and I love it, but it’s definitely very stiff compared to other Studio Ghibli works. I really appreciate your perspective on this as it feels very balanced without doing the polarizing thing that art commentators seem to fall into these days. And I’m intrigued to read the Earthsea books! :)) I’m glad they’re as human as the movie was (unfortunately) unable to be.
I have found the characters a bit unappealing. The character design is not formidable and they get easily forgotten. Especially the main character, which does not have unique features and clothes.
Is it possible Hayao saw himself as the king and his son as the prince: He did say upon walking out from the screening that you shouldn't make a picture with your emotions. The dragons might be prolific animators, and an idealized version of his father. Probably not, but if I were Hayao and I felt even a shred of guilt, I probably would've seen that lol
It would have been much better if they went with the original Wizard of Earthsea novel. Regardless, I still enjoyed this movie. In the end, for a really great version of any of the Earthsea books, it'll need someone like Peter Jackson to make it happen.
Bro, it's never foreshadowed. I just watched the movie for a second time a night ago. She just randomly becomes a dragon at the end for no reason other than assumed magic mastery or something. I wish the villain used his black goo magic more and was a hard fight, it looked like he was evolving at the end.
The movie is a struggle but I believe it was Goro’s first attempt at a full feature length film. And for all the pressure on his shoulders I thought it was fine. What kills me is that with some encouragement he could have improved and blessed us with more films. Instead he lost his confidence and made From up on Poppy Hill which while charming lacks the risk taking of Earthsea which embraced dark themes of anger and morality. For all the humanity his father displays in his films, I believe he could have nurtured his son better. Remember his father cut his teeth making whimsical childrens cartoons for decades before he even wrote and directed his own stuff. I wish Goro would trust his own voice and make more films but such is Japanese culture.
One of my favourite movies. Though the story seems very compressed. It would have been really cool if it was made into a small serie. But the music, beauty and overall vibe of the world were amazing Cant wait to read the books
One of the better Ghibli movies I think. Amazing soundtrack and a good relatable story of an angry young man, which most young men are at some point in their upbringing.
I prefer the soundtrack, atmosphere and visual style of 2016 more, but Eternal has better combat so overall I like them equally and couldn't ever choose one over the other.
I find that the story is one of the best aspects of Doom 2016. And despite how bare-bones it is, I have always disagreed with Carmack's words or the assumption that Doom has no and needs no story. There is a narrative there, if you're willing to pay attention to it. Most people see Doom 2016's story as a direct _rejection_ of the story-telling displayed in Doom 3, where the player could listen to lengthy PDAs to get more information. I see it more as a characterization of Doomguy in this present timeline; considering that Doom Eternal has confirmed that he is the original Doomguy who has been doing this since the outbreak on Phobos, that means he's battled the forces of Hell _several times._ So imagine being woken up, to find out the UAC is once again sticking their instruments in Hell and undoing all your work. By this point, he's _fed-up;_ he's frustrated that the UAC won't learn it's lesson. So his solution is to tear it all down; make sure the UAC can't keep going and do it again later. Plus, as far-fetched as it is, what I appreciated from the story is, the fact that it somewhat has a plausible explanation for why all of this happened. I mean, let's face it - if Heaven and Hell _actually existed,_ and mankind were somehow able to cross the threshold to them and return...it seems _inevitable_ that someone would get the idea to strip them for resources. And if Hell had an energy-source that could solve the Earth's problems, I don't doubt that a company like the UAC would try to tap that well. Most people interpret it as a commentary on the Oil-Deals with the Middle-East, but I see it more like a comment on human nature; if we find something valuable, someone is gonna try to take-it. I liked Hayden in the game because everything about him just screamed, "I'm going to turn on you," which he does at the end. I expected that the campaign would conclude in a boss fight with Hayden. It didn't, which is why I wanted it for the DLC - but the DLC wasn't going to happen. So I hoped it would happen in Doom Eternal...yeah...Oh well. Gonna be honest, the subtle and slow-burn way that 2016 delivered its story was so good, Doom Eternal sort of dropped-the-ball by comparison.
2016 nail the bolt perfectly into the wall when trying to balance story with gameplay. Enough lore to keep stuff engaging while not to much that make it a slog. It also balance it tone of seriousness and "comedic" very well compare to Eternal which it goofiness in tone and the unfocus in the story really turn me off from the experience.
Yea 2016 just has more stuff that i like for example the Industrial/Research Art design for the environment, the Monstrous/Kaiju design for the demons which in my book is more badass than the Goofy look of Eternal like the Zombie of that game. How character in that game act like an actual person instead of an Cartoon characters. And the Multiplayer that have so much content to play with. Compare to Eternal were i only like the Gameplay design of it.
@@soh1430 nice. I agree with everything. Do you agree that Eternal's missions, encounters, and fights got waaay too gimmicky, bloated, and drawnout, and the mission pacing was a lot worse? Also Eternal's guns look and sound like plastic toys compared to 2016's super beefy and heavy sounding guns?
