So guys, now we've reached another pretty interesting Studio Ghibli movie, this time though, it's because I haven't really heard that much about it. Some have said they loved it and some have said it's not that good and some have said it's a film they didn't really have any interest in watching it and so, despite having properly heard one person's thoughts on this film, I still went in curious to know what my thoughts would be and, in the end, I think my thoughts on this are pretty much the same as my thoughts on Howl's Moving Castle, as in the first time I saw it, I didn't think it was very good. I mostly found the story and characters kinda boring and the story never really interested me that much. But, again, recently, I watched it again to prepare for this review and it actually did get a bit better. Again, my basic thoughts are pretty much the same and there's some weird plot holes I noticed, but it was a bit better than the first time I saw it. The story is set in a fantasy world where there's wizards and dragons around and a lot of people are talking about how a lot of weird things are happening and that they feel like something's coming. Not only that, but the king of a kingdom is then killed by his son named Arren who then steals his sword and runs away. A man then finds him and reveals he's a wizard named Sparrowhawk who decides to take him along and they begin to travel until they go to one of Sparrowhawk's friend's house and they meet a girl there named Therru who's an outsider from people around her and she hates Arren until they start to bond. But another wizard named Cob wants to use them as a way to become immortal. So, yeah, that's a lot to throw into a movie like this, but, for the most part, I feel like they do a decent job at keeping the focus of this film in check and making it fairly interesting. But I mainly mean in regards to the ideas and events that happen because, in regards to the characters, I don't think there's much interest. I didn't hate them, but I didn't find them all that interesting either. The only one that had my interest was Sparrowhawk because he sounded interesting and felt like there was something you really wanted to know about him. The rest though, like Arren, didn't interest me at all. I dunno, maybe they were trying to make some deep, complex character with him, but I never really felt it. He just didn't hold my interest and didn't really seem that likeable to me. But, that's not to say nothing else held my interest because there were some things that I felt helped keep me invested enough. The main one I think of is Cob, who's obviously the main villain of the film and is this weird and creepy and crazy guy who acts as calm and quiet as he can but there's something about him that's kinda charismatic too. And, again, like the other Ghibli films I've mentioned, this film has a real slow pace to it and I think the first half of the film didn't have my interest. I think all the wandering and all that got kinda boring, but once they reached Tenar's house and met her and Therru, things felt like they picked up more. I found what they spoke about more interesting because this is a film that has a lot of talking in it and not a lot of action and it's mostly just watching the characters discussing about how there's a lot of things going on and something could be happening soon. There's also a lot of other things going on like how Arren is getting visions of some other version of himself that's haunting him. But, that's kind of another thing that's weird about this film. The fact that there's this other version of Arren and we're never really told what it is. Maybe it's something Cob is doing or maybe it's supposed to be like Berserk where his emotions have sorta manifested as some other entity in his head. I dunno and it's a little confusing, especially when it talks to Therru at the end. So, there's a lot of things in this I'm trying to be supportive of here because I do think the film got better the second time and I do think it had a good amount of potential to be amazing, but there's just some moments here and there that kinda held it back a bit. I think the biggest example of that is the ending because there's some stuff in it that's cool, but a part of me feels like it was pretty disappointing as well. We have Cob kidnapping Arren and Tenar and Arren has apparently told Cob his real name, which is also something that's a bit confusing, and he has Sparrowhawk taken too and so Therru comes to help and eventually Arren is able to break free of some spell Cob put him under and they fight with Cob getting older and crazier and so Arren has to save Therru who Cob has taken now too. So, yeah, there's a lot here that's cool and they do have some nice moments for characters like how Arren and Therru start to bond more, but some of this didn't seem that interesting to me. It was kinda cool, I just didn't think a lot of this was that interesting. Also, there's a really weird part where it's revealed that Therru is actually a dragon and she manages to kill Cob and, I dunno, it felt like it kinda came outta nowhere and wasn't properly explained. I mean, I guess I like the idea itself, I just wish it was explained more and, I guess they do kinda tease it earlier on, I just don't think they explained it properly. That being said, I did still like how the film ended with Arren and Therru having a nice moment and so I liked it on that level. So, this is kind of a weird movie for me because it has all the positives and negatives I just mentioned and, as I said at the start, the positives did kinda show themselves a bit more on my second viewing and I did find it more interesting than I did the first time. So, like what I said about Howl's Moving Castle and a couple of other Ghibli movies, I don't think this is one of my favourite Ghibli movies, but I definitely enjoyed it more the second time around. Plus, as always, the animation is really great here and there's some kinda disturbing imagery here like when we see a dragon die at the start and when Cob begins transforming at the end. I also feel like the voice acting really helped this film a lot too, especially Timothy Dalton as Sparrowhawk and Willem Dafoe as Cob. I feel Timothy Dalton made Sparrowhawk feel really respectable and confident and Willem Dafoe helped make Cob feel super weird and creepy, especially with how quiet his voice was a lot of the time. But the rest like Matt Levin, Blaire Restaneo and Mariska Hargitay do an amazing job too. So, I guess this was kind of a weird review for me, but it's hard for me to really get a proper grip on my thoughts on this film because of everything I've mentioned, but I'm glad I saw this the second time to improve my thoughts on it and I do think this is a film that's worth at least one viewing if you're interested. So, yeah, guys, those are my thoughts on Tales From Earthsea. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.
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