Movie: Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Aug. 21st, 2017 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flamebyrdLast night, A nominated me to choose a movie to watch, so I picked Gedo Senki | Tales from Earthsea, a DVD I bought about a decade ago and then never actually watched.
Thoughts, with spoilers:
The only Earthsea book I've read is The Farthest Shore, and that so long ago I barely remember anything, but by all accounts the movie bears very little resemblance to the books anyway.
The scenery was fabulous, particularly in the first half. Just incredible detailed and interesting landscapes and ruined cities. I was in awe.
Sadly that was about the only thing it had going for it, the plot was weirdly paced, hung a little too strongly on coincidence for my tastes, and had one of the most blatant deus ex machina endings I've seen in a long time. (And then, just as all hope was lost, it turned out the heroine was a dragon! I'm just saying, it could have been signposted a little better.)
But I think it was worth watching just for the backgrounds, because wow.
Thoughts, with spoilers:
The only Earthsea book I've read is The Farthest Shore, and that so long ago I barely remember anything, but by all accounts the movie bears very little resemblance to the books anyway.
The scenery was fabulous, particularly in the first half. Just incredible detailed and interesting landscapes and ruined cities. I was in awe.
Sadly that was about the only thing it had going for it, the plot was weirdly paced, hung a little too strongly on coincidence for my tastes, and had one of the most blatant deus ex machina endings I've seen in a long time. (And then, just as all hope was lost, it turned out the heroine was a dragon! I'm just saying, it could have been signposted a little better.)
But I think it was worth watching just for the backgrounds, because wow.