Miyazaki's son directed this. The two of them had somewhat of a frustrated relationship and Miyazaki even didn't watch the whole movie in the premier, he walked right off the session, it's on youtube even. Then Miyazaki said that his son "was not ready yet" or something like that.
I think it should be noted that Hayao Miazaki was vehemently opposed to allowing his son to direct this movie, or any movie for Ghibli. He was overruled by the Ghibli upper management, who wished to use his son to continue to cash in on his name after his retirement.
@@soggyrecluse7302 Random Recommendations BECAUSE we are in a Quality-Draught: -Cliffside. -Pokemon: Banette's Curse. -Hilda. -Internecion Cube. -Starship Goldfish. High Quality still exists. Random comment? Yes, but i think you can figure out why i wrote this to ya, especially as i did mention the 'Draugth'.
Studio Gibli is not known for faithful adaptations, at all. Have you read Howl's Moving Castle? It's a fine movie but has almost nothing in common with the book.
I came to the comments to say exactly this. Howl's Moving Castle still turned out to be a good movie, but it's based on the book more loosely than the World War Z movie.
I have to disagree (as someone who read the book). Howl not only captures the characters but, except for diminishing the role of the Witch of the Waste to amplify war themes, the overall plot is quite similar/the same as the book.
Yeah, that's definitely the case. I was glad to hear they were taking freedoms with the source material, but I think only Hayao (not Goro) has done this well.
Hard agree. The story is massively changed and even the very style just clashes with the style of Howl's Moving Castle the book. It was a poor choice for a Gibli adaptaion. Howl transforms into a bird? indeed the whole war already in progress and airships etc is just so off it shook me out of the whole thing. Howl is much more harsh with Sophie in the books and it is easier to see why she feels under threat by him. Whereas in the movie they are hinting at a romantic relatioship blossoming which should be a book or two off. The witch of the waste strange look, power-loss and redemption 'arc' unecessary and bizare. She was far more menacing and sutble in the book. Her whole character just splurged into a generic anime villain. Her whole motivation is lost as someone trying to assemble the perfect being and using Howl's head to compelte it. Significant changes in Sophie's back story. These are more acceptable but still change the feeling of the story significantly especially as it reflects on her step mother and the missing sister and Michael. Also Sophie is a sorceress, right from the start not a strong one but she does magic from the get go. Missing this harms her arc in my opinion and removes a lot of the sense of Califer trusting her to break the curse/contract with Howl. Madame Suliman? What the heck were they thinking there? i'm guessing they just wanted to save a bit of time and combine characters but they do neither of the two characters they are combining any real justice so... Anyway, not saying it is a bad movie. Visually people keep telling me it is stunning (I am no judge so I accept it). However those who claim it is close to the book are not correct. People can love it and many fans do but as a reimagining not as a faithful adaption. Not everything has to be. I did not enjoy it. I love the book. There are those who will love both and those who will love neither. I have a feeling this might be true for Earth Sea too.
@@doppelrutsch9540 The movie is indeed more SF, but the manga definitely has more fantasy tropes; starting with the depiction of warfare, there are less firearms and tanks, and more swords and cavalry in the manga. Miyazaki stated that his two main inspirations for the series were The Lord of the Rings and Dune.
Mrs. Le Guin was a very sweet and creative lady. I wrote to her back in the day and she replied by sending me autographed bookplates. Her message was complex and incredibly deep. It is indeed a shame that Earthsea has never received the adaptation it deserves.
This is how I feel about the Voyage of the Dawn Treader "adaptaion". Same characters and setting, but completely different plot and themes. There's a reason we say, "The book was better."
Voyage of the Dawn Treader made me angry. It sucked out all of the fun from a fantastic ocean voyage and made it a generic mcguffin save the world story.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader made me angry also. That bit where Lucy tells a little girl (I think?) something along the lines of "It will all be OK, you just have to have faith". I don't believe that's a message that C. S. Lewis would have approved of. The inverse connotation of this message in real life is - if it doesn't work out OK, it's your fault for not having enough faith. And there are absolutely abusive religious "leaders" out there who take this line, and tell people that (the 2 examples I know of) the death of their baby was their fault for not being good enough Christians. To add that awful message to the movie, and give it a strong emphasis, this made me extremely angry. I'm glad they didn't make any more after that.
Something I think I'd add when talking about Le Guin's disappointment with this movie is that Ghibli's adaptation is the *good one,* and the one that came out shortly before makes it look like incredibly faithful. The Sci-Fi Earthsea mini-series is an utter abomination, and they bait-and-switched Le Guin far worse than Ghibli did. The highlight being that they told her they had PHILIPPA BOYENS, one of the writers of the fucking LOTR trilogy, but they lost her and replaced her with one of the guys who wrote Small Soldiers. SMALL SOLDIERS. I can't get over how badly they screwed Tenar in particular. She went from an indoctrinated child serving up human sacrifices to the Nameless Ones, to a member of a generically benevolent convent. Ugh, then there's the whitewashing of most of the cast.... Imagine Le Guin's disappointment, and then imagine that she almost immediately saw the same mediocre faux-adaptation complete with bait-and-switch happen again. That succession of bad adaptations soured Le Guin a *lot* on the whole idea of giving anyone rights to Earthsea. Last year A24 got the greenlight from her estate to adapt it, so presumably they've made it crystal clear they *will* be faithful to the books, but given COVID who knows if we'll see it come to light.
Miyazaki spent the entire process basically belittling his sons ability and straight walked out of the premier. He was not a fan of Goro being in charge to say the least
@@ladyethyme This is knowledge gained from "Beyond Ghibli" video The tales of Earthsea - The power of a Name, but to take a little segment from the video, Ursula gave the rights to Miyazaki in the middle of production for Howl's Moving Castle, so with that already on his plate, Ghibli decided to give his son the directorial role after Goro was initially brought on to do story boarding, then due to his status of being Hayao Miyazaki's son, was kind of forcibly put into the directorial seat despite as you may have been told before that this was his first time ever directing a film. Beyond Ghibli's video is a great watch if you're still interested as to why Tales of Earthsea was so botched but to put it all on one person always seemed to me a bit harsh.
Wasn't it actually Toshio Suzuki who decided Goro should direct the movie after seeing his storyboards? Hayao seemed to be against it from the start? Or am I misremembering this.
Goro somewhat worked his way up the Ghibli ladder and definitely wasn't just handed the job based on his name alone. He showed actual promise in the field of animation. First he was the director of the Ghibli museum, then he did some storyboarding work and it was there where his talent was recognized and he was given the opportunity to direct for the first time. It was a difficult first job but goro has gone on to prove multiple times over that he is a good director.
I don't know if you have ever mentioned it or not, but have you ever read Howl's Moving Castle?It's actually a trilogy with Castle in the Sky and The House of Many Ways. The books aren't very long and are extremely well written and I would love to see you do a compare and contrast between the book and movie and reviews for the sequels.
It´s one of my favourites of all time, but I disagree on it having outstanding visuals for the studio´s standarts. I would say it´s their most plot stunning movie.
Good takes for the most part, but I just want to make a slight correction to your telling of the story: It was not Hayao Miyazaki's decision to hand the project off to his son Goro, is was the decision of the studio executives. Hayao was vehemently opposed to the decision and refused to speak to his son for the duration of the production. And, as another commenter said, he walked out of the premier. It was a huge issue in the relationship between the two of them. Earthsea is my favourite fantasy series, and Hayao Miyazaki one of my favourite directors, so this story is utterly heartbreaking to me. I would love to visit the alternate universe where he directed that film instead! Incidentally Goro's second film, From Up On Poppy Hill, is absolutely delightful, so he can in fact make a good film! But yeah, My Neighbour Totoro is an excellent choice for your next Ghibli film, hope you enjoy it!
From up on the Poppy Hill is one of my favorite Ghibli movies (only after Howl's Moving Castle & Whisper of the Heart)! The whole mess of the situation with the Wizard of Earthsea is just sad and frustrating (and I'm saying that as someone who DNF-ed the series)
Its funny how all the conflict behind the scenes of this movie is more Le Guin than the movie itself. Goro can make good movies, he just didn't make a good high fantasy movie.
I’m looking for a fantasy book(series) that matches these qualities: -setting in a mythological version of ancient Japan -has gods/goddesses, heroes, villains, ghosts, monsters, magic,etc -has elements of action, adventure, romance, history, mystery, tragedy, faith, honor, triumph,etc What are some recommendations of this?
@@ANT96-x8d tbh I haven’t encountered any work that fits your exact description in an English language typical novel format. So if you’ve found any I’d be interested too! However upon reading your prompt I felt that the manga “Hyakki Yakoushou” (Tales of a 100 ghosts by twilight) might fit some of your descriptions. It’s not set in ancient Japan, and falls more closely to Horror/Supernatural genre but it deals with lots of spirits, kitsune, Shinto deities that are reminiscent of ancient Japan myths and legends. The story arcs are independent but there are recurring characters. It might fit the mood and theme you were going for as the story isn’t just straight-laced horror but with elements of mystery and fantasy. Another work that comes to mind but isn’t set in ancient Japan but is an English novel would be “The Poppy Ways” series. The world building is quite blatantly based on ancient China, it has gods/deities, heroes, a really scary villain, monsters and magic. Action, adventure, history (based on the story’s own lore not ours) and tragedy (esp first book) definitely fit the bill.
Definitely would recommend Castle in the Sky next. Or The Wind Rises. Or Porco Rosso. Or Totoro. Or Kiki’s Delivery Service. There’s a lot of good choices.
I think, in this case, it might have been informative to examine both Le Guin's account and Ghibli's account as you can see a more clear (but still frustrating) narrative. It's important to look at what was happening at Ghibli at the time. The reason Miyazaki didn't take on the job himself was that he was working on Howl's moving castle. It wasn't his choice to pass Earthsea on to his son, in fact he was so against it that he and his son barely spoke during production and he walked out on the film midway through its premiere. I still agree that Ghibli handled the situation poorly, but Ghibli's narrative of why this happened fits in quite snugly alongside Le Guin's and contextualizes many of the things she brought up. Without looking at both sides though, Dan's landed at the point of "Miyazaki did a nepotism."
It is still clearly nepotism even if it was Suzuki who assigned the project to the younger Miyazaki. You think Gorō would’ve been given the project if he wasn’t the son of the cofounder? Whatever the internal studio politics, those in charge are to blame.
@@Hup. yeah but Daniel specifically said "Miyazaki passed it off to his son" and that Miyazaki himself was responsible for the nepotism. But that's just not true based of the other evidence out there depicting the relationship between them. It was still nepotism but not due to Hayao's actions.
I don't expect TH-camr actually try to understand how Japanese entertainment industry operate. I think this video should be understood as 'review', not any actual study. Asking TH-camr to look into things with field theory is too much.
@@MrVivisexy Hey, if you want to talk specifically, maybe actually go back and look at what he specifically said. Otherwise, just don't say specifically. That's clearly not what Daniel said. In fact, he specifically said that he doesn't know what happened.
Regarding Hayao Miyazaki, I seem to remember he was actually against his son directing this movie, but it was the producer over at Ghibli that made the choice. Though I can't be sure, because I do know that Hayao Miyazaki made the choice to cast Hideaki Anno in his film The Wind Rises as the lead, when Anno has no voice acting skill at all (I don't care if you can't understand Japanese, you can hear how bad he is compared to the other cast members). And Anno is a close friend of Miyazaki. So he definitely has the potential for favoritism.
Will Nelson I would have to disagree with you on this. They white washed most of the cast, messed up a good bit of the plot points, they added a BBEG that was not needed and did nothing for the story, they also messed up the names and true names of the characters. But even if you removed Earthsea from it I would still find it to be a mediocre movie at best.
@@willn703 Watch Lost in Adaptation's review of the TV Series and the novel, because he goes in depth of just how terrible SyFy's adaptation is. It just barely goes over the "In Name Only" territory.
Le Guin was a genius and deserved to have her books adapted by a genius. This was a travesty. As a sidenote: I really want to hear your thoughts on the rest of the Earthsea series! Whenever a chance arises, I implore you to experience them!
Honestly, the obvious tragedy aside, it's somewhat sad that Daniel did his research, formed his opinions, and released his video - only to realise he only understood half the picture. The easiest to discuss is Daniel's ludicrously accusing Hayao Miyazaki of nepotism. Daniel definitely did his research on what Le Guin felt, but he obvious did nothing (or very close to nothing) on how Hayao Miyazaki felt. The mere fact the Daniel accused Hayao Miyazaki of nepotism screams to many of us that he had no clue what actually happened. Hayao was very opposed to his son's adapting of Earthsea - so much so that many would rather accuse Hayao of being somewhat abusive in how he treated his son for months to come. This is a very complicated story. It's undeniable that Earthsea was wronged, but apportioning blame is difficult, and Daniel's approach gives the impression that he didn't do enough research on what happened on Studio Ghibli's side of the story, or really try to distinguish the various individuals at play under the vast name of Studio Ghibli. I know that Daniel is at least somewhat aware of this now, considering the comment he pinned. I love his content, but I hope he will be more careful in future.
This is how I feel about Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle “adaptation”. It wasn’t really. They took a few characteristics from the book and then created their own story. Especially creating a villain away from the one in the book. I’m not a fan of any recent book adaptations after that. Their own stories, yes, because their visuals are stunning.
Thank you! Finally someone who understands why I can't totally love Howl's Moving Castle! It's a nice movie, but it isn't a real adaptation of the book.
Agree agree... I'm a huge fan of D.W. Jones's books, and the film just steers right off the track - it's a good film, but the humor in the book and the character of Howl is totally lost unfortunately.
The book is like a cozy fantasy. Has some strong fairytale themes to it as well. Sophie has a wonderful relationship with her sisters. My main issue with the movie is they changed the conflict. @@Elricsedric
@@GeneraluStelaru Just my opinion, but I think that can often come across as being quite performative. I'd prefer if they'd just leave characters with the original races they were meant to be portrayed with.
I’m 43, jaded by a cruel and unforgiving world, and cynical of those who refuse to embrace the chaos of humanity’s slide into obscurity. My Neighbor Totoro fills me with childlike wonder and gives me hope for people, not as a species but that we as individuals can find grace and love in the world around us. 10/10 I want a giant Totoro friend.
You could’ve researched this subject a lot better instead of (unintentionally) spreading some disinformation. Miyazaki himself didn’t hand off the directing duties to his son. It’s well documented that the producer Toshio Suzuki chose his son Goro because he liked his storyboards. Miyazaki was against the decision from the outset due to Goro’s lack of any professional experience or education, which was a big deal for him given the conservative Japanese businessman background he grew out of. They also didn’t lie to LeGuin. She assumed “Miyazaki” directing meant Hayao, instead of his son, and allowed it to be greenlit. Maybe the issue came down to a mistranslation between exchanges or just the general language barrier, but it wasn’t dishonest proposals.
It’s interesting to hear the pov from a fan of earthsea. I had never heard of it before and when I went into it I was enthralled with the world that was introduced. Sure the character motivations are ambiguous but there’s so much that is sort of introduced and/or briefly mentioned about the world and passed events that I loved just thinking about what happened here or there or what’s the history behind this or that. As for the art I honestly really loved all of it. I don’t know what about it that people don’t like, I’ll agree it’s a bit of a departure from previous gibli films but it reminds me of the likes of naussica and some older gibli films. I think the payoff is definitely lacking but the greater world that was introduced and teased is enough to make me love what I watched. I suppose as a stand-alone film it probably wouldn’t be as great but I also just generally like imagining things about worlds so I might’ve still enjoyed it. But because it’s a part of an existing series it just makes me more excited to read and learn more about it.
The one thing I really like about this film is Teru's Song/Teru no Uta (both the Japanese and English versions). The Japanese singer really captures the emotion of the song.
@@MissMokate Yep he categorically can't review Ghibli any more because of their insane copyright behaviour. His Howl's video I think is still available to patreon supporters, and that's it. I really like Ghibli movies but it's sort of unclear whether Japan has the same fair use policy as the US, and regardless Google seems disinterested in clarifying it and will just issue strikes on Ghibli content as soon as the studio makes a claim. I won't be surprised if this video of Daniel's gets the same treatment because it seems to be a studio-wide practice.
Just have to say, Hayao Miyazaki was Ghibli. He wasnt part of this film but Ghibli is associated to all of his masterpieces, so there is an almost false sense of connection. How can they ever recreate amazingness when Hayao wrote and directed all our favorite classics?
Man I was so disappointed with how Studio Ghibli handled Earthsea. I'm a huge Ghibli fan and I actually watched this adaptation before I had even read the Earthsea books, but even when I was unfamiliar with the source material I still felt like it was one of their worst movies. Now after having read Earthsea it's just terrible to see the missed potential. If Miyazaki directed this rather then his son it could have been amazing. On a side note, I like the sword collection 8:35
I love seeing the videos where we get to see what goes wrong to help us improve. I love this channel and although I haven't watched it i know I'm going to love this video. Hopefully someday he will review my book. Thanks for everything Daniel!
I've seen both Earthsea adaptations and I just wonder if we'll ever get an adaptation with actual brown people. A new TV series was announced in 2019 but there's nothing on it yet. The Ghibli movie is passable if you don't think of it as Earthsea but the 2004 series...........I would hope this supposed new adaptation is nowhere near as bad as that.
Hey, just noticed you hit 200K, congratulations for that! Keep doing what you´re doing as long as you´re loving it (and profit from it), I definitly do.
"White wash" in anime is a controversial term but - yeah, I'm surprised Daniel didn't touch on this since one of LeGuins other major struggles with adaptations, and this one included, was Ged being explicitly and intentionally dark skinned in the book but visual adaptations constantly presenting him with light skin against her wishes.
Not sure if you'll see this, but it's kinda neat that I'm the one who recommended this series to you a while ago, and now you're doing this awesome video. Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favorite writers. The Earthsea series is truly amazing. Again, great video, and I'm right there with you on the "Oh ..." of it all. One quick question, have you read any of the following books as well? Cheers. :)
A difference between Hayao and Goro is that Goro based a lot of the art for Earthsea on the motifs from European oil paintings (Goro has commented on this himself). This however is hard to carry over to animation because a lot of oil paintings use light touches with bold colors. This resulted in amazing wide shots and background, but the rest of the animation stands out because of this. (I think one of the greatest examples is a shot of Arren sitting with Sparrowhawk with the city in the background) I also think the whole story surrounding Tales from Earthsea is even sadder because Hayao was in opposition to Goro going into directing, and didn’t have the greatest response to his son’s first movie.
I recommend Grave of the Fireflies. It's about two Japanese kids and how WWII affected them. Warning though, this is by far the darkest of Studio Ghibli's films
I definitely don't believe there was any ill will in this adaptation. Hayo Miyazaki is clearly a huge fan of earthsea and you can see it's influence all throughout his films. Spirited away in particular shares a lot of similarities with the tomb of Atuan. I think for what it attempted: turn six books into one movie length story, it's a fine enough movie and incredibly gorgeous. Goro has gone on to direct other Ghibli properties that have been incredibly well received so I don't believe he was a bad director he just did the best he could with a task that was impossible. It strays from the original themes a bit but the act of taking the story of earthsea and making it your own is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the books.
I recently watched the movie and had to watch it in parts, because I found it almost unrecognizable. earthsea is a treasure in philosophical and artistic terms. They kind of...’missed it.
I think this has to do with Miyazaki and tentions with son during prodruction who was acting as director ( for the first time ) There an entire behind the seen showing that Miyazaki is perfectionist and absent father and I believe move his son being a first time director with him animating department is what cause the majority of the problems.
Just a fun thing: I told my brother that in america they call wine liquor mostly and in Britain they say spirits. Now he calls spirited away, liquored away for fun lel😂
What? Well I guess we call alcoholic beverages in general liquor, but we also use spirits, it's just more specific to hard liquors with high alcohol content like gin, vodka, rum, etc.
@Long Wang dude...I do not drink, and its no fact just something we learned in the british to american course which wasn't accurate. Stop being rude, i am not conveying info, don't even drink, just telling a joke
@@MrKirner But colloquially people do sometimes use it when they aren't being specific, like booze, or if there is a mixed selection. A bartender or afficionado/sommelier probably wouldn't.
Gotta say, I never heard of Earthsea before watching the Ghibli version but it made me curious about reading it after seeing reviews on how it betrays the source material. Daniel, would you recommend the Earthsea books for first time fantasy readers?
I really liked it, I thought it had some really deep symbolism and theology, it definitely wasn't studio ghibli s greatest work but I would give it at least a 6/10, I suppose I agree with you that they didn't do as much with the plot and the themes they could have, they had a really good framework but you're right they really squandered it in that regard
Honestly, for the visuals, the first part of the movie had incredible set design. Especially the Byzantine inspired cities and architecture. Beautiful. Another reason why the second part of the movie suffered so poorly.
Let's not forget how they white-washed all the characters, and apparently told Le Guin that they looked "dark skinned enough" to a Japanese audience. -_- While I don't think this was a case of nepotism and I have a soft spot for the film for introducing me to Le Guin's works, this is the most painful part for me, especially given how hard Le Guin fought for making her heroes racial minorities in an almost exclusively white fantasy landscape.
Jesus Christ Daniel I'm driving and it's night time and when you put in that screaming sound effect I thought I was endangering a child and I just couldn't see them because it's dark oh my God you gave me heart attack!
I don’t know why, I’ve read and loved the books but I also loved the movie, especially the music. I still listen to the soundtrack every time I read the books now. You’re right it does suck as an adaptation, I see it more as an appetiser to the books.
Miyazaki Jr. is honestly fighting an uphill battle at this point (2006). Remember this was barely a decade after Mononoko, five years after Spirited Away and 2 after Howl's Moving Castle. Ghibli had a PILE of accolades from three consecutive wins, expectations were high... plus Earthsea is an adaptation of a classic novel series, you KNOW fans will inevitably whine about the movie being "different" (not good or bad, but different... remember Miyazaki Sr.'s career starts with a Lupin movie receives complains from fans that Lupin and gang are "too nice", Cagliostro only started becoming a classic in reruns) Honestly feel kind of sad for Goro...
As a massive Ghibli fan,i can honestly say this is by far the worst of their movies. I think your 5/10 is extremely generous,the plot is completely nonsensical and the characters are flat,the animation,as you said,is fine but compared to other ghibli,s works is only superior to Ocean Waves,a tv release. Something i think should be noted is that Hayao clearly hates this movies himself,you can see documentarys on youtube with footage of when he watched it for the first time and simply walked away from the theater to get a smoke,he was always against the idea of Goro directing it,and during the production of ´´From up on poppy hill,Goro,s second movie,Hayao kept complaining how he shouldn,t direct and how everything he would ever do would suck. It,s actually kind of unpleasant to see a father being so harsh with his son,Goro,s second movie is better than Tales of Earthsea,but i think Hayao never truly accepted him as an artist. When you say ´´How could Ghibli accept this``,you should blame the producer Toshio Suzuki,from many documentarys i,ve seen,he seems like a cool guy,but remember he is a producer,he is only worried about the business part of things,and he wanted to bet on Goro Miyazaki. It,s a shame Earthsea ended that way,but the good thing is the worst is behind you,now everything Ghibli you watch will be better than this. Totoro is more of a kid,s movie,don,tknow if that,s your thing,but you should get around The wind rises and the tale of princess kaguya,those are great.
And on the other side of the coin I thought a 5/10 was a bit harsh. It's very average compared to a typical ghibli film but like Daniel said its still good 'as a film' (forgetting its an earthsea adaption) compared to what it could have been with another studio. I watch ghibli films and generally enjoy them but I'm not a big fan. I also saw earthsea before having read any of the books. I just thought it was a fun fantasy film. I wasn't blown away but I wasn't disappointed, I enjoyed it which to me is at least a 6.5 maybe 7.
@@markanthony. i watched it not knowing anything earthsea either and i hated all the characters. Lol. But it,s ok,it,s just my opinion,i would rather watch literally any movie instead of rewatching this one.
My Neighbour Totoro is about being a kid, that's why it's so great watching it as an adult. The Tale of Princess Kaguya I've found mediocre at best. Though it's visually stunning and the first half or so depicts life at the bamboo cutter's beautifully, it's ultimately thematically all over the place.
we should learn from disney buying off star-wars and making a rey-skywalker sequel trilogy. Any big pocket can work their way into buying a property and making low-quality content (or trash), but it doesn't mean that new content IS what the actual good book story is. Denis villenue succeeded in people accepting his Dune films as THE dune story, but even that is a limited adaptation. It needs lotr films level of failthfulness to source material for a film to succeed in depicting the book well. just can't expect it to happen a lot.
The movie evidently understood all the books core themes, and although they did get a little jumbled at times, it was genuinely a good movie, and considering it was Goros first entry, shows huge promise for his future.
I currently happen to be reading A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time, and was looking forward to seeing this production. I always love to see visual adaptions of SF and fantasy books but now, on this one, I'm not so sure. BUT... the Earthsea series DOES have a ton of great artwork illustrated for the books over the years. And the maps are always fun to explore.
I have not seen this movie (and am not planning to), but since I am watching a video about it, I looked at Wikipedia's plot summary of this movie. It goes WILD, what a monstrosity...
Now that you have watched the gibbli film with arguably the most source material I suggest one with arguably the least. Castle in the sky inspired by a single paragraph of gulliver's travels.
Well people shouldn’t really be moaning that because it’s set in a Western-style fantasy it can’t be good as a Ghibli, I mean look at howls moving castle, that was set partially in a place like Wales for gods sake’s, you can’t get much more western than that. However I must say despite a few scenes and certain characters or events they didn’t stick very close to the book of howls moving castle at all.
I haven't read the Earthsea series yet, but after watching this video and Dominics lost in adaptation makes me really want to. And I'm one of the few who likes the Ghibli "adaptation".
Hayao Miyazaki is an enigma of a creative genius. He is one part perfectionist, insisting that he hand approve and contribute his own line work to almost every key drawing in the entire film. And he did that on every movie from Castle of Cagliostro up through Mononoke. He is also one part philosopher because his films always seem to have the right thematic core to them and he effortlessly drives his stories along while keeping thos themes ever present. I can't say I've enjoyed his last two films very much. There's something unique about both Ponyo and The Wind Rises that just never jived with me. But for everything up to Howls Moving Castle, he could seemingly do no wrong. He had that magic touch. But suddenly, his son got to have the directors chair. And every element of Earthsea felt like a son desperately trying to imitate their father in both the art design, scene structure, and certain themes. I'd even go as far to suggest they reworked the Earthsea stories and characters in order to fit Goro's needs in order to imitate Hayao's greatest hits. Thankfully, I was glad to see Goro vastly improve when he directed From Up on Poppy Hill. Still not a 10/10 Ghibli film, but definitely an 8/10. He seems to set his own pace and style that time and isn't trying so hard to impress.
If it's some consolation to you, Daniel, I watched the movie recently (knowing in advance it's considered the worst Ghibli movie, perhaps their only one that's objectively bad) and it still made me want to read the books, which I binge-read over the span of a month or so and it's now my favorite series. It was interesting seeing which parts of the books they plucked for the movie and how much better the books worked. I'm a longtime Ghibli fan and remember when the Earthsea movie was in production and all that, but when the reviews came in I was disinterested in seeing it at the time and just decided to watch it on a whim after getting access to my parents' HBO Max.
Howl's Moving Castle is also REALLY different from the book. I love the movie, but I came across the book a few years later and read it and my God, it's fantastic. I ended up reading all of Diana Wynn Jones' books after that.
I have a soft spot for this film, because it was my introduction to Earthsea. I did not think that the story or animation were amazing, however I was so intrigued by it that I started reading the books. The movie is this weird mess of ideas and characters from the first 4 books and is named after the 5th book in the series. It certainly fails to deliver on the characters and story of Earthsea. Nonetheless, the movie catches something very specific to earthsea and that is its athmosphere. This ruggedness and gentleness about Sparrowhawk and the world, An apreciation for life and death. One can only dream how good this adaptation could have turned out if they actually stuck to LeGuins story and characters.
I watched the movie when I didn't even know it was based on a book, and I really hated. For a long time I used to say from the Ghibli movies I watched it was the only one I actually hated. One day I discovered Ursula through Neil Gaiman talking about Left Hand of Darkness and I loved what I read from her, but when I found out the movie were based in her books I was really against reading Wizard of Earthsea because of how much I hated the movie. So, I'm reading it now, and loving it, and yeah, now I know the movie is really not the book. But I mean, I can see some people actually saying the book must be bad because of the movie, it definetly hurt the book a little. But yeah, I'm really glad to have decided to read it, but the movie made me wait way longer than I should've to read it.
To be perfectly honest, I watch Daniel’s videos because of the interesting topics, but I really can’t help but fall in love with him every single time 💚
Hayao Miyazaki was famously against his son directing this, it was not a case of nepotism. He said his son wasn't ready and had no experience directing since he'd barely worked in animation before. It is documented in multiple statements as well as this documentary (free for viewing): www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/program/video/10yearshayaomiyazaki/?type=tvEpisode&
"Thought I was going insane and just didn't remember the story" ME TOOO!! I actually went back and re-read the books because I thought I'd managed to forget one of my favourite stories!! Really disappointed, have not been able to watch it through.
you know it kind of makes sense this happened given what you explained here as (haven't experienced either movie or book yet) Explanation: The book was written as a nuanced adult view of the world where the line between good and evil are ephemeral and hard to pin down, and as a result require a more careful experienced means of dealing with it. the movie was made by a child (relatively speaking) and not an experienced veteran. An adult story wouldn't jive well with a young mind and such a mind i predict would seek to simplify it and alter it to better fit with their own current understanding of the world. The concepts of ephemeral good and evil don't sit well with younger people which is why there is always a villain to be had in most fictional stories. its much easier to comprehend. Note: most younger (especially privileged with successful fathers and all) people don't care for respectful representations of external works and i think this is due to them not having yet made their mark on the world and gain their own experiences with how things actually work (as a result they alter things to suit themselves, not maintaining, caring to maintain, or even understanding the structure/purpose of the original story). I fully see why the original author would be upset by this, i would be too if i were in her shoes
Garo Miyazaki is just not a good director. And this being his debut movie certainly did not do it any favours. Though he has gotten better with time, each of his successive film being better than the last one, he still hasn't made any movie which lives up to his father's legacy.
Since fall is comming I will recommend to you watch Arrietty, it's not well knows as the other Guiblie movies but I think it's good, and visually stunning
My mom really loves the Earthsea books and uses the line “It was like watching a totally different story with characters who just happen to have the same name” to describe her beef with the Lord Of The Rings. It makes so much sense now to hear it came from Le Guin.
Miyazaki's son directed this. The two of them had somewhat of a frustrated relationship and Miyazaki even didn't watch the whole movie in the premier, he walked right off the session, it's on youtube even. Then Miyazaki said that his son "was not ready yet" or something like that.
Noted👍👍
Didn’t he say “It’s good that he made ONE movie. With that he should quit.”
I saw that video! It was brutal
Then why didbhe gave him the movie ?
@@mayareads708 I think Miyazaki was involved in another project and the producer handed over Earthsea to Miyazaki's son
I think it should be noted that Hayao Miazaki was vehemently opposed to allowing his son to direct this movie, or any movie for Ghibli. He was overruled by the Ghibli upper management, who wished to use his son to continue to cash in on his name after his retirement.
Ooohhhhhh.
That makes me feel better.
Disclaimer:
This Video is rather subjective and kinda off the mark, tbh.
This Movie are definetly worse than presented
here.
That totally explains earwig and the witch too
@@soggyrecluse7302 Random Recommendations BECAUSE we are in a Quality-Draught:
-Cliffside.
-Pokemon: Banette's Curse.
-Hilda.
-Internecion Cube.
-Starship Goldfish.
High Quality still exists.
Random comment? Yes, but i think you can figure out why i wrote this to ya, especially as i did mention the 'Draugth'.
Studio Gibli is not known for faithful adaptations, at all. Have you read Howl's Moving Castle? It's a fine movie but has almost nothing in common with the book.
I came to the comments to say exactly this. Howl's Moving Castle still turned out to be a good movie, but it's based on the book more loosely than the World War Z movie.
@@3COI Looser adaptation? That's actually impressive because World War Z was something else.
I have to disagree (as someone who read the book). Howl not only captures the characters but, except for diminishing the role of the Witch of the Waste to amplify war themes, the overall plot is quite similar/the same as the book.
Yeah, that's definitely the case. I was glad to hear they were taking freedoms with the source material, but I think only Hayao (not Goro) has done this well.
Hard agree. The story is massively changed and even the very style just clashes with the style of Howl's Moving Castle the book. It was a poor choice for a Gibli adaptaion.
Howl transforms into a bird? indeed the whole war already in progress and airships etc is just so off it shook me out of the whole thing. Howl is much more harsh with Sophie in the books and it is easier to see why she feels under threat by him. Whereas in the movie they are hinting at a romantic relatioship blossoming which should be a book or two off.
The witch of the waste strange look, power-loss and redemption 'arc' unecessary and bizare. She was far more menacing and sutble in the book. Her whole character just splurged into a generic anime villain. Her whole motivation is lost as someone trying to assemble the perfect being and using Howl's head to compelte it.
Significant changes in Sophie's back story. These are more acceptable but still change the feeling of the story significantly especially as it reflects on her step mother and the missing sister and Michael. Also Sophie is a sorceress, right from the start not a strong one but she does magic from the get go. Missing this harms her arc in my opinion and removes a lot of the sense of Califer trusting her to break the curse/contract with Howl.
Madame Suliman? What the heck were they thinking there? i'm guessing they just wanted to save a bit of time and combine characters but they do neither of the two characters they are combining any real justice so...
Anyway, not saying it is a bad movie. Visually people keep telling me it is stunning (I am no judge so I accept it). However those who claim it is close to the book are not correct.
People can love it and many fans do but as a reimagining not as a faithful adaption. Not everything has to be. I did not enjoy it. I love the book.
There are those who will love both and those who will love neither.
I have a feeling this might be true for Earth Sea too.
Reminder to read the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga series, Miyazaki's hidden masterpiece and my favorite science-fantasy series ever.
That series messed me up in all the best ways. It's intense.
The manga is so incredible and nobody who only watched the movie ever knows what they're getting into with it.
Interesting. What is fantasy about it? The movie was very straightforward SF I thought.
@@doppelrutsch9540 The movie is indeed more SF, but the manga definitely has more fantasy tropes; starting with the depiction of warfare, there are less firearms and tanks, and more swords and cavalry in the manga. Miyazaki stated that his two main inspirations for the series were The Lord of the Rings and Dune.
@@lcatalamusic Additionally it leans into the more spiritual parts of the setting.
Mrs. Le Guin was a very sweet and creative lady. I wrote to her back in the day and she replied by sending me autographed bookplates. Her message was complex and incredibly deep. It is indeed a shame that Earthsea has never received the adaptation it deserves.
This is how I feel about the Voyage of the Dawn Treader "adaptaion". Same characters and setting, but completely different plot and themes. There's a reason we say, "The book was better."
The old tv series from the '80s wasn't too bad imo.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader made me angry. It sucked out all of the fun from a fantastic ocean voyage and made it a generic mcguffin save the world story.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader made me angry also. That bit where Lucy tells a little girl (I think?) something along the lines of "It will all be OK, you just have to have faith". I don't believe that's a message that C. S. Lewis would have approved of. The inverse connotation of this message in real life is - if it doesn't work out OK, it's your fault for not having enough faith. And there are absolutely abusive religious "leaders" out there who take this line, and tell people that (the 2 examples I know of) the death of their baby was their fault for not being good enough Christians. To add that awful message to the movie, and give it a strong emphasis, this made me extremely angry. I'm glad they didn't make any more after that.
Something I think I'd add when talking about Le Guin's disappointment with this movie is that Ghibli's adaptation is the *good one,* and the one that came out shortly before makes it look like incredibly faithful. The Sci-Fi Earthsea mini-series is an utter abomination, and they bait-and-switched Le Guin far worse than Ghibli did. The highlight being that they told her they had PHILIPPA BOYENS, one of the writers of the fucking LOTR trilogy, but they lost her and replaced her with one of the guys who wrote Small Soldiers. SMALL SOLDIERS.
I can't get over how badly they screwed Tenar in particular. She went from an indoctrinated child serving up human sacrifices to the Nameless Ones, to a member of a generically benevolent convent.
Ugh, then there's the whitewashing of most of the cast....
Imagine Le Guin's disappointment, and then imagine that she almost immediately saw the same mediocre faux-adaptation complete with bait-and-switch happen again. That succession of bad adaptations soured Le Guin a *lot* on the whole idea of giving anyone rights to Earthsea. Last year A24 got the greenlight from her estate to adapt it, so presumably they've made it crystal clear they *will* be faithful to the books, but given COVID who knows if we'll see it come to light.
Yes, I agree, this was far worse than what Studio Ghibli did.
This 100%.
Please tell me there will be a new adaption that is worth watching 😢
Miyazaki spent the entire process basically belittling his sons ability and straight walked out of the premier. He was not a fan of Goro being in charge to say the least
Ok then why did he give it to him and didn’t bother to be involved….?
@@ladyethyme Because it wasn't his film. He isn't in charge of Ghibli to make that decision and was literally making better films at the time.
@@ladyethyme This is knowledge gained from "Beyond Ghibli" video The tales of Earthsea - The power of a Name, but to take a little segment from the video, Ursula gave the rights to Miyazaki in the middle of production for Howl's Moving Castle, so with that already on his plate, Ghibli decided to give his son the directorial role after Goro was initially brought on to do story boarding, then due to his status of being Hayao Miyazaki's son, was kind of forcibly put into the directorial seat despite as you may have been told before that this was his first time ever directing a film.
Beyond Ghibli's video is a great watch if you're still interested as to why Tales of Earthsea was so botched but to put it all on one person always seemed to me a bit harsh.
@@ladyethyme he didn't give to his son, that claim you heard is wrong because this TH-camr didn't bother to research well
Wasn't it actually Toshio Suzuki who decided Goro should direct the movie after seeing his storyboards? Hayao seemed to be against it from the start? Or am I misremembering this.
No, you are right. Dan just doesn't know what he is talking about.
Goro somewhat worked his way up the Ghibli ladder and definitely wasn't just handed the job based on his name alone. He showed actual promise in the field of animation. First he was the director of the Ghibli museum, then he did some storyboarding work and it was there where his talent was recognized and he was given the opportunity to direct for the first time. It was a difficult first job but goro has gone on to prove multiple times over that he is a good director.
@@NaramSinofAkkad790 true, and even if it's not a good adaptation i think this movie was at least a good story
For a limited time, use the link in my description to get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/danielgreene09201
I don't know if you have ever mentioned it or not, but have you ever read Howl's Moving Castle?It's actually a trilogy with Castle in the Sky and The House of Many Ways. The books aren't very long and are extremely well written and I would love to see you do a compare and contrast between the book and movie and reviews for the sequels.
Really enjoyed Dominic Noble's Wizard of Earthsea Lost in adaptation
That was a great video
Recommended for anyone wanting more book to film content!
He summed up everything so well.
He always does a great job
Isn't that just about the Sci-Fi channel adaptation?
If you want suggestions, "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" is probably their most visually stunning movie.
Adding it to my to watch list.
It´s one of my favourites of all time, but I disagree on it having outstanding visuals for the studio´s standarts. I would say it´s their most plot stunning movie.
It's way too self indulgend imo
@@tolgayatamturk2304 Do you mean that you are against the message of the film or that they took some liberties poorly at some point?
I disagree as well. The story is ok, however I didn’t like the animation at all
Good takes for the most part, but I just want to make a slight correction to your telling of the story: It was not Hayao Miyazaki's decision to hand the project off to his son Goro, is was the decision of the studio executives. Hayao was vehemently opposed to the decision and refused to speak to his son for the duration of the production. And, as another commenter said, he walked out of the premier. It was a huge issue in the relationship between the two of them.
Earthsea is my favourite fantasy series, and Hayao Miyazaki one of my favourite directors, so this story is utterly heartbreaking to me. I would love to visit the alternate universe where he directed that film instead!
Incidentally Goro's second film, From Up On Poppy Hill, is absolutely delightful, so he can in fact make a good film! But yeah, My Neighbour Totoro is an excellent choice for your next Ghibli film, hope you enjoy it!
From Up on Poppy Hill is almost great but is very rushed towards the end
From up on the Poppy Hill is one of my favorite Ghibli movies (only after Howl's Moving Castle & Whisper of the Heart)! The whole mess of the situation with the Wizard of Earthsea is just sad and frustrating (and I'm saying that as someone who DNF-ed the series)
Its funny how all the conflict behind the scenes of this movie is more Le Guin than the movie itself.
Goro can make good movies, he just didn't make a good high fantasy movie.
I’m looking for a fantasy book(series) that matches these qualities:
-setting in a mythological version of ancient Japan
-has gods/goddesses, heroes, villains, ghosts, monsters, magic,etc
-has elements of action, adventure, romance, history, mystery, tragedy, faith, honor, triumph,etc
What are some recommendations of this?
@@ANT96-x8d tbh I haven’t encountered any work that fits your exact description in an English language typical novel format. So if you’ve found any I’d be interested too! However upon reading your prompt I felt that the manga “Hyakki Yakoushou” (Tales of a 100 ghosts by twilight) might fit some of your descriptions. It’s not set in ancient Japan, and falls more closely to Horror/Supernatural genre but it deals with lots of spirits, kitsune, Shinto deities that are reminiscent of ancient Japan myths and legends. The story arcs are independent but there are recurring characters. It might fit the mood and theme you were going for as the story isn’t just straight-laced horror but with elements of mystery and fantasy.
Another work that comes to mind but isn’t set in ancient Japan but is an English novel would be “The Poppy Ways” series. The world building is quite blatantly based on ancient China, it has gods/deities, heroes, a really scary villain, monsters and magic. Action, adventure, history (based on the story’s own lore not ours) and tragedy (esp first book) definitely fit the bill.
Isn't this the movie where Miazaki said his son shouldn't direct anime ever again?
Yes. The entire story is really sad. Hayao was in complete objection to Goro directing both before and after.
Disclaimer:
This Video is rather subjective and kinda off the mark, tbh.
This Movie are definetly worse than presented
here.
Definitely would recommend Castle in the Sky next. Or The Wind Rises. Or Porco Rosso. Or Totoro. Or Kiki’s Delivery Service.
There’s a lot of good choices.
KiKi!!!
I think, in this case, it might have been informative to examine both Le Guin's account and Ghibli's account as you can see a more clear (but still frustrating) narrative. It's important to look at what was happening at Ghibli at the time. The reason Miyazaki didn't take on the job himself was that he was working on Howl's moving castle. It wasn't his choice to pass Earthsea on to his son, in fact he was so against it that he and his son barely spoke during production and he walked out on the film midway through its premiere.
I still agree that Ghibli handled the situation poorly, but Ghibli's narrative of why this happened fits in quite snugly alongside Le Guin's and contextualizes many of the things she brought up. Without looking at both sides though, Dan's landed at the point of "Miyazaki did a nepotism."
It is still clearly nepotism even if it was Suzuki who assigned the project to the younger Miyazaki. You think Gorō would’ve been given the project if he wasn’t the son of the cofounder? Whatever the internal studio politics, those in charge are to blame.
@@Hup. yeah but Daniel specifically said "Miyazaki passed it off to his son" and that Miyazaki himself was responsible for the nepotism. But that's just not true based of the other evidence out there depicting the relationship between them. It was still nepotism but not due to Hayao's actions.
also at the time Goro was in his 30s, and been working at Ghibli since he got out of college.
I don't expect TH-camr actually try to understand how Japanese entertainment industry operate. I think this video should be understood as 'review', not any actual study. Asking TH-camr to look into things with field theory is too much.
@@MrVivisexy Hey, if you want to talk specifically, maybe actually go back and look at what he specifically said. Otherwise, just don't say specifically. That's clearly not what Daniel said. In fact, he specifically said that he doesn't know what happened.
Regarding Hayao Miyazaki, I seem to remember he was actually against his son directing this movie, but it was the producer over at Ghibli that made the choice. Though I can't be sure, because I do know that Hayao Miyazaki made the choice to cast Hideaki Anno in his film The Wind Rises as the lead, when Anno has no voice acting skill at all (I don't care if you can't understand Japanese, you can hear how bad he is compared to the other cast members). And Anno is a close friend of Miyazaki. So he definitely has the potential for favoritism.
Whoa Anno was a voice actor in the dub?! That's so cool! I didn't know that! So cool they're friends.
@@princessthyemis Anno has worked on Ghibli films too. He animated the god warrior at the end of Naussicaa.
Still better than the syfy adaptation but yeah this was mediocrity.
At least the SyFy adaptation was somewhat closer to the source material, but that's all its got going for it.
@@willn703 even that is tenuous at best
Will Nelson I would have to disagree with you on this. They white washed most of the cast, messed up a good bit of the plot points, they added a BBEG that was not needed and did nothing for the story, they also messed up the names and true names of the characters.
But even if you removed Earthsea from it I would still find it to be a mediocre movie at best.
@@willn703 Watch Lost in Adaptation's review of the TV Series and the novel, because he goes in depth of just how terrible SyFy's adaptation is. It just barely goes over the "In Name Only" territory.
Haha, that's what I said! Syfy's movie was truly atrocious.
Le Guin was a genius and deserved to have her books adapted by a genius. This was a travesty. As a sidenote: I really want to hear your thoughts on the rest of the Earthsea series! Whenever a chance arises, I implore you to experience them!
Honestly, the obvious tragedy aside, it's somewhat sad that Daniel did his research, formed his opinions, and released his video - only to realise he only understood half the picture.
The easiest to discuss is Daniel's ludicrously accusing Hayao Miyazaki of nepotism. Daniel definitely did his research on what Le Guin felt, but he obvious did nothing (or very close to nothing) on how Hayao Miyazaki felt. The mere fact the Daniel accused Hayao Miyazaki of nepotism screams to many of us that he had no clue what actually happened. Hayao was very opposed to his son's adapting of Earthsea - so much so that many would rather accuse Hayao of being somewhat abusive in how he treated his son for months to come. This is a very complicated story. It's undeniable that Earthsea was wronged, but apportioning blame is difficult, and Daniel's approach gives the impression that he didn't do enough research on what happened on Studio Ghibli's side of the story, or really try to distinguish the various individuals at play under the vast name of Studio Ghibli.
I know that Daniel is at least somewhat aware of this now, considering the comment he pinned. I love his content, but I hope he will be more careful in future.
I a way, he did exactly what he critized in the movie. Externalizing evil instead of understanding the bigger picture.
8:33 feels like Daniel is passive aggressively showing off his sword collection.
Disclaimer:
This Video is rather subjective and kinda off the mark, tbh.
This Movie are definetly worse than presented
here.
This is how I feel about Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle “adaptation”. It wasn’t really. They took a few characteristics from the book and then created their own story. Especially creating a villain away from the one in the book. I’m not a fan of any recent book adaptations after that. Their own stories, yes, because their visuals are stunning.
Thank you! Finally someone who understands why I can't totally love Howl's Moving Castle! It's a nice movie, but it isn't a real adaptation of the book.
Agree agree... I'm a huge fan of D.W. Jones's books, and the film just steers right off the track - it's a good film, but the humor in the book and the character of Howl is totally lost unfortunately.
Disclaimer:
This Video is rather subjective and kinda off the mark, tbh.
This Movie are definetly worse than presented
here.
I had no idea it was based off of a book. I absolutely loved the movie, how was the book.
The book is like a cozy fantasy. Has some strong fairytale themes to it as well. Sophie has a wonderful relationship with her sisters. My main issue with the movie is they changed the conflict. @@Elricsedric
Did anyone else notice the changing chairs
and like every earthsea adaptation, they take a bunch of characters explicitly described as POC and make them white.
What's wrong with that?
@@GeneraluStelaru one of many reasons is because it takes away rare and good representation for POC children
@@hopetikvah4906 Isn't that compensated with POC versions of white characters?
@@GeneraluStelaru Just my opinion, but I think that can often come across as being quite performative. I'd prefer if they'd just leave characters with the original races they were meant to be portrayed with.
@@hopetikvah4906 That would be wonderful if it was followed in the West.
I’m 43, jaded by a cruel and unforgiving world, and cynical of those who refuse to embrace the chaos of humanity’s slide into obscurity. My Neighbor Totoro fills me with childlike wonder and gives me hope for people, not as a species but that we as individuals can find grace and love in the world around us. 10/10 I want a giant Totoro friend.
Thats the only Ghibli film I ever saw and I really liked it. I wish I could see it again.
The real wonder of ghibloli depends on the director the masterpieces are when myazaki or takahata are behind the reigns
Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshifumi Kondo did a great job for the studio as well.
You could’ve researched this subject a lot better instead of (unintentionally) spreading some disinformation. Miyazaki himself didn’t hand off the directing duties to his son. It’s well documented that the producer Toshio Suzuki chose his son Goro because he liked his storyboards. Miyazaki was against the decision from the outset due to Goro’s lack of any professional experience or education, which was a big deal for him given the conservative Japanese businessman background he grew out of. They also didn’t lie to LeGuin. She assumed “Miyazaki” directing meant Hayao, instead of his son, and allowed it to be greenlit. Maybe the issue came down to a mistranslation between exchanges or just the general language barrier, but it wasn’t dishonest proposals.
TFE was directed not by Hayao Miyazaki but his son, and I read Hayao was really disappointed with the work. Maybe this explains the drop in quality.
Which I cover extensively in this video. :)
@@DanielGreeneReviews joke's on me then😂
It’s interesting to hear the pov from a fan of earthsea. I had never heard of it before and when I went into it I was enthralled with the world that was introduced. Sure the character motivations are ambiguous but there’s so much that is sort of introduced and/or briefly mentioned about the world and passed events that I loved just thinking about what happened here or there or what’s the history behind this or that. As for the art I honestly really loved all of it. I don’t know what about it that people don’t like, I’ll agree it’s a bit of a departure from previous gibli films but it reminds me of the likes of naussica and some older gibli films. I think the payoff is definitely lacking but the greater world that was introduced and teased is enough to make me love what I watched. I suppose as a stand-alone film it probably wouldn’t be as great but I also just generally like imagining things about worlds so I might’ve still enjoyed it. But because it’s a part of an existing series it just makes me more excited to read and learn more about it.
The one thing I really like about this film is Teru's Song/Teru no Uta (both the Japanese and English versions). The Japanese singer really captures the emotion of the song.
Anyone watched Dominic noble's videos on this topic?
Yes! It was really good!
yyeeep! though I don't remember him taking about the Ghibli adaptation. it might've been completely overshadowed by that other Terrible Adaptation
@@MissMokate he didn't, because last time he talked about a ghibli movie they made him take it down
@@wingcastlereads5657 what the hell. didn't know about that, that's a shit thing to have to deal with and a shit thing to do to a content creator.
@@MissMokate Yep he categorically can't review Ghibli any more because of their insane copyright behaviour. His Howl's video I think is still available to patreon supporters, and that's it. I really like Ghibli movies but it's sort of unclear whether Japan has the same fair use policy as the US, and regardless Google seems disinterested in clarifying it and will just issue strikes on Ghibli content as soon as the studio makes a claim. I won't be surprised if this video of Daniel's gets the same treatment because it seems to be a studio-wide practice.
Just have to say, Hayao Miyazaki was Ghibli. He wasnt part of this film but Ghibli is associated to all of his masterpieces, so there is an almost false sense of connection. How can they ever recreate amazingness when Hayao wrote and directed all our favorite classics?
@@Serioslump oh yes Grave of Fireflies is an absolute masterpiece. Yeah i wrote this before he talked about the drama with the Miyazakis
Takahata was just as good if not sometimes better IMO.
Love the Studio Ghibli reviews! Would love to see you talk about Howl's Moving Castle. ☺
From what I remember that was a much better adaptation.
Oh you think this was a bad adaptation? Let me tell you about the Earthsea miniseries.
The legend has made it to 200K, congrats my brother, congrats 🎊🎈🎉🍾
Congrats on 200k!
He is a popular fella.
Man I was so disappointed with how Studio Ghibli handled Earthsea. I'm a huge Ghibli fan and I actually watched this adaptation before I had even read the Earthsea books, but even when I was unfamiliar with the source material I still felt like it was one of their worst movies. Now after having read Earthsea it's just terrible to see the missed potential. If Miyazaki directed this rather then his son it could have been amazing.
On a side note, I like the sword collection 8:35
I love seeing the videos where we get to see what goes wrong to help us improve. I love this channel and although I haven't watched it i know I'm going to love this video. Hopefully someday he will review my book. Thanks for everything Daniel!
I've seen both Earthsea adaptations and I just wonder if we'll ever get an adaptation with actual brown people. A new TV series was announced in 2019 but there's nothing on it yet.
The Ghibli movie is passable if you don't think of it as Earthsea but the 2004 series...........I would hope this supposed new adaptation is nowhere near as bad as that.
Hey, just noticed you hit 200K, congratulations for that! Keep doing what you´re doing as long as you´re loving it (and profit from it), I definitly do.
It's hard to tell from the few clips in here but did they white-wash the characters, too?
"White wash" in anime is a controversial term but - yeah, I'm surprised Daniel didn't touch on this since one of LeGuins other major struggles with adaptations, and this one included, was Ged being explicitly and intentionally dark skinned in the book but visual adaptations constantly presenting him with light skin against her wishes.
Not sure if you'll see this, but it's kinda neat that I'm the one who recommended this series to you a while ago, and now you're doing this awesome video.
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favorite writers. The Earthsea series is truly amazing.
Again, great video, and I'm right there with you on the "Oh ..." of it all.
One quick question, have you read any of the following books as well? Cheers. :)
Congrats and 200k bro
"I'm not trying to be dramatic"
...
"It's like one of my friends shot the other one in the chest"
😂
Disclaimer:
This Video is rather subjective and kinda off the mark, tbh.
This Movie are definetly worse than presented
here.
A difference between Hayao and Goro is that Goro based a lot of the art for Earthsea on the motifs from European oil paintings (Goro has commented on this himself). This however is hard to carry over to animation because a lot of oil paintings use light touches with bold colors. This resulted in amazing wide shots and background, but the rest of the animation stands out because of this. (I think one of the greatest examples is a shot of Arren sitting with Sparrowhawk with the city in the background) I also think the whole story surrounding Tales from Earthsea is even sadder because Hayao was in opposition to Goro going into directing, and didn’t have the greatest response to his son’s first movie.
I recommend Grave of the Fireflies. It's about two Japanese kids and how WWII affected them. Warning though, this is by far the darkest of Studio Ghibli's films
I definitely don't believe there was any ill will in this adaptation. Hayo Miyazaki is clearly a huge fan of earthsea and you can see it's influence all throughout his films. Spirited away in particular shares a lot of similarities with the tomb of Atuan. I think for what it attempted: turn six books into one movie length story, it's a fine enough movie and incredibly gorgeous. Goro has gone on to direct other Ghibli properties that have been incredibly well received so I don't believe he was a bad director he just did the best he could with a task that was impossible. It strays from the original themes a bit but the act of taking the story of earthsea and making it your own is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the books.
I recently watched the movie and had to watch it in parts, because I found it almost unrecognizable. earthsea is a treasure in philosophical and artistic terms. They kind of...’missed it.
I think this has to do with Miyazaki and tentions with son during prodruction who was acting as director ( for the first time ) There an entire behind the seen showing that Miyazaki is perfectionist and absent father and I believe move his son being a first time director with him animating department is what cause the majority of the problems.
Just a fun thing: I told my brother that in america they call wine liquor mostly and in Britain they say spirits. Now he calls spirited away, liquored away for fun lel😂
What? Well I guess we call alcoholic beverages in general liquor, but we also use spirits, it's just more specific to hard liquors with high alcohol content like gin, vodka, rum, etc.
@@MRuby-qb9bd well I don't know heavy bartender stuff...I don't drink, but yeah u r right. My purpose was too convey the joke not info.
@@MRuby-qb9bd As an Iowan I always understood liquor to mean hard liquor in general use. One might say, "were they drinking liquor or beer?"
@Long Wang dude...I do not drink, and its no fact just something we learned in the british to american course which wasn't accurate. Stop being rude, i am not conveying info, don't even drink, just telling a joke
@@MrKirner But colloquially people do sometimes use it when they aren't being specific, like booze, or if there is a mixed selection. A bartender or afficionado/sommelier probably wouldn't.
Are u reading Robin Hobb book, ship of magic yet???? Keep safe Daniel...
Great books!
Gotta say, I never heard of Earthsea before watching the Ghibli version but it made me curious about reading it after seeing reviews on how it betrays the source material.
Daniel, would you recommend the Earthsea books for first time fantasy readers?
I would give it a shot. They're very easy to adjust to and enjoy.
They're pretty good.
YES they're amazing. Second and third books especially.
I really liked it, I thought it had some really deep symbolism and theology, it definitely wasn't studio ghibli s greatest work but I would give it at least a 6/10, I suppose I agree with you that they didn't do as much with the plot and the themes they could have, they had a really good framework but you're right they really squandered it in that regard
Honestly, for the visuals, the first part of the movie had incredible set design. Especially the Byzantine inspired cities and architecture. Beautiful. Another reason why the second part of the movie suffered so poorly.
Let's not forget how they white-washed all the characters, and apparently told Le Guin that they looked "dark skinned enough" to a Japanese audience. -_- While I don't think this was a case of nepotism and I have a soft spot for the film for introducing me to Le Guin's works, this is the most painful part for me, especially given how hard Le Guin fought for making her heroes racial minorities in an almost exclusively white fantasy landscape.
I watched the Ghibli movie, was so confused, read the whole series (amazing!) and watched the movie again. Just wow, they mushed 1-4 together poorly.
Jesus Christ Daniel I'm driving and it's night time and when you put in that screaming sound effect I thought I was endangering a child and I just couldn't see them because it's dark oh my God you gave me heart attack!
i feel like they could have gotten away with adapting just the first book
The first book would've made for an amazing adaptation.
You definitely should My Neighbor Totoro, it's amazing! :-)
I don’t know why, I’ve read and loved the books but I also loved the movie, especially the music. I still listen to the soundtrack every time I read the books now. You’re right it does suck as an adaptation, I see it more as an appetiser to the books.
Miyazaki Jr. is honestly fighting an uphill battle at this point (2006).
Remember this was barely a decade after Mononoko, five years after Spirited Away and 2 after Howl's Moving Castle. Ghibli had a PILE of accolades from three consecutive wins, expectations were high... plus Earthsea is an adaptation of a classic novel series, you KNOW fans will inevitably whine about the movie being "different" (not good or bad, but different... remember Miyazaki Sr.'s career starts with a Lupin movie receives complains from fans that Lupin and gang are "too nice", Cagliostro only started becoming a classic in reruns)
Honestly feel kind of sad for Goro...
well im watching this before ghibli strikes this video :P tell it, daniel.
As a massive Ghibli fan,i can honestly say this is by far the worst of their movies. I think your 5/10 is extremely generous,the plot is completely nonsensical and the characters are flat,the animation,as you said,is fine but compared to other ghibli,s works is only superior to Ocean Waves,a tv release. Something i think should be noted is that Hayao clearly hates this movies himself,you can see documentarys on youtube with footage of when he watched it for the first time and simply walked away from the theater to get a smoke,he was always against the idea of Goro directing it,and during the production of ´´From up on poppy hill,Goro,s second movie,Hayao kept complaining how he shouldn,t direct and how everything he would ever do would suck. It,s actually kind of unpleasant to see a father being so harsh with his son,Goro,s second movie is better than Tales of Earthsea,but i think Hayao never truly accepted him as an artist. When you say ´´How could Ghibli accept this``,you should blame the producer Toshio Suzuki,from many documentarys i,ve seen,he seems like a cool guy,but remember he is a producer,he is only worried about the business part of things,and he wanted to bet on Goro Miyazaki. It,s a shame Earthsea ended that way,but the good thing is the worst is behind you,now everything Ghibli you watch will be better than this. Totoro is more of a kid,s movie,don,tknow if that,s your thing,but you should get around The wind rises and the tale of princess kaguya,those are great.
And on the other side of the coin I thought a 5/10 was a bit harsh. It's very average compared to a typical ghibli film but like Daniel said its still good 'as a film' (forgetting its an earthsea adaption) compared to what it could have been with another studio.
I watch ghibli films and generally enjoy them but I'm not a big fan. I also saw earthsea before having read any of the books. I just thought it was a fun fantasy film. I wasn't blown away but I wasn't disappointed, I enjoyed it which to me is at least a 6.5 maybe 7.
@@markanthony. i watched it not knowing anything earthsea either and i hated all the characters. Lol. But it,s ok,it,s just my opinion,i would rather watch literally any movie instead of rewatching this one.
My Neighbour Totoro is about being a kid, that's why it's so great watching it as an adult.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya I've found mediocre at best. Though it's visually stunning and the first half or so depicts life at the bamboo cutter's beautifully, it's ultimately thematically all over the place.
Le Guins quote at the end is how I feel about World War Z with book and movie. They are totally different entities.
we should learn from disney buying off star-wars and making a rey-skywalker sequel trilogy. Any big pocket can work their way into buying a property and making low-quality content (or trash), but it doesn't mean that new content IS what the actual good book story is. Denis villenue succeeded in people accepting his Dune films as THE dune story, but even that is a limited adaptation. It needs lotr films level of failthfulness to source material for a film to succeed in depicting the book well. just can't expect it to happen a lot.
THAT EARTHSEA BOOK COVER THOUGH
The movie evidently understood all the books core themes, and although they did get a little jumbled at times, it was genuinely a good movie, and considering it was Goros first entry, shows huge promise for his future.
I currently happen to be reading A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time, and was looking forward to seeing this production. I always love to see visual adaptions of SF and fantasy books but now, on this one, I'm not so sure.
BUT... the Earthsea series DOES have a ton of great artwork illustrated for the books over the years. And the maps are always fun to explore.
Would love to see one of these for the ready player one book.
Honestly I really liked the movie, I think both book and movie are great in their own way.
I have not seen this movie (and am not planning to), but since I am watching a video about it, I looked at Wikipedia's plot summary of this movie. It goes WILD, what a monstrosity...
Now that you have watched the gibbli film with arguably the most source material I suggest one with arguably the least. Castle in the sky inspired by a single paragraph of gulliver's travels.
Well people shouldn’t really be moaning that because it’s set in a Western-style fantasy it can’t be good as a Ghibli, I mean look at howls moving castle, that was set partially in a place like Wales for gods sake’s, you can’t get much more western than that.
However I must say despite a few scenes and certain characters or events they didn’t stick very close to the book of howls moving castle at all.
I dunno if it's a common edition, but goddamn your copy of earthsea is beautiful
I haven't read the Earthsea series yet, but after watching this video and Dominics lost in adaptation makes me really want to. And I'm one of the few who likes the Ghibli "adaptation".
Well, I just bought that exact edition on Amazon. The plot and the book stack thickens.
You planning to do a review of Howls Moving Castle? Would love to hear your thoughts on it! Also where's your Berzerk Golden Age review? :p
I'm confused Howl' Moving Castle isn't the Wizard of Earthsea is it... so why have both titles with the same cartoon clip?
Hayao Miyazaki is an enigma of a creative genius. He is one part perfectionist, insisting that he hand approve and contribute his own line work to almost every key drawing in the entire film. And he did that on every movie from Castle of Cagliostro up through Mononoke. He is also one part philosopher because his films always seem to have the right thematic core to them and he effortlessly drives his stories along while keeping thos themes ever present.
I can't say I've enjoyed his last two films very much. There's something unique about both Ponyo and The Wind Rises that just never jived with me. But for everything up to Howls Moving Castle, he could seemingly do no wrong. He had that magic touch. But suddenly, his son got to have the directors chair. And every element of Earthsea felt like a son desperately trying to imitate their father in both the art design, scene structure, and certain themes. I'd even go as far to suggest they reworked the Earthsea stories and characters in order to fit Goro's needs in order to imitate Hayao's greatest hits.
Thankfully, I was glad to see Goro vastly improve when he directed From Up on Poppy Hill. Still not a 10/10 Ghibli film, but definitely an 8/10. He seems to set his own pace and style that time and isn't trying so hard to impress.
If it's some consolation to you, Daniel, I watched the movie recently (knowing in advance it's considered the worst Ghibli movie, perhaps their only one that's objectively bad) and it still made me want to read the books, which I binge-read over the span of a month or so and it's now my favorite series. It was interesting seeing which parts of the books they plucked for the movie and how much better the books worked.
I'm a longtime Ghibli fan and remember when the Earthsea movie was in production and all that, but when the reviews came in I was disinterested in seeing it at the time and just decided to watch it on a whim after getting access to my parents' HBO Max.
Wait until you get to the adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle. It is like Miyazaki wrote a fanfic.
I'll go running to read the books now, I just NEED IT
please always make sponsors this fun
Howl's Moving Castle is also REALLY different from the book. I love the movie, but I came across the book a few years later and read it and my God, it's fantastic. I ended up reading all of Diana Wynn Jones' books after that.
8:35 SWORDS
I have a soft spot for this film, because it was my introduction to Earthsea. I did not think that the story or animation were amazing, however I was so intrigued by it that I started reading the books.
The movie is this weird mess of ideas and characters from the first 4 books and is named after the 5th book in the series. It certainly fails to deliver on the characters and story of Earthsea.
Nonetheless, the movie catches something very specific to earthsea and that is its athmosphere. This ruggedness and gentleness about Sparrowhawk and the world, An apreciation for life and death.
One can only dream how good this adaptation could have turned out if they actually stuck to LeGuins story and characters.
I watched the movie when I didn't even know it was based on a book, and I really hated. For a long time I used to say from the Ghibli movies I watched it was the only one I actually hated. One day I discovered Ursula through Neil Gaiman talking about Left Hand of Darkness and I loved what I read from her, but when I found out the movie were based in her books I was really against reading Wizard of Earthsea because of how much I hated the movie. So, I'm reading it now, and loving it, and yeah, now I know the movie is really not the book. But I mean, I can see some people actually saying the book must be bad because of the movie, it definetly hurt the book a little. But yeah, I'm really glad to have decided to read it, but the movie made me wait way longer than I should've to read it.
Congrats on 200k keep up the amazing work
I’m definitely buying tales of Earthsea book series!?!👍
To be perfectly honest, I watch Daniel’s videos because of the interesting topics, but I really can’t help but fall in love with him every single time 💚
Hayao Miyazaki was famously against his son directing this, it was not a case of nepotism. He said his son wasn't ready and had no experience directing since he'd barely worked in animation before.
It is documented in multiple statements as well as this documentary (free for viewing): www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/program/video/10yearshayaomiyazaki/?type=tvEpisode&
"Thought I was going insane and just didn't remember the story" ME TOOO!! I actually went back and re-read the books because I thought I'd managed to forget one of my favourite stories!! Really disappointed, have not been able to watch it through.
you know it kind of makes sense this happened given what you explained here as (haven't experienced either movie or book yet)
Explanation:
The book was written as a nuanced adult view of the world where the line between good and evil are ephemeral and hard to pin down, and as a result require a more careful experienced means of dealing with it.
the movie was made by a child (relatively speaking) and not an experienced veteran.
An adult story wouldn't jive well with a young mind and such a mind i predict would seek to simplify it and alter it to better fit with their own current understanding of the world.
The concepts of ephemeral good and evil don't sit well with younger people which is why there is always a villain to be had in most fictional stories. its much easier to comprehend.
Note: most younger (especially privileged with successful fathers and all) people don't care for respectful representations of external works and i think this is due to them not having yet made their mark on the world and gain their own experiences with how things actually work (as a result they alter things to suit themselves, not maintaining, caring to maintain, or even understanding the structure/purpose of the original story).
I fully see why the original author would be upset by this, i would be too if i were in her shoes
Honesty, i didnt find it to be bad...... Just incredibly boarding???
Oh and the baddies voice actor made me want to throw a chair....
Do you perhaps mean boring? Or is there some weird meaning of boarding here I don't get? o.O
@@1vader No, i ment boring. But that what I get for posting on a vid at 2 in the morning lol.
It is already Thursday here in the Philippines. No book review from Daniel Greene still. Hmmm...
Not the best Ghibli film, but it got me interested in wanting to read the book series.
Garo Miyazaki is just not a good director. And this being his debut movie certainly did not do it any favours. Though he has gotten better with time, each of his successive film being better than the last one, he still hasn't made any movie which lives up to his father's legacy.
Are you watching the nino no kuni series on Netflix?
Daniel - I want to thank you for this video. This has been my feeling on this video for so long. I so appreciate you bringing it to light.
Since fall is comming I will recommend to you watch Arrietty, it's not well knows as the other Guiblie movies but I think it's good, and visually stunning
My mom really loves the Earthsea books and uses the line “It was like watching a totally different story with characters who just happen to have the same name” to describe her beef with the Lord Of The Rings. It makes so much sense now to hear it came from Le Guin.