I’d love to approach Tales From Earthsea having never seen a Ghibli film before. No matter how hard I try, I can’t help but compare it to the studio’s earlier work, despite this being an entirely individual film from a debutant director.

Ah...the director. That makes reviewing this one even tricker. As if the weight of expectation wasn’t great enough, poor Tales From Earthsea is the first picture from Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro. Viewed without all this baggage I’d imagine most reviews of Tales From Earthsea would be very different.

Well, let’s try and start with a clean slate at least, shall we? Tales From Earthsea is based on the Earthsea collection of books (although I’ll admit I’d never heard of them before this) by Ursula K. Le Guin that have been going strong since the 60's. This particular story follows a young prince exiled for killing his own father in cold blood and without clear reason. As he wanders the land alone, a chance meeting with a wizard provides an opportunity to redeem himself by helping rid the people of another tyrannical wizard intent on obtaining everlasting life, no matter what the cost.

As you can no doubt tell, this is another Ghibli anime

very much entrenched in fantasy. In fact, at first glance this could easily be Castle in the Sky or Princess Mononoke you’re watching. Yet there’s a certain something missing from the film’s design that sets those two apart. It’s as if they had a big, long checklist of ‘Ghibli requirements for a fantasy film’ and made sure there were ticks alongside each and everyone one. The result is a quite pretty yet oddly soulless concoction that seems content on doing things by the numbers. Yes, on the surface this looks like it could have been one of Hayao Miyazaki’s best, but there’s nothing here to even approach the imagination and originality of, say, Spirited Away.

OK...let’s cut Goro some slack and quit with the comparisons (for the time being...). It is his first feature film after all, and even if he was aided by a very talented staff, that’s still an unrealistic yardstick we’re using here. Although it doesn’t do anything particularly great, it doesn’t do much wrong either. Let’s concentrate on some of the film’s finer points for now.

This is a fantasy film that very rarely touches on the kind of epic Lord of The Rings territory, so it’s good to

learn that Goro isn’t too heavy-handed (aside from an ill-advised song in the middle) when it comes to those moments that require a little subtlety. Most of these are reserved for the young prince as he battles with his own demons and the mystery surrounding the wizard and his relationship with a kind farmer. Quaint though they are, these subplots sustain the film beyond its mostly forgettable story, even if the dour nature of the characters involved can get a little tiresome at times.

And just as you were starting to wish everyone would cheer the f’ up, along come the bad guys. Taking a page out of Castle of Cagliostro’s book (dammit...I can’t stop the comparisons!), the villains here are pleasingly pantomime. Maybe not the evil cackle and tie the damsel to the train tracks pantomime, but still they make for a more lively interlude when our heroes (who we’re fully supporting...honest) aren’t crying about something or other. It’s just a shame that maybe they went a bit too far with the evil bad guy routine at the end of the film; a spectacular sequence which has one too many cliches for my liking.

Speaking of spectacular, Tales From Earthsea did at

least promise some great set-pieces. I wasn’t expecting anything approaching Castle in the Sky when it comes to matinee style excitement (dammit...I did it again!), but I was hoping for a few sword fights and maybe some dragon-on-dragon action (you know what I mean). Though it delivers in both cases, these sequences are far too brief and bereft of the kind of flair that seemingly comes so naturally to Ghibli no matter who the director (case in point: The Cat Returns...hey, I still like it!). Sorry Goro, but it seems like I was wrong.

Lets take a step back here, because we’re starting with those unfair comparisons again. Viewed without all the baggage, the lineage and expectations, Tales From Earthsea is a perfectly decent fantasy film. It’s just not a particularly memorable film either, and it certainly looks a little out of place in the Ghibli collection. That said, even the lesser Ghibli films are worth watching, and I could think of much worse ways to spend a couple of hours than watching Tales From Earthsea. Just set all that stuff to the back of your mind and approach it with low expectations and hopefully you’ll enjoy it more than I did.