Earthsea (2004)

It is a performances centric movie

Admirable film.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Is it a rule that TV adaptations of classic fantasy/sci-fi novels have to be boring or reworked as to be virtually unrecognizable? Both are true in the case of this Canadian-lensed version of an Ursula K. LeGuin novel. The acting is wooden, the plot reworked beyond repair, and the whole thing simply lifeless. It involves a young wizard in training (Shawn Ashmore with a 1950s perm) who is destined to be the greatest wizard of all. Danny Glover has a small role as the kid's first mentor. The head of the wizard school looks way too much like Dumbledore, which is to say they both resemble Merlin, which I suppose cannot be helped when dealing with magicians and wizards. I seem to recall a British or PBS adaptation of another LeGuin novel, LATHE OF HEAVEN, many years ago. There actually were two TV adaptations of that groundbreaking novel, I think. Maybe you should check one of those out instead of wasting your time with this. Better yet, read some LeGuin. She was a writer of modernist sci-fi and fantasy, and sad to say is largely forgotten today. Ditto Philip Farmer, whose RIVERWORLD saga was made an equal mess of on TV.

When I watched the movie, I noticed that it was the first two books put together. It was job nicely done, changing from Ged to the Tombs of Atuan. Although what I didn't like was the part where they added the Kargad King or where they released the Nameless Ones and forged the amulet of Erreth-Akbe together and saved the world from the Nameless Ones after releasing them like five minutes ago. What I also didn't like was the change that every priestess, Tenar, Thar, and Kossil worship the Nameless Ones and that Thar was the ultimate priestess, and a succeeder is chosen, not like in the book, Tombs of Atuan. In the book there is Thar, high priestess of the Twin Gods, Kossil, high priestess of the God King and, Arha (Tenar), High priestess of the Nameless Ones and high priestess of the Tombs of Atuan. In the movie there was three people arguing for the place of Thar "high priestess of the Nameless Ones and Tombs of Atuan". Phhhhh!! Also the constant dying in the Tombs of Atuan, leaving Tenar as the only significant character in there was quite baffling. Yes in the book Thar dies because of disease. Not because of poisoning from Kossil. Also there was no "Rosa" servant who was strangled by Kossil and there was no Kargad King to kill Kossil. Otherwise, the movie had nice screenplay, and fairly good actors. For those who haven't read the books and !MAYBE! for those who have read them, this movie is worth seeing despite its many bad sides.

Do not waste your time searching for similarities between this hack script and the excellent Earthsea Trilogy (now 6 books...) by Ursula Le Guin. The scriptwriters have taken a beautifully formed creature, stripped it of all its flesh, and broken the skeleton into small pieces. They have then selected a few small shards of bone from the original, around which they have woven a thin tissue of totally new skin to cover their abomination.We all know it is virtually impossible to condense a rich book satisfactorily into a film or TV format, but Lieberman and Scott have paid scant heed to Le Guin's original. Not even the characters' names have been respected and the roles they play are largely fresh fabrications.Some poor adaptations can be justified insofar as they are, in themselves, worth watching. I am afraid this is not even true of this series. It is entirely derivative (but not, unfortunately, from the books from which it has taken its title).

The vibrancy and beauty of the Earthsea books is lost on this script. While the author has made a valiant attempt to combine the plots of the first two books of LeGuin's deservedly famous Earthsea series the changes he has made have weakened the story and diminished the character development. Some of the acting in the first few scenes is appalling bad, but stick with it as it gets better as it rolls along. If you are a special effects fan then you will be disappointed. Some of the SFX are rather crude and jarring. So if like me you are a fan of the books put your memory on hold and enjoy this charming unpretentious little tale which reproduces elements of the books and occasionally some of the dialogue. A lesser work but charming none the less.