Tales from Earthsea (2006)

[lsanderson]

A World Loses Balance, and an Allegory Appears
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: August 12, 2010

Stolid and humorless, larded with windy speeches about keeping Earth’s balance and other virtuous platitudes, “Tales From Earthsea,” a Japanese animated adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Earthsea” fantasy novels, feels a little like a science-fiction Sunday school pageant. If this starchy, nearly two-hour allegory about human hubris bluntly addresses a historical moment when global warming threatens the planet and pollution is fouling the seas, its chilly, formal tone keeps you at an emotional distance. More