Coming from Studio Ghibli, Disney presents “Tales of Earthsea” on blu-ray for the very first time. Based off the “Earthsea” fantasy books series by Ursula K. Le Guin, the film tells the story Arren, of a young prince and Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a master wizard, as they go on an adventure that not only is a journey of redemption and self-discovery, but also an adventure to save the world from a mysterious threat.
First off, I’m not a really a fan of anime so going into this film, I wasn’t really sure of what to expect. With that being said, I was pretty impressed with the film.
From what I understand, the film was originally released in 2006 in Japan, I’ve never seen the original so I can’t really compare the two. Disney brings the classic tale to America with a new US cast, which may surprise many. Disney went with an all-star cast. Some which we have heard in other iconic Disney films. The film features the voices of William Dafoe (Finding Nemo), Timothy Dalton (Toy Story 3), Cheech Marin (The Lion King), and Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) . So when it came to the cast, Disney did a great job as always. I know it’s hard to picture Cheech Marin being in an anime film but Disney just made it work.
The story was a very interesting story. One which included wizards, dragons and royalty. The story had a deep kind of emotion to it that kept me invested into the film the whole way through.
As for bonus features, it has some that cater to the fans of the original film. There’s a behind-the-scenes featurette, which talks about the origins of Earthsea. The original Japanese storyboards, original Japanese TV spots and trailers, along with a featurette on the soundtrack of the film.
I think Disney did a great job with this Blu-ray pack and I’d suggest it to any anime fan and anyone that likes fantasy and adventure films.
“Tales of Earthsea” comes out on Blu-ray Feb.3.