Studio Ghibli has just ruined my life - by making its first tedious film
Tales from Earthsea (PG) dir: Goro Miyazaki
Evan Almighty (PG) dir: Tom Shadyac
The films of Japan's Studio Ghibli mean a lot to me. While I was recovering from pneumonia earlier this year, I began hand-drawing my own set of Studio Ghibli Top Trumps cards, so you'll appreciate that this is quite an obsession. (You may also find such phrases as "What a nerd!" and "Get a life, buddy" popping into your head. Please ignore these.) With such vivid masterpieces as My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies (both 1988), Studio Ghibli has more than 20 years of excellence behind it. To find its nearest equal, you would have to go back to Walt Disney in the 1930s and 1940s.
I had never felt the faintest disappointment at any one of the company's films until I saw Tales from Earthsea. Now everything has changed. Sunsets are no longer majestic. Birdsong has lost its melody. The perfume of the flowers in my garden is dulled, though that could be something to do with next door's cats, the filthy blighters. Yes, Studio Ghibli has produced its first tedious film.
Tales from Earthsea, based on two books in Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea series, is directed by the son of the great Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. Apparently, Miyazaki Sr fell out with his son after advising him that he was not yet ready to direct. All I can say in this context is that you should always listen to your father.
The picture begins with patricide: the teenage Prince Arren of Enlad stabs the king for no apparent reason. (Maybe he told him not to become a film director.) Fleeing the scene of his crime, Arren meets the wizard Sparrowhawk, with whom he seeks sanctuary on a farm. This is the most enchanting part of the film, possibly because the sight of a wizard working a plough represents a gentle riposte to all the noisy summer blockbusters. Then there's the charmingly quaint dialogue - "I love the smell of new-turned earth," purrs Sparrowhawk - which articulates the story's plea for people to get in touch with the earth, a point that would be made more forcefully if only the film could get in touch with its audience.
Unfortunately, Tales from Earthsea is too remote to hold the interest of viewers of any age. Even the central conflict, with Sparrowhawk shielding Arren from the evil wizard Cob, who wants the boy's soul to help him achieve immortality, is downright confusing. The standard of the animation is as exemplary as ever, but this counts for nought without the rudiments of story and characterisation.
Things may be clearer in the subtitled version of the film, though I doubt it. I saw a dubbed print of Tales from Earthsea, which meant I didn't have to "read" the entire film to my six-year-old daughter. I still haven't recovered from the time I mistakenly took her to see the Japanese-language print of Spirited Away before she even knew her ABCs: I was hoarse by the end of it, although I did receive a standing ovation from the rest of the audience, and a rather fetching statuette for Best Supporting Actor in a London Multiplex.
For most of Tales from Earthsea, she was scared and I was bored. It's also worth pointing out that the film has been sold misleadingly: the poster depicts a figure dwarfed by a magnificent dragon, which appears on screen for a matter of seconds. My guess is that the creature refused to leave its trailer until the script was made halfway comprehensible.
I wasn't planning to mention Evan Almighty - rarely do you go to a film with your expectations around your ankles, yet still find yourself disappointed. But with large parts of the country under water, you have to wonder how well a modern-day Noah story will be received. This semi-sequel to Bruce Almighty, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God and Steve Carell as a congressman whom He instructs in ark-building in preparation for a forthcoming flood, relies for its humour on animals defecating, and for its life lessons on the Bible. Non-Christians, people swimming in their own living rooms and anyone not amused by the sight of dog crap are unlikely to find much to cheer. Did I leave anyone out?
Pick of the week
Ghosts of Cité Soleil (15)
dir: Asger Leth
Shocking documentary about gang life in the slums of Haiti.
Daratt (PG)
dir: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Relatively few African films are released here. This tale of revenge is a corker.
Brief Encounter (PG)
dir: David Lean
This classic romance still stands up, even in the age of speed-dating. Screenplay by Noël Coward.
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