Customer Reviews
Earthsea Tv 2004 - By: Lee Foster, 15 Aug 2008 
Awesome, thought it was one of the best things channel had shown for ages, yes the book is brilliant but for anyone who has never heard of Earthsea then this DVD is a must to see.
One of the true original ideas brought to TV, which was a very nice change indeed.
If I could give it negative, it would have -4 - By: Mr. D. A. Long, 27 Nov 2007 
If your reading this review, know that im not lying- & you'll probably buy it at the cheapest third party seller- just to make sure. DON'T! This is bad- make you angry bad.
An ideal gift for a relative you don't like.
Okay but only if you don't know the books - By: Greg Jordan, 18 Sep 2007 
Chalk up another bad TV adaptation for Ursula LeGuin. This non-animated two-part TV series might work as a bit of cliched fantasy if you haven't read the books. There's nothing reallly terrible about it as television. Trouble is if you've read the books you'll know that what they left out is much, much,much better than what they left in or made up. The Japanese cartoon film Tales of Earthsea was honest from the start by saying it was just inspired by the books, but this show might make people think Le Guin wrote a series of books about white magicians. She did much more & there's a great series of films waiting to be made by someone who reallly read them.
Oh my Gosh what have they done? - By: Ettrick 8, 06 Sep 2007 This adaptation of the Classic Earthsea books bears little (if any resemblance) to Ursula Le Guinn's books. The adaption is so bad that the author has had to defend herself as to why she let it be adapted.
If you love the Earthsea books avoid,
1f you love bad acting, a poor story & special effects on a par with an episode of Xena - Warrior Princess then this is for you.
Imploding magic - By: E. A Solinas, 17 Apr 2007 Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books are full of magic, mystery, philosophy & intensely powerful storytelling.
But you wouldn't know it by this lackluster adaptation. Instead, "Earthsea" aspires to be "Harry Potter" in a medieval "Lord of the Rings" setting, with two plots mishmashed haphazardly into one, shoddy special effects, laughable action scenes, & some seriously wooden acting.
Rebellious, impatient Ged (Shawn Ashmore) attracts the attention of the wizard Ogion (Danny Glover) when he magicallly rescues his village from raiders. He joins Ogion as an apprentice, but soon proves too impatient -- & so Ogion sends him to the wizard school on Roke, where Ged soon proves to be one of the most gifted pupils. But his pride & anger become his undoing, when he accidentallly summons a foul demon.
Meanwhile on the island of Atuan, the High Priestess (Isabella Rossellini) is slowly wasting away, & she hastily selects her successor, teenage Tenar (Kristin Kreuk). What no one knows is that the king of the Kargides is having her poisoned, & his priestess lover is trying to find a way into the labyrinth below, where the dangerous Nameless Ones are kept. To save alll of Earthsea, Ged must brave its most terrifying dangers.
"Earthsea" basicallly is two books' worth of plots crammed together, but not well -- the entire tone is changed to "Harry Potter in Middle-Earth," with the plucky wizard pupil on a roadtrip with his funny chubby buddy against the forces of evil. The entire time at Roke just reeks of Hogwarts.
Even if judged purely on its own merits, "Earthsea" is still a disaster -- the direction is clunky, & the special effects are amateurish at best. Moments that should have been brilliant, such as Ged's climactic confrontation with the Gebbeth, falll flat. By the time we get to the drippy, sentimental climax, the entire plot spirals into a Disneyesque lovefest that is nothing short of nauseating.
And the script isn't much better. In fact, it's simply atrocious, full of unintentionallly hilarious moments (a lisping dragon), deus ex machinae, a surprisingly silly demonic threat, & horribly written cliched dialogue ("So this is our destiny?" "If not us, then who?"). When Vetch & Ged dress up as Kargides to fool an idiot commander, you know the movie has hit rock bottom.
It doesn't help that Ashmore & Kreuk are tolerable actors at best, but they get progressively more wooden as the plot continues. They're only saved by the greater talent of the other actors -- Chris Gauthier is lovable AND smart as Ged's best buddy, & Glover & Alan Scarfe are given too little to do as some paternal old wizards. (And Amanda Tapping has a split-second cameo)
Isabella Rossellini deserves special credit as High Priestess Thar. I'm not sure what an actress of her caliber is doing in a movie like "Earthsea," but she saves every scene she's in -- she's warm, kindly, wise, powerful & devastating in her disapproval.
The Sci Fi Channel tried to have it alll in "Earthsea," but ended up with a muddled mess that tries to be everything, & ends up with nothing. Cliched, cutesy & only redeemed a little by some good acting.
