Earthsea (2004)

1 rating: 1.0

A movie directed by Robert Lieberman

Originally broadcast asLegend of Earthseain December 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel's four-hour miniseries ofEarthsearides the coattails of theLord of the Ringstrilogy with its quest-driven story of humble blacksmith Ged (Shawn Ashmore), a wizard-to-be who … see full wiki

Tags: Movie

Cast: Danny Glover, Isabella Rossellini, Shawn Ashmore, Sebastian Roche, Kristin Kreuk

Director: Robert Lieberman

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It's Not The Best, But Not The Worst Either

Apr 10, 2005

by kfontenot
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

"Earthsea," which is based on books written by Ursula K. LeGuin, is an above-average production of the SciFi Channel. I've heard the movie is actually very loosely based on the books, and that LeGuin thinks this film is a travesty, but she should realize that seeing this flick has probably peaked the interests of many people who want to find out just how closely the movie follows the books.

I'll be honest and say that I've never read any of the "Earthsea" books. In fact, I'd never even heard of them before SciFi threw this production out for viewing. It looks something like a modern day version of J.R.R. Tolkien's books. Of course, it doesn't come close to those books or the "Lord Of The Rings" films. However, it does feed those hungry for some fantasy/adventure. There've been a ton of "LOTR" copycats, and I think this flick is one of the better ones.

I won't go into a huge explanation of the plot, but it goes a little like this: Much like Frodo from "LOTR," the hero of this film is an unexpected nobody named Ged, played by Shawn Ashmore("Iceman" from the "X-Men" flicks). He sets out to stop the evil King Tygath, who wants to rule Earthsea. Standing in Tygath's way are a group of wizards at a school(not unlike Hogwart's in the "Harry Potter" stories, though "Earthsea" was written before those novels), and a high priestess played with little flair by Isabella Rosselini. She looked stiff throughout this film. Danny Glover plays Ged's mentor, Ogion. He seems to be trying too hard to come across as a mix of Gandolf, Yoda, and Dumbledore, resulting in a cookie-cutter "sage-like" character that really doesn't fit well in the story. Kristen Kreuk(Smallville) does a decent job as the potentially powerful priestess, Tenar.

The overall production is pretty good on this film considering it's a SciFi Channel production. If only they'd spent as much money on the actual story, I might have given this a better review.

In closing, I'll agree with other reviewers in saying that "Earthsea" is an ambitious television production, but it falls flat in the end. As stated before, one good thing about this flick is that it probably peaked interest in plenty of folks who might not have read the original books and now want to check them out.

Recommended to fans of the fantasy genre, especially those like me who haven't read the original books. That seems to be a thorn in quite a few folks' side when concerning this movie.

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