YMMV / Tales from Earthsea

• Ass Pull: Therru turning into a dragon in the climax. The only foreshadowing it really gets is a brief scene at the beginning where it's mentioned dragons and humans were once one, but became different species due to their differing desires (and this doesn't mention shapeshifting and being able to come Back from the Dead). On the other hand, if you read the books, then you've been waiting for this to happen as soon as she's in peril.
• Awesome Music: However the film in general may come off, the soundtrack is exceptional, perhaps the best of any Ghibli film.
• Complete Monster: Lord Cob, left on the brink of death after a failed attempt to Take Over the World, began searching for Immortality to enable him to exact revenge. In the present, Cob, running a slave trade that deals in children, begins tampering with the forces of the planet in his quest for eternal life, throwing the world into chaos. After capturing Tenar, Sparrowhawk's Love Interest, Cob mind-controls his apprentice, Arren, into attacking Sparrowhawk. Cob then tries to kill Sparrowhawk and Tenar, and, when Arren thwarts this attempt, Cob takes Arren's friend, Therru, as a hostage, then strangles her to death before his eyes, mocking him all the way.
• Critic-Proof: Despite being considered by critics and audiences alike to be one of Studio Ghibli's weakest films, and winning both Worst Picture and Worst Director at the Japanese equivalent of the Razzies, the film still managed to be Japan's highest-grossing film of 2006 and the highest-grossing film not in the English language of 2006. However, the film would later bomb in Western releases due to being given very limited releases due to the film's lackluster reception.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Sparrowhawk, especially in the English dub where Timothy Dalton towers over the rest of the cast.
• Faux Symbolism: Sparrowhawk has been compared to Jesus, Cob to Satan and Arren to mankind flaws and all.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: At this point the film is likely more famous for Hayao Miyazaki walking out of its premiere screening and subsequently expressing public disappointment in his son's work than anything that actually happens in it.
• So Okay, It's Average: Though rarely considered bad, this is widely seen as one of the least impressive Ghibli movies. This is mainly because of the strength of the source material and Ghibli's attempts at compacting the book into a film were clumsy and muddled, especially in comparison to the last time they adapted a fantasy novel.
• Tear Jerker: Therru's song.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Many plot points introduced in the film's opening are dropped almost immediately after. Dragons returning, the murder of the king and the implications of a war on the horizon all seem like powerful story hooks but they are never brought up again. And many Earthsea fans will tell you that the series has quite a few characters who deserve a movie more than Arren.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: While the film is seen as one of the weakest films in the Studio Ghibli Collection, the English dub voice acting of Sparrowhawk (courtesy of Timothy Dalton) and Cob (courtesy of Willem Dafoe) are nigh-unanimously praised.
  • The soundtrack is also often seen as one of Studio Ghibli's best and most underrated soundtracks, despite the film not being quite as well-liked.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Cob. This became a very weird semi case of She's a Man in Japan in the German dub where Cob spoke with a very feminine voice but was still talked about as 'he' and 'the sorcerer'.
  • In Czech, he is dubbed by a woman - and still is a man.

---