- Earthsea

Initially I was put off by all the bad reviews, but I love Sci-Fi & Fantasy so I took a chance and bought the DVD. I loved it. It engaged me and I couldn't put it down. Well done to all who were involved in make this fantastic film.I have to say that I have never read the book so the changes made to the story line didn't worry me. I listened to the audio tape today and there were many changes. Sounds like if you are very familiar with the book then you may be disappointed. But for me I had no hestitation in giving it 5 stars. Very glad to have it in my SciFi and Fantasy collection.

Earthsea or $15 million doesn't go that far anymore. I really liked this movie. However, having said that I also believe that any problems which the movie had, resulted from the director's fundamental misunderstanding of the material which he had to work with.He did tone down the sex scenes, which the sci-fi channel wanted in order to make this appeal to an adult audience (18-35 age group.) Director Robert Lieberman wanted a show that he could feel comfortable about his kids watching. That's a good thing.Regarding the fact that Ms. Leguin wasn't consulted as some of the other reviews have stated. She was in fact consulted at Mr. Lieberman, but not the sci-fi channel, and the people that brought the rights to the Earthsea books. I formed these impressions by watching the DVD commentary.The only objections which the director says he was made aware of were: the author thought that there should be more ethnicity in earthsea. Secondly she objected to whole passages of dialogue being redacted. These are objections that any author who cared about her work would have.The director explained on the commentary that he had to work within the time, and budget constraints of the sci-fi network who had input every step of the way. They even objected to uniforms the students wore on the island of Roke. "They thought that it looked too much like Harry Potter." At the school the director kept saying that he did not mages in pointy hats. This was I believe his first fundamental misunderstanding of the material. Who ever said that mages have to wear pointy hats. This was my first hint that he had no clue about the genre he was working in.Next the director objected to talking dragons, "he thought they were cartoon like," and wanted to put the dragons dialogue in subtitles. Again I believe that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the material, and the genre. To me earthsea was all about Ged and the dragons. Which is why I am amazed that the movie is so good, because it came from someone who didn't understand the material he was given but gave us his perception of earthsea. However, it's definitely not the author's.

This Mini-Series is kind of like a mature Harry Potter movie. I don't really like Harry Potter movies because they just seem too childish and silly for me, but I love EarthSea which is probably one of my top 5 all-time favorite films.This DVD got a lot of undeserved low ratings just because it doesn't match the book exactly. But if you've never read the books or don't mind the film being different then you'll love this DVD.

I read the first book in the 5th grade and quickly after I finished the rest of the Earthsea books (or as early as they were published in some cases).It's been a while since I read the book but I'm quite happy with the mini-series. It was done as well as it can be expected considering the length of material being covered. Enjoyed it a lot and hope Sci-fi make it a regular series even if they can't get the same actors.Definitely plan to buy this.

I remember watching it on the Sci-Fi channel it was a great mini series plus it had a all star cast that also appealed to me also . It's also at a great price .check it out you won't be disappointed .

Like other viewers I was looking forward to this with anticipation. However was saddened and disappointed at the hatchet job done to these two fine Ursula Le'Guin novels.I realise that there will always need to be some changes in the translation from book to film, but many changes were for no reason. For example why swap Sparrowhaks name around making his use-name Ged and his secret name Sparrowhawk. thats an unnecessary change which simply upsets fans.There are others, for example the non-death of the Archemage. The relationshop of Ged to his father - in the book this was practically non-existent.Even the major changes - making the priestesses on Atuan good and tasked with the job of containing the old ones (ratherthan worshipping them), bringing the Gebbeth story arc to its conclusion in the tombs, the reference to Jasper getting the Mage of Pendor role (was Geds in the story for a very important reason - he needed to learn humility and failure to counter his original arrogance), the ridiculous introduction of the Kargad king etc. All serve to marr the storyHaving said that, the story was Ok. If different names etc were used and this were set in a different world I would probably have enjoye it more and scored this higher, but the SciFi channel just blatantly cashing in on Lord of the Rings by claiming this is a dramatisation of another popular series ruined the story for me, seriously marring the entertainment of this and leaving me quite disappointed. The first two books would have translated perfectly well to film without minimal changes, especially since most of the events in each book happen simultaneously - whilst Sparrowhawk is growing up and learning to be a wizard, Tenar is growing up and learning to be a priestess.If only Peter Jackson would do a remake.

This story has a great arc, so so special effects (one minute they're great the next they're very average, but mostly good), and a good cast. The characters are interesting (though almost too over the top for some) and the story is large. It is quite an epic. Now, does it match the book. No, but who cares. It's fun, well done, and on the run. There's nothing here that will really surprise you and you've seen this story all before, but it will still be fun to see all over again and join this adventurer along his quest.

die Heilung zwischen natürlichem Glauben und nicht von dieser Erde Glaube. Die Entdeckung, das es nicht auf den Glaubenweg ankommt sondern auf das was wir daraus machen und wie.

Loved the story line

Earthsea is a wonderful tale, based on the stories written by Ursula K. Le Guin and is brought to life by Hallmark (who brought us the likes of Snow Queen and Merlin) and the Sci-Fi Channel.It is based around a young wizard to be named Ged (Sean Ashmore) who leaves his home town and his mentor Ogion (Danny Glover) to begin a quest to find out who he truly is, and to restore the Amulet of Peace, which was broken centuries ago, in order to restore harmony to the world of Earthsea. On his quest, Ged visits many islands and faces many dangers including the evil King Tygath, who wants to release an ancient evil upon Earthsea in order to fulfill his own selfish needs. Keeping this evil dormant is a covent of Priestesses led by High Priestess Thar (Isabella Rossellini) who's secrets to containing the evil she shares with her sucesser Tenar (Kristin Kreuk). When Tenar is wrongly accused of murder, by a traitor among the covent, she must try to prove her innocence by teaming up with Ged (who is battling demons of his own, in the form of the Gebbeth) in order to defeat Tygath and restore peace and harmony in Earthsea.On a modest "TV Movie" budget, this film has excellent special effects and lavish scenery which is breathtaking to watch and an impressive cast which all add to it's splender.As one who has not read the books (although after this i will), i cannot compare this to them but i strongly believe that this film stands on it's own and would be most enjoyed by fans of other fantasy stories such as Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series (both of which i love and could not recommend more).As i write this i have just finished watching this on Channel 4 and have ordered the DVD promptly as, to me, this one is for keeps. Definatly one for anyone with an imagination and one the whole family can enjoy.Happy viewing!!

J'ai adoré ce film , donc content de l'avoir en DVD

good