I plucked this off the bargain bin on name recognition. I've not had the pleasure of reading Ursula LeGuin's books set in Earthsea, but I was willing to gamble on the reputation of the work. What I didn't notice was that this was a Sci Fi Network made for TV movie, and that would have warned me on quality.
Simply, it's not good.
The film lacks tightness and focus. It jumps around all over the place so much so that viewers are unable to make a connection either with the story or with any of the characters. The two main characters, Ged and Tenar, meet face to face around two and a half hours into the film, which is pretty horrific. There's a lot of wandering around the place, which can bore one to death. But what truly brings Earthsea to a screeching halt is the endless exposition by practically every character. A lot of it is boring and pointless and could have been excised by writing the thing properly. Show me please, don't keep telling me.
There are a lot of other things to poke fun at, including awful CGI and horrific acting on the part of everyone except for the criminally misused Isabella Rossellini. But hey, I guess everyone has to earn a paycheck, so I won't hold it against her.
I'm writing this while the damned thing is still running in the background. Ged and Tenar are acting/talking about the plot yet again. Ehhhh. I'll go turn it off now.
Avoid this steaming turd. Please.
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