Miyazaki's 'Tales from Earthsea' HK DVD for Pre-Order, Released July 20th 2007.

As expected, as confirmed a short while ago and supported by this new, fully active YesAsia listing, we're getting a quick HK release for the latest Ghibli.

Having watched this on Sunday night, I can now give my brief thoughts on the film. Firstly, the film's surprisingly minimalist in both plot and setting, and although the look and animation is very familiarly Ghibli, it's both setting itself apart by this as well as perhaps risking too much association and comparison as a result. The film's easy to see as both something a little too basic -- the animation dips in quality at times, rarely revels in the skill of the animator to the extent of other recent Ghibli works. But, it's easy to see the story doesn't (for one reason or another) actually need the same kind of attention many of these previous ambitious fantasies have, and that it's bravely (intentionally?) departing for something that's not too clearly or actively treading the same or similar paths again.

Unfortunately, it's relative to the studios output that the comparisons most likely lie, and it doesn't entirely survive scrutiny in that kind of isolation even if you appreciate the departure because of it still remaining a little too close to only being acceptably similar, and would stand up even less in comparison to how frequently these kind of structures and approaches are explored in Japanese Cinema.

Having said all this, the film surprised me by how well it worked overall. For me, the complicated nature of the animation found until now actually becomes very familiar and hard to entirely take in on a casual level. Instead, there's a risk the skill of the animations quality and details is lost, until you're inclined to study and re-watch these films for that purpose of basking in the glory of how everyday scenes can be so skillfully rendered with such accuracy that it's quickly too lavish to absorb. The story may be familiar, but as a refreshing Ghibli experience, I admire it, and I (most importantly) enjoyed it enough to not be fearful of future Goro Miyazaki films. Now, if you want a cheap chance to see it, long before there's likely to be other cheaper-than-Japan alternatives, the HK DVD may be worth a punt... the film is starting to open at Cinemas in some territories now.

Pre-Order Goro Miyazaki's 'Tales from Earthsea' R3 HK DVD for Release July 20th 2007, via YesAsia.