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"Ged Senki" or "Tales from Earthsea" is less a tale of dragons and destiny and more a battleground of family drama far juicier than anything on-screen. The story behind the movie, Goro Miyazaki stepping out of his father Hayao's colossal shadow, holds more intrigue than the story within it.
And while Goro's architectural background only help the beautiful setting designs, it turns out you can’t construct compelling characters the same way you design a roofline.
That said, judged as a regular animated movie, it’s far from disastrous; as a Ghibli film, though, it struggles to keep up with the studio’s soaring legacy.

The characters in Ged ... Senki are like hastily drawn sketches from a novel, there's an outline of who they should be, but no shading to bring them to life. The two main characters flip from hostility to trust so fast it feels like someone accidentally skipped a few pages of the script.
Meanwhile, the motivations of others, like the villain and the arc-wizard, are an enigma, not in a "mysterious and fascinating" way but in a "did I miss something here?" kind of way.
Then there’s the main character's expressions of fear, which can only be described as the blandest rendition of terror ever committed to celluloid.

One of the film's most perplexing moments comes early on, setting the tone for its shaky narrative foundation. A key event involving the protagonist’s father feels abrupt and unearned, as if the story is forcing drama rather than letting it unfold naturally.
What follows is an equally jarring shift in the protagonist’s mindset, where their reaction seems less like a genuine emotional journey and more like a plot point the film insists on hitting.
And by hitting I mean, Goro dreaming about beating the sh** out of his own father for what he has done. There is a lot of unresolved teen-drama in this movie, but written by a grown ass man.
This disjointed storytelling leaves the audience questioning not just the characters’ motivations but the reasoning behind the choices made in crafting the story itself.

The setting of Ged Senki hints at an ambitious fantasy tale of family, destiny, and moral conflict, but it never quite delivers on its promise.
While the backdrop offers intriguing glimpses of a world in decline... complete with a rundown city grappling with issues like drug abuse... none of it feels truly connected. The story jumps between these beautifully rendered locations without weaving them into a cohesive world, leaving them as standalone vignettes rather than pieces of a larger puzzle. And why does it all look so beautiful and gripping, while it is obviously a very grim setting full of dangers?
Visually, the film is undeniably stunning, showcasing Goro Miyazaki’s architectural sensibilities in the design of its landscapes and cityscapes. (While it left me wondering what he even did in that part? I think the Art Directors do not really need his help with all that.)
But unlike Hayao Miyazaki’s films, where every frame feels alive with detail and purpose, Ged Senki struggles to imbue its world with the same magnetic intrigue. The result is a setting that’s visually rich but emotionally and narratively empty, unable to draw the viewer into its fantasy as effortlessly as its predecessors by his father.

But this movie shows beautifully that you just can't put anyone in the director seat to expect greatness coming from an unschooled pen, barely managing a Storyboard and Screenplay.
the Goro storyboards are all on Sakugabooru, if you are interested to look at them, the characters look awful, the scenery beautiful.

The ghibli crew did a pretty good job though, there are scenes that look undeniably beautifully animated.
Fast scenes are not as detailed as other Ghibli movies. Especially when animating sand in a desert, it looked unnatural.

The music is pretty good. Basic cinematic fantasy BGM. Nothing major, but appreciated, and there was obviously money.

In the end, Ged Senki is a fascinating case study in contrasts: a beautifully animated, musically competent fantasy tale that fails in nearly every narrative and emotional aspect. It’s a film that dreams of soaring like a dragon but never quite manages to get off the ground, weighed down by its disjointed storytelling and lackluster characters. While it’s not a disaster as an animated movie, its shortcomings become glaring under the towering shadow of the Ghibli legacy... and of Hayao Miyazaki himself.