Laputa on the left... Tales of Earthsea on the right.
I just finished watching Laputa: Castle in the Sky for the Xteenth time, and I will start off my review of Earthsea by saying this:
If you are considering watching Earthsea, instead rewatch the first 5 minutes of Laputa instead. It is far better. Laputa represents everything that is missing from Earthsea!
For starters Laputa was animeted/directed by Hayao Miyazaki... a director so amazing that people go out of their way to watch the episodes of Lupin he was involved in. A story writer so impressive that even a story of a girl and a panda aimed at 3 year olds blows away most of what Hollywood has to offer. Earthsea was directed by Goro Miyazaki. I can never say too many good things about Goro Miyazaki, but I will promise you this: I will never show another of his works site unseen at an anime party again. Where Hayao Miyazaki's work has magic and charm, Goro felt like a low budget old school TV show. (Hayao directed a low budget old school TV show, Future Boy Conan... that felt more like a 12 hour movie than a TV show. The artwork is probably of similar quality, but the character designs were all better in Conan.)
Laputa has a little girl with magical powers, Sheeta... Earthsea has a little girl with mysterious magical powers, Theruu... but while Sheeta is being pursued because she has magical powers, Theruu just sort of happens to fall into the plot, twice. Okay, I'll buy that Arren just happens to bump into the magical girl at the square, but what are the odds that he will run into the same street rat miles and miles away in the country. Small world I guess.
Laputa has really cool pirates, with pink hair!! Earthsea has Gandalf, er Sparowhawk. Sadly, Sparrowhawk was the only character in the movie I really felt any connection with, but he really did feel like a Gandalf ripoff and did not seem that interesting, and he really never did any impressive magic.
Laputa has SS agents running all over the place... I hated them, especially the way they destroy everything. Hating the bad guy is a good thing! In Earthsea, the bad guy (girl?) was a bit too wimpy to really take seriously.
Both stories are told from the point of view of a male protagonist... Laputa has Pazu, who is only slightly less awesome than Porco Rosso and Conan, a good strong kid with an amazing work ethic, amazing drive and energy, and he really does save the girl instead of the other way around. I wish I could be more like Pazu! Earthsea starts out with Theruu... who is a cowardly rich prince boy who never really does anything for any reason that makes any sense. I am assured by my friend Stefan who has read the Earthsea Novels that the Theruu in Miyazaki's Earthsea is not representative of the novels.
The best thing I can say about Earthsea is the music is decent, and the dragons and "horses" look pretty cool.
My Rating: 1 out of 10 ... this was the most disappointing anime movie I have ever seen. Not the worst, but not worth watching. I recommend downloading a high resolution scan of the poster for the movie and watching anything else Miyazaki instead Laputa, Nausicaa, or even Panda Ko Panda...
