'Metropolis' anime - I can't stop loving you. (1 Viewer)

[Allen Skurow]

Beguiling combo of 2-D cel-shaded and cgi animation. A private detective's young nephew and a mysterious cybernetic girl/child go on the lam from a Mayor's murderous, renegade 'son' in a vast, futuristic, robo/human cityscape. An over reliance on eccentric/cliched characterizations, rambling exposition, and techno-babble is redeemed by spirited, cinematic set-pieces and staccato bursts of ballistic violence. Political, religious, and metaphysical underpinnings also help buoy the proceedings over the typical malnourished machinations of the genre. It all pays off in a spectacular, apocalyptic, cataclysm/coda set to the old standard, "I Can't Stop Loving You" replete with dynamic cliff-hangs, camera swoops, and heartbreaking elegiac imagery - brilliantly executed. The final haunting image - 'gobot' Tima's battered radio entombed in the smoldering ruins echoing her first words/epitaph, "Who am I?" - is indelible. A bravura, visionary, flawed masterpiece.

P.S. This film obviously inspired (and was inspired by) Trailer blurb-ed director James Cameron who is rumored to be preparing a live action Magna movie.

 

[Brian E]

One of my favorite movies of last year.

 

[BrianShort]

Is this worth a blind buy, or a rental first? Saw it at Wal-Mart and almost picked it up.

Brian

 

[TheLongshot]

I recommend a rental first. I saw it in the theaters, and while I thought it was pretty good, I wouldn't own it.

Jason

 

[Rich Romero]

It all depends on if you like anime and if you can appreciate good animation and backdrops and such. I personally am not an anime fan but I'm slowly appreciating it more and more. I've seen it once and thought it was just damn fun to look at.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I rated it in the borderline purchase range. Good film, you should certainly rent it and see for yourself, but it might not be something that sticks with you.

And then if you do love it, you probably won't regret the extra $3 you spent finding out. It's the kind of film that if it does click with you, you will probably love it.

Either way, I doubt you will feel that you wasted your money on the rental.

 

[Steve Christou]

Fantastic movie, in the top ten greatest anime ever in my opinion, much better than Disneys recent offerings, brilliant visual design, perfect melding of CGI and traditional animation, great story, loved it.
Sadly the extras on the dvd are nowhere near as indepth as Disney's 2-disc sets, too many talking heads, not enough 'making of' featurettes, the same happened with my alltime favorite anime 'Akira'. I really want to see more on the making of these films.
While kids films like 'Stitch and Lillo' prob get super dvds, Japanimation is quite happy with the talking head extras, aaargh! Rant over.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Additional comments can also be found here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ght=metropolis
~Edwin

 

[Mark Palermo]

Personally, I loved the film. It's a visual masterpiece, with a story as cerebral as it is emotional. I also liked the combo of futuristic designs with 1920s style art. Is this a 2001 or 2002 release in North America?

Mark

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Sadly the extras on the dvd are nowhere near as indepth as Disney's 2-disc sets, too many talking heads, not enough 'making of' featurettes, the same happened with my alltime favorite anime 'Akira'. I really want to see more on the making of these films.

Frankly, you're lucky there are so many extras for both films. The Japanese NEVER saved ANYTHING. Akira is remarkably well documented, and with Metropolis, well there's more than you see on 95% of anything put out.

Akira SE was virtually flawless except for the lack ofa Japaense 5.1 track, so I do plan to pick up the DTS ver for that, and hopefully better picture since it's movie-only