Anime movie reviews, 2010.11

In alphabetical order...

King of Thorn

This was an interesting, but confused movie. Not too sure what to say about it; not even sure how much I remember about it. The setting was bleak but engaging, telling the tale of a group of survivors of a peculiar disaster at a shady cryogenics lab during a worldwide epidemic. Things end up revolving around a shy young girl who is not what she seems, as the group navigates a high-tech facility that has become overrun by strange monsters and giant brambles. Naturally, the facility happens to be located inside a Scottish castle.

There are more twists than you can poke a stick at, and the story frolicks along at a good pace - sometimes a little too fast for its own good. It really felt as though scenes were missing at a few points, or perhaps I just blinked and missed something important one too many times. There are probably a couple too many characters overall, spreading the audience's attention thin, and so the bond between the girl and one of the other survivors ends up being nowhere near as poingnant as it should be. Other than the pacing and character development, the main flaw to me was that the story couldn't seem to decide whether it was foremost a sci-fi or a psychological thriller, and by the finale, it's an awkward combination of both.

Still, the awkward combination manages to be fairly entertaining overall, and there are plenty of epic visuals throughout. Worth a look. Minus one point for absurdly blatant Resident Evil ripoff; you'll know it when you see it.

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

The only film of this lot that I didn't see at this year's Reel Anime festival at Cinema Nova. I must have giggled like a baby upon discovering that the Layton series was to be adapted into feature films. I watched this right after completing the third DS game, too, so the characters and style were fresh in my mind. Instantly jarring was the voice acting for Luke. For reasons I cannot fathom, the American and British versions of the Layton games feature different voice actors for this character, and unfortunately the voice I heard in the movie sounded nothing like the one I was accustomed to from the games. This wasn't distracting for too long though, and thankfully the professor's voice was as usual.

The story and setting is entirely in keeping with those of the games, and the formula is tweaked just right to suit a feature film. Layton and Luke are invited to an opera performance featuring one of the professor's former students, but the opera turns out to be a front for an evil ploy to find the secret of immortality, or so it seems. There are some token puzzles early on (we even get a giant puzzle counter in the same format as the games) for the characters to solve, but these pretty much fall by the wayside halfway through the film, leaving it to focus on the characters. Speaking of which, other than Layton and Luke, Dr Shrader is the only familiar face here, which makes sense since the film is set before the games. Still, it would have been nice to see Inspector Chelmey, at least.

The art style is identical to that in the games, and the character designs are as varied as ever. I have read complaints that the film ends up relying on CGI too much towards its conclusion, and I'd agree, but it's not that it's out of keeping with the games at all (plenty of CGI mecha madness in the new game). The problem is that it just doesn't fit in with the cute, ultra-simplistic style that the characters are drawn in. No huge deal in the end, though. The story wraps up in the standard gooey emotional manner, tying everything up in a nice yet bittersweet knot. This movie was charming, and a perfect companion to the game series. I was really hoping they would explain what the hell a "picarat" is, though. Oh well.

Redline

Wooow. I knew next to nothing about this movie going into it; only that it was about racing and had some serious style. It was almost impossible to find information on it online too, since apparently it didn't even have a proper release in Japan yet at the time of the season here. But really, racing and style is more or less all you need to know. Oh, and a ridiculous sci-fi setting reminiscent of Star Wars pod-racing on spiked crack.

Our main main JP is a slightly crooked racer paid by the mob to lose the Yellow Line race (which opens the film), putting him out of contention for the prestigious Red Line race. His engine does explode during the race, but due to the illegal and dangerous nature of Red Line, two of the successful entrants pull out, putting JP and his absurd hairstyle in the race by default. The bulk of the film consists of preparation for the event, some confusing intergalactic politics and violence, and encounters with another sexy entrant who has apparently idolised JP for years. The supporting characters and opposing race teams, mostly aliens, are all hilarious and highly imaginative. The climax of the film is of course the big race, and it's a long one, interspersed with more (frankly needless) politics and a completely nonsensical battle between two giant monsters. I really had no idea what that was all about.

So yeah, only two races, one of which is short and sweet. But they are all that is needed, really. The thing about this movie is the style, just the amazing visuals. So much work must have been poured into every high-contrast, high-colour, extreme-motion frame that it blows my mind. Keyframing is barely evident, which is in contrast to a lot of lazily done anime where objects can appear to jerk from point to point (I'm looking at you, Ponyo, even though you are super cute). Here, everything is fluid, smooth, organic and violently colourful, to the point where you can nearly forget about the story. All I could say on exiting the theatre was 'I don't know what I just saw, but it was pretty'.

'Visual feast' would be a horrible understatement; watching this movie on drugs would probably open an interdimensional portal. Bonus points for excellent, lawl-worthy final shot.

Summer Wars

Now, this was 'the big one' of this year's Reel Anime festival, and the only movie of the bunch to get a full release immediately afterwards. I'd heard rave reviews from a few friends and was a little late to the party, I suppose. But honestly, it wasn't the magical tour-de-force I'd been expecting. Hopes set too high by recommendations and having seen Redline already, I suppose.

Not that the movie was bad at all. It was great, and one hundred percent aimed at today's digital generation of adolescents. Plot is somewhat too complex to really explain here, but basically it revolves around an Internet virtual world called OZ, which I suppose is designed to be an exaggerated version of Facebook or Google or something, to the point where governments rely on it and nobody under the age of 40 can live without it. Anyhoo, kid is roped into pretending to be a girl's boyfriend and taken to her grandmother's birthday, kid's OZ avatar gets hacked and stolen by a mysterious virtual aggressor, things turn global, the entire Internet teams up to wage pixellated war in frankly bland 3D environments, and it takes the unconnected folks at granny's house way too long to catch on to the importance of what is happening. Many silly hijinks, ominous family dramas and down-to-the-millisecond suspense moments ensue.

There's nothing particularly bad about this movie at all; it doesn't do anything wrong. It just doesn't do anything amazing either, as far as I'm concerned. Visually well done but pretty by-the-books. Perhaps it was that I had recently watched Durarara!!, which covered some of the same ground in a darker and less linear style. In any case, Summer Wars will be fun for anyone even slightly nerdy.


...That's it for now. Got a bunch more lined up to watch. Til next time! ^_^