| Metropolis |
| Running Time: 100 mins Subtitled When I first heard about this project I was less than enthusiastic, the age of the manga it is based on and the fact they were blending 2D and CG animation, to me spelt disaster. Luckily this was not true, when I finally got to see it I was left awestruck at the imagery. The CG was superb and the 2D animation was layered on perfectly, unlike certain efforts from American companies which shall remain nameless. The attention to detail on the city takes your breath away, especially the Ziggurat, the central and largest building in the city. Animation aside when you hear the soundtrack for the first time you would be forgiven for thinking they had made a mistake, it being a sort of jazz/motown mixture, until you realise just how fitting it is to the tone of the film. The characters are portrayed quite well, Duke Red (a powerful businessman), Rock (leader of the Malduks and adopted son of Duke Red), Dr Laughton (a scientist hired by Duke Red to build the ultimate robot), Shinsaku Ban (detective and uncle to Kenichi), Kenichi (hero of the story), Tima (the ultimate robot), and the city itself. They all have their part to play and the personalities are put across very well, but your left feeling that there should be more development to some of them, you eventually notice that all the human and robot charcters are merely a supporting cast to the city itself, which is a strange thing to watch. Unlike most people who have seen this movie I felt more emotion towards Rock, adopted by Duke Red but mostly ignored by him, most of his achievements go unnoticed and strives for the attention that his father is giving to Tima. All in all a superb film, Katsuhiro Otomo and Taro Rin have done an excellent job of bringing Osama Tezuka's manga to the big screen. Review by Alia |
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