[Escaflowne]
Review of both the series and the movie

During a track practice, Hitomi sees a boy dressed in armor on the track. She sees a mysterious vision then passes out. Later, she hears from her best friend that the boy she is in love with, Amano is moving. She gets him to agree to a deal, if she can complete a run in 13 seconds, he'll give her her first kiss. But during the run, the mysterious boy from before shows up once again, and seconds later a dragon appears. The Dragon is slayed by the boy, named Van Finnel, thanks to Hitomi warning him of the dragon's attack. However, once defeated a mysterious light transports Hitomi and Van to a strange new world where beasts surround them.

The movie was like the whole series packed into movie length. Both the movie and tv series have excellent music and a nice plot. The character development is good and the animation is very nice.
There ARE problems though. The movie had a different ending than the series and I didn't like both. The endings seemed rushed like they wanted to hurry up and finish the movie or series. Other than that, the whole thing is great. The mecha designs are pretty original like Van's (above). In the movie, the story with mechs is much more different. Thats what separates the series and the movie.

I'd recommend the movie over the series.

Overall
Movie: 3 1/2 Stars   ***1/2
Series: 3 Stars    ***