Rectangular_businessman
A film by the same director of the popular anime film "Akira", but I liked this better.A steam-punk tale set in London at the time when steam was discovered as a source of energy, in some slightly different and parallel history than the one we live in. London during the Industrial Revolution is recreated in detail ... and more. This is not a Ghibli production, but it is just as good, and visually amazing: the natural and architectural settings are eye-popping. And I dare to say that the human characters are better drawn than in Ghibli anime films. In a way it is better than most "real" films, because anything, and I mean anything, can be drawn, even things you could not shoot on film or video, and this is the demonstration. One of those movies you are glad you lived to watch them.
fariska
OK, a movie is supposed to tell a story, have characters a plot and stuff. This is fair enough, but Steamboy it's not the case:This movie is simply a vulgar, wonderful and unbelievable display of power. When i started watching it I tried to follow the story but soon I was totally amazed by the incredible detail and perfection of what i was seeing that I stopped following the story to focus on the real subject of this movie: Animation.It's simply incredible the amount of time and detail that has been put into the realization of this flick: no cycles, no repetitions, perfect blend of 2d and 3d until the end.So, if you are going to see it, take the story for what REALLY is (a device to display animation) and just concentrate on what you are seeing on the screen.
gpeevers
Steamboy is a beautifully animated film that starts off with considerable promise but seems to loose focus in its final third. The Victorian settings are well used and the characters are fairly well defined. The film falls into fantasy/science fiction sub-genre of steam punk which basically means it's a story set in the Victorian era with a strong dose of either fantasy or science fiction which produces an alternate history to that which we actually experienced.The films protagonist is Ray Steam is a young inventor whose scientist grandfather and father are absent pursuing some great advance in steam power. After some sort of accident a package is sent to Ray by his grandfather and he quickly finds himself pursued by those who want the package. The importance of the package is apparently connected to the upcoming Great Exhibition of 1866 in London. While I won't spoil the films resolution I will say that it is unfortunately a little heavy handed and over the top. The conclusion isn't enough to spoil my overall enjoyment but it is disappointing and inconsistent.The DVD has available both the original Japanese audio with sub-titles (for the purists) and is also dubbed into English with a fairly note worthy cast. The American cast includes Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart. The film was both directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo who is probably best known for the blockbuster anime Akira.Although Akira is definitely a superior film it did similarly also lose direction somewhat toward the end. An impressive vision of a future Tokyo, an intriguing story and the characters got lost somewhat in the over the top resolution. Despite this drawback I still recommend 'Steamboy' and highly recommend 'Akira' for their amazing animation well realized characters and settings in addition to their story concepts. Although I feel both tried to hard to achieve a monumental conclusion that wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.
arthera09
Not a great movie, but it looked fantastic. That would be the saving grace of this movie. In terms of story it is not what I am used to when it comes to my Japanese Anime. I think they did a pretty good job keeping the technology pretty centered and not totally out of the question. That must sound stupid but as I was watching it I believed the world was real. The characters dynamic was not the greatest and no one really seemed to grow at all during the movie. Relationships were not given any background so I never really cared what happened between the characters. The big fight at the end was really cool and the flying machine gave rise to some of the best animation sequences of the movie. It terms of the look of the movie it was flawless, but the story and characters were lacking so it just was not a great movie. I am probably jaded when it comes to my Anime and expect great things. After watching movies like Paprika and Mind Game I expect more craziness or more beauty like any of Miyazaki's films.
AD
