Steamboy

Background:Steamboy is the first movie directed by a giant from Japanese anime Katsuhiro Otomo since his ground breaking movie Akira from 16 years ago. Unlike most anime fans I saw Steamboy before seeing its more famous partner. If you are expecting another Akira you will be disappointed since Steamboy is a 180 degree opposite in ambiance although both movies explore similar themes. Instead of Akira's dsytopic nihilistic Neo-Toyko Otomo re-creates a romantic optimistic Victorian England. Steamboy has the feel of a more mainstream Hollywood style action/adventure movie. Steamboy presents a fascinating intersection of history and sci-fi as its backdrop. The DVD is the director's cut with your choice of having the dialogue in English, Japanese and various Romance languages. Also, one can have subtitles in English, and the other languages.Non-spoiler Plot:Steamboy takes place in Victorian England in 1866. Although Otomo rewrites history by throwing in many elements not yet existing in 1866 but are from that overall period including Tower Bridge and battleships not built till the last decade of the 19th century. The movie is centered on the ownership of a Steam Ball which can generate the power equivalent to a small nuclear reactor. The movie, as typical in many Japanese anime and fantasy movies, centers on the issue of what is the proper use of this new breakthrough technology. This conflict is represented as an intergenerational conflict within the Steam family. The elder Steam, Lloyd (voiced by Patrick Stewart) has become deranged seeing his invention being put to what he sees as evil uses, his son Eddie (voiced by Alfred Molina), who is half man/machine, in a Nietzschian view sees the Steam Ball as a showcase of the power of science for science sake to push humankind to new heights. Eddie's 13 year old son Ray (voiced by Anna Paquin) is caught in the middle trying to save his father and grandfather and London from the consequences of their invention. A nefarious corporation, the O'Hara Foundation wants the Steam Ball, and the British are interested in acquiring it too sending Robert Stephenson, a tribute to the namesake who with his father invented the railway locomotive and built the first rail line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830, to gain control of the Steam Ball for the sake of national security.The movie spends the first part in Manchester and the surrounding countryside, including a panorama showing to borrow Dickens "satanic mills" dominating the city spewing black smoke into the air. The movie shifts to London centered on a park on the bank of the Thames. Otomo accurately animates the atmospheric effects of London's fog and smog. The park is home to the Crystal Palace, magnificently recreated in this anime movie, housing the Great Exhibition and the O'Hara Foundation Pavilion, using the design of Royal Albert Hall. [In history, the Crystal Palace, one of the great architectural achievements of the Victorian era, was built in 1851 to house the Great Exhibition of that year. The Great Exhibition in what might be considered the first World's Fair organized by Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert the Exhibition invited all the nations of the world to showcase the technologies and applications that came about from the Industrial Revolution.] The O'Hara Foundation sponsors the research of Eddie and Lloyd Steam that resulted in the invention of the Steam Ball. As we learn in the film the O'Hara Foundation has darker purposes for attending the Great Exposition besides showcasing the latest benevolent inventions. The titular representative of the O'Hara foundation is Scarlett O'Hara (voiced by anime regular Kari Wahlgren), around the same age as Ray, who is the sole heir to the O'Hara fortune. We immediately get the idea the Scarlett is a spoiled brat who complains about the smell and soot of London and enjoys bossing around the head of marketing for the O'Hara Corporation Archibald Simon. (PETA members might not like what she does to her poor Chihuahua Columbus). Although Scarlett is the one character who undergoes the most change as she sees the consequences of the her family's firm inventions. The movie is filled with action and adventure including chase scenes, and battle that breaks out at the area around the Crystal Palace where Otomo introduces many of the "futuristic" elements of the movie, and the reveling of Eddie's vision of science in the Steam Castle (Steam Tower in the english subtitles).Analysis:The main strength of this film is the gorgeous combination of traditional hand drawn 2-D and 3-D CGI animation. From what I have read, Otomo and his creative design team spent time on England, visiting London, Manchester and York, and studying steam locomotives and machinery from the Victorian era to beautifully recapture Victorian England, the motifs of that era, and the mechanical designs of the machinery down to the last rivet. For example, the Royal Navy ships in the movie are accurate recreations of real warships from the Victorian era. This research paid off in the stunning detail of the movie. You are starring at the screen just to soak up the details of the machinery Otomo created. I enjoyed how the movie used real historic events and places, mentioned above, as the backdrop for the movie. They showed great imagination in designing the "futuristic" elements which retains a 19th century appearance and mechanical design. Unlike other Japanese anime with their convoluted plot lines this is a straight forward action/adventure movie. The movie is dominated by browns and has a sepia tone to it. There are some wonderful animation effects including how lenses distort images, from what I understand this is a very difficult effect, to scenes with tons of falling confetti, to a scene where glass is shattered and on each chard you see an imprinted moving image from an earlier scene.There is not much character development in this movie except for perhaps Scarlett. Most of the characters are representations of the different uses of science and technology. Eddie is the personification of science for science sake without any moral/ethical considerations. Lloyd takes the opposite view that science must be looked at in terms of the moral/ethical impact and science should be restricted if it leads to a "bad" outcome. Ray is caught in the middle conflicted about what he should do and shows concern for both his father and grandfather. His actions and decisions are based on what he learns about the motives of the characters and his underlying desire to save his father and grandfather. Robert Stephenson sees science as being used for national security reasons. Scarlett espouses the economic rationale for scientific advancement. Although the characters are not quite so black and white. Eddie is perhaps misguided but he is not evil personified. When one sees Lloyd's vision of the uses of science for frivolity you might find yourself believing his view is just as extreme as Eddie's but in the opposite direction. Scarlett has the obvious rich girl spoiled brat attitude but Otomo shows underlying this façade is a sensitive, and intelligent girl. Otomo has these characters espouse their beliefs explicitly in their dialogue which often become monologues and lectures.Otomo uses the several characters to present different philosophies on the use of science but leaves it up to the viewer to make their own decision. The plot could used some improvement and the action can get a bit overwhelming at times. The machinery tends to overwhelm the story Otomo is trying to tell.I very much enjoyed the classical soundtrack by Steven Jablonsky. He developed wonderful themes for Ray and Scarlett and utilizes them throughout the movie.Overall, Steamboy should appeal to a both anime fans and a more conventional audience. This movie is far superior to Hollywood's recent attempt at Steampunk with Will Smith's Wild Wild West and Sean Connery's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.Time magazines Richard Corliss listed Steamboy, along with Akira, as one of the top 5 anime movies available on DVD. A side benefit of this movie is the educational opportunities this movie provides in further explorations of the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.The movie is rated PG-13 for the action. The PG-13 is more to the PG side than R side. There is one scene with blood but there is no objectionable language or suggestive sexual scenes.DVD Features: The transfer to DVD is excellent with great sound and picture quality. The aspect ratio was 1.85:1 so the transfer does not take full advantage of widescreen TVs, the wide screen version of Star Wars has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The DVD features are pretty bland. There is no director's commentary which is understandable give the language barrier. There is a 5 minute interview with director Katsuhiro Otomo. There is a 15 minute featurette about the challenges of re-dubbing the movie in English with Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, and Patrick Stewart. The 20 minute multi-screen landscape study splits the screen three ways. First there are scenes from the movie mixed with real life shots of London. 15 minutes of this featurette are interviews with the creative team discussing how they made the movie. The ending montage shows the images from the end credits of the English dubbed theatrical release without the text. Although this ending was a condensed version of the director's cut ending, which is the ending for the movie on this DVD. The production drawings are still shots of paintings used to develop ideas in the movie, some of which are pretty interesting. The animation onion skins shows the process by which five scenes are built combining hand drawn and CGI techniques although there is no dialogue explaining the process.

Can I just take a moment to just gush about this movie? This blend of 3D animation paired with an incredible soundtrack and a unique take on steampunk elements just makes this movie memorable for many years past its release.As to keep the review spoiler free, here's a basic overview:Ray, a young engineer/inventor, gets handed a pressurized ball of steam (aptly called, the "steamball") and is told to protect it from people who would rather use it for war than peace. What takes place is a short journey around London during a reinterpretation of the Industrial Revolution, where steam engines are the primary method of transportation and energy. The lines between what Ray believes is right and what the world believes is right blur into a thick cloud of steam as he ends up trying to take the role of a hero.However, certain scenes felt forced, rushed, and non-coherent. Some spots in the English dub don't exactly line up and really feel rushed because of the translations and the way they had to construct it. One character in particular was unrealistically flawed in their perspective of the world and how they act. They try to make this character redeemable and someone that Ray should care about in the end, but I felt different and conflicted with the direction they took.If you come for the story, it's only going to appeal to certain audiences. If you come for the concepts introduced, the world built by Katsuhiro Otomo and the soundtrack, chances are you will not leave disappointed. Definitely worth checking out.

The strangest thing about Steamboy is not that it's amazing, but that so much of the original was missed by european audiences.I saw the original uncut japanese edition at a film festival when it first came out - I was astounded to hear how much shorter it was-to explain simply, the english version (hitherto released as the standard on DVD) cuts twenty (yes, that's right) minutes off of the end. Twenty minutes which actually make it a decent ending, as opposed to a pathetically predictable one for persons so stupid they can't take an original twist on standard three-act structural narrative directions.But, back to the film. In essense the film blends modern animation - both 3d and 2d - better than any previous film, making possibly the most visually stunning animation picture ever produced, to date- you never stop to think, oh, that bit's 3D, because it never is obvious.A skillfully developed storyline means that unlike other anime blockbusters such as Akira, it never feels that the action is forced into too small a length of time, or that the storyline falls prey to a predictable and long setup, which seems to be the norm for hollywood cartoon films (bar pixar's work).The story is a parable of science, the pursuit of power, and why americans shouldn't have access to the world's latest technologies (I don't think Japan's quite over Hiroshima yet). At the end of the day, don't listen to some fat manga-head who insists that the film isn't up to scratch in terms of their cultural preconceptions of what Japan is 'all about'. Like any film, this should be appreciated in it's own right, and in that, it is splendid. One of the few watchable manga films in the world.Best on the largest screen you have.Now to the release itself. The 'Directors Cut' is, in fact, the original Japanese version, replete with original 20 minutes missing from the "standard edition". If you watch it in english, be prepared for some of the worst voice-acting in the history of cinema, as americans laughably try to pass themselves off as cockney in typically terrible fashion. It doesn't work, and makes the film utterly ingratiating to watch. Ignore this. Listen to it in Japanese, you'll be fine. Nothing wrong with the Japanese voiceovers, as is usually the case. The quality of the sound is great, as it should be, and is one of the best aspects of this film, in my opinion. Image quality leaves a lot to be desired, but should be alright on a standard tv.If you watch this on a lcd screen or computer monitor however, be prepared for a grainy, weak image quality. Why this should be is beyond me, but clearly the encoders haven't done their job particularly well. None of this matters during the later parts, which are usually fast-moving action sequences,but it is fairly noticeable in the earlier sections.Buy it. This film deserves to go down in recent history as one of the great modern cartoon films-m@

The animation is flawless and rather liked the concept. Its beautifully imaginative and visually stunning so for that I've given 3 stars. BUT....and as a Brit from Yorkshire this is a big but, the butchered British accents are truly appalling to the point where they are offensive to the ears. The Yorkshire accents in particular are excruciatingly painful to listen to and makes it very hard to watch. If regional accents were so important to the plot I don't know why they didn't hire the numerous British actors available that could have done a decent job. This may not be a big deal to people from other countries but if you live in the UK the audio will definitely grate.

Before you start reading below i will have to mention this is not so much a review of the film itself as it is the actual release of the movie, its a good film, but this is only a review of the release, read other reviews if you don't care about the release but the movie itself.I am used to buying anime releases published by Manga and MVM Entertainment, this Sony Pictures release does not come with the Japanese voice track, now, thats a problem to me because i like hearing the original voice cast, it may not be a problem for some as the movie is actually set in Victorian age England, the problem is - other anime films by Sony Pictures have been released with the Japanese voice track, in fact i bought a copy of Tekkonkinkreet with this movie and it came with the Japanese voice track, whats up with that?The English dubbing itself is alright, but it feels sort of cheap to only have one voice track when other releases by the same company have many, 4 stars for the release, but the movie is a 5 star.Sorry if i sound too nitpicky.

No it's not as good as Akira but it is one of the most detailed and beautiful anime movies I have seen. The steam driven machinery is fascinating to look at. The story could be tighter and the characters more compellingly written but it is still very good. The score by Steve Jablonsky is Fantastic, as good as his Transformers scores but more traditionally orchestral. A solid and visually fantastic movie.

the actual animation was absolutely outstanding and can see where the money went and was actually in awe of it! the storyline itself was a bit wishy washy and I was incredibly distracted by ray steams appalling accent! I'm glad I didn't pay too much for this to be honest as there are much better anime out there. disappointed to be honest that considering how much was spent on this they could've spent a little more time on the storyline and also a better actor to do the voice of ray steam?

This is clearly a monster work although - like Akira - maybe somewhat overlong and a bit slow plot-wise. I'd be more than happy with the excellent animation if it had a Japanese dub to go with it (it does have two kinds of English subtitles).I'll be looking at the Director's Cut in the hope of a Japanese dialogue track. I always find an English dub (I'm English) breaks the spell... and English never syncs properly anyway. Also, it's quite common to find key plot points rescripted for better sync (but poorer sense).