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Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Movie Director: Kunihiko Ikuhara Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Animated, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 87 minutes Studio: CENTRAL PARK MEDIA Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-11-13 Buy from Amazon

From Amazon.com This movie version of the Japanese television show takes the entire series plot and streamlines it into 80 minutes, pushing the characters into an alternate universe. For those who have seen the series, the action and characters will feel familiar: Utena learns to be a duelist and fight against a righteous faction at her school. But director Kunihiko Ikuhara revises the series in details both small (the duels take place in a rose field, not a stadium) and large (the bizarre finale). The gender-bending relations between Utena and Anthy--a friendship in the series--now take on lesbian overtones. The film will certainly be remembered for its finale as Utena becomes a racecar--literally. The end result should polarize fans yet bring new anime enthusiasts onboard. (Rated 13 and older; mild violence and nudity) --Doug Thomas From Description Utena duels her classmates to protect her friend Anthy, who is the key to a magical power that could make her dream - to become a prince - come true. But Anthy hides a terrible secret, and Utena must face the truth about herself and those she loves and learn what it means to be a true hero. Anamorphic widescreen format!

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 97 Average rating: 4.5 "get it" I love the series it has 39 episodes and I love the movie. I would rate it pg-13. The animation is just average but I still love this movie it has drama, comedy, action, and some mature themes. "A Mysterious and Gorgeous Masterpiece" "Utena - the Movie" is a masterpiece, brilliant in color and concept, and fascinating in its plot and meanings. Of course, if you want connect-the-dots animation and plotting, or if you think that Utena and Anthy are sweet little teenagers, then you'll hate it, but this film was made for viewers who will want to see it again and again to puzzle out its secrets and mysteries. And "Utena" has secrets as well as some of the most gorgeous animation ever done, like the dance sequence and the final car chase. --- The film operates on two distinct, but interpenetrating registers. One is symbolic, and the other surrealist. Utena and Anthy, now older than they were in the television show, have once again met at Ohtori Academy, once again to find each other in a kind of karmic repetition of their past lives. Symbols of the past echo throughout the film as dying monuments. Utena's no-longer-really alive, once-boyfriend/lover Touga emerges from white shrouds to talk on the phone to Anthy's equally dead brother Akio, the unprincipled headmaster of a previous Ohtori Academy that nonetheless still enslaves Anthy. Crimson roses grow on a platform cantilevered high above Ohtori, tended by Anthy, still the Rose Bride to be won by duel. And splashes of blood red crimson stain not only the roses but the walls and walkways of the surreal world of Ohtori. The crimson of the roses is also the crimson of Anthy's blood, but the rose that Utena finds and that Anthy gives to her is white: unstained. It is a symbol of their undying love, loyalty, and interwoven fates. --- The film lacks the virtually Wagnerian high drama of the television show. Instead, it is more modern (as befits the reprise of Utena and Anthy's love story) and sharper edged, not absurdist, but surreal. The architecture of Ohtori Academy looks like a cross between de Chirico and a mecha designer gone mad, but that's Ohtori for you, the world from which Utena and Anthy escape. --- At one level, the film is simply the story of two young women who escape the repressions of adolescence to find themselves and each other. At another, it is an allegory of love, this between two women who will build their own roads together. At yet another, it is a portrayal of sexuality, warped and truly corrupt within Ohtori Academy, and centered and intimate between Utena and Anthy outside Ohtori. Ohtori is the world of consensus reality, and of acceptance of what is given and commanded, in brief, all the things that Utena and Anthy must escape. The Castle of Eternity, previously a hoped-for panacea for instant happiness, is now a polluting illusion, corrupt and lethal. It represents all that Utena and Anthy must destroy if they are to become real people, genuine and authentic. --- That the film succeeds in all this, and much more (the music is marvelous), is a tribute to the skills of director Kunihiko Ikuhara and artist Chiho Saito, the woman who drew the original manga. It is not necessary to know the previous versions, although that adds depth to the film, because ultimately the film stands alone: the story of two young women in love who find their way to freedom. "I am obbsessed with Utena!!" I have all the Utena DVD's; all 39 episdoes and let me just say, this anime is AMAZING!! It is by-far my favorite anime... If you were debating over wheter to get this anime or not, get it. It's fabulous!! BUY IT NOW!! "Awsome" Yes, I am a big fan of the series and the manga. Look, some utena fans may not like it because they either never seen the MOVIE MANGA or they just couldn't understand it. I highly recommend the movie. Watch it and see if you can figure out the symbolism there...or if you are just lazy then go look at a site that tells you. XD The movie really does follow the MOVIE manga, I recently bought it from Viz. The few things that are a bit different between the movie manga and the animated movie itself is that (Warning, movie manga SPOILERS): - Utena and Anthy didn't dance, they looked at the stars, which was still a cute moment. ^^ - Utena dueled Touga, not Juri. - Utena did NOT turn into a car. XD There are others as well but you get the idea. The music is awsome, the voice acting is good (except for Movie Akio...they changed it! Poor series/manga Akio...X_X), the animation is pretty. And you KNOW you like Toki ni Ai wa (At Times, Love is). "Revolutionary Girl Utena-The Movie - not like the series." Having been a fan of the entire series of Revolutionary Girl Utena I would advise any like-minded fan to avoid this movie. Granted the artwork is beautiful and a serious collector would likely be interested in owning it. However, many things have changed from the original series. The relationship between Utena and Anthy has turned dark and calculating and the other stories are too rushed and somber for this film. Plus you only get to witness a few duals with very little "sword magic" and the ending will leave you completely wondering why you wasted money on this and why the director wasted his chance to make a movie based on his truly wonderful series.