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Escaflowne - The Movie Actor: Kazuki Akane Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Bandai Entertainment Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-03-02 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 152 Average rating: 4.0 "AMAZING MUSIC!!" I bought the regular dvd of this movie, having absolutely no previous knowledge of the original series, and i found it pretty good, espeically the mecha fight scene at the end. And the story was pretty good too, though the skips in the story line kind of confused me. But what blew me away was the music! It ranges from gregorian chant to almost a pop/techno-y, to full blown choral symphonic. I later found out that this movie is only "loosely" based on the tv show. The names and some elements are the same. I would like to see the original show someday. Anyway, i had gotten the regular dvd, and was contemplating buying the cd soundtrack, which was...import. But, i found THIS set in the store, and i went for it. Mostly for the soundtrack. IT IS THAT GOOD! the music i mean, which is why i gave it 4 stars. It's one of my favorite cds now. The story's so-so, but amusing. Bad thing: the sound is kinda bad. Hitomi's hard to hear at times, and so is the elf-looking lady with Faulkon. and some times, it's too loud. so be warned. "The first anime movie that I owned" I really liked the movie, but I only watched a few of the series. The 3 disc collection was worth it also with the memorial book. It's a great anime film, but I've seen better ones like Princess Mononoke and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. Those are my very favorite anime movies so far. Escaflowne is one of my favorites, too. Wish I can buy the Escaflowne - Series (Limited Edition Box Set), but don't have the money for it. "Confusing but magneficent retelling of a wondeful story" For the uninitiated, Escaflowne is the story of a girl named Hitome, who is tired of her life and wants to commit suicide. (She evens writes a note to a friend that read, "Dear (forgot her name), I am dead. Signed, Hitmoe"). When she recieves of mysterious pendant she is wisped away into the land of Gaea, which is under siege of the Black Dragon Clan. She is the Wing Goddess, sent to release Escaflowne and save Gaea. The story is superbly made into a dark, mysterious tale woven through the lives of 3 people (Van, Hitome, and Falcon(or something like that) filled with drama, action, and even romance. The Ultimate Edition is for any true anime fan. It even has a cd of Yoko Canno's (Cowboy Bebop) wonderful score. Buy the dvd soon as possible. "I'd give it ZERO stars if I could..." I can not emphasize enough how utterly bad this film is. It has got to be the worst anime series-based film I've ever seen. I made the huge mistake of watching it before watching the series, Vision of Escaflowne. Big mistake. The series is beautiful, with endearing characters, fabulous music, a brilliant story full of twists and turns, action, humor & drama. But the movie...that's another story. The first 5 minutes are probably all that's worth watching, where Van flies down to a ship where he dispatches a bunch of soldiers guarding the Escaflowne. From then on it goes nowhere but down. Our much loved series characters have been changed to show little to no emotion here and are extremely unlikable. Especially Hitomi. She is totally different from the series. Here, she is very depressed - even suicidal, but you feel no sympathy for her whatsoever. She has nothing to be depressed about! (Unless perhaps she's re-thinking her decision to appear in this film in the first place.) She has no heroine charisma. She does next to nothing in the film, yet everyone calls her the "wing goddess". Talk about misleading. Her friendship with Van (or lack there of) is horribly done. They barely speak to each other and are both very wooden. I don't know what the creators of the film were smoking when they wrote the script. It's highly unbelievable that she's saved the world & aided Van when you only see her actually call Escaflowne once (not even meaning to) and she does little else but pout. I couldn't get over how bad they've made Folken look & how little he's given to do. (he's a wonderful character from the series.) And don't even get me started on the ending of the film. Let me just say it's like: nothing that leads up to nothing. To sum it all up...spend your time watching something else, like the brilliant series. All of the scenes in this film are dark, confusing, and boring. It's pretty much just a poorly done ode to the series. They've dissected all the characters in every way possible and given it NO plot and a lousy ending. Thanks for reading my review. "The worst movie ever!" In short, this is the single worst movie out of a major TV franchise that I've ever seen. The characters are all twisted (re-invented), and the movie utterly fails to deliver on the new take. Even without watching the tv series, this movie is only mediocre. But compared to the excellent tv series, this is the worst adaptation (or re-creation) that I've ever seen, and I've seen many. The only thing that holds the tv series and the movie together is the music. I didn't think it was particularly good, but it was obviously of the same heritage and maintain the mood. If you liked the tv series, rent this one and see if you'd like it before buying it outright.