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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 "A Movie Above All Movies" Escaflowne: The Movie is an Anime fan's dream. I don't think I've ever seen such a masterpiece come in DVD. Although I have only seen the movie and not the Ultimate Edition, I still can say that this will be a movie remembered for all time. The stunning settings drew by the artists are so life-like, at times, you'll have to remind your self that it's animation. And the music and scores are the best(what else and you expect from Yokko Kanno). As for the characters, the relationships protrayed in the TV series are altered a bit, but it does not leave you disappointed. The Japanese and English versions are suberb. The Japanese is always the most popular because it is the original, however in with this movie I would have to say that the english is not far from behind. In my opinion, the voice acters and actresses do a 90% job with acting in general and with comparison to the japanese. In conclusion, I believe that Escaflowne: The Movie is a must see. Even if you have not watched the TV series before, you can still pick this up and admire the great story line, the intriguing characters, the harmonious sounds, and the ultimate animation you'll ever see! "Loved it" It may have not been just like the show but who cares. It was a great movie with great animation and the ending was my fave...sent chills and i got so happy when everyone looked up and saw at the end...oh you'll know see it when you watch it. :) "A good enough movie, but a horrible conversion" Careful this review contains some spoilers! The movie when not seen as a part of the series, but by itself, was not the most overwhelming thing I have ever seen, but still a good movie. It is well drawn and has an engaging story, if somewhat shallow and clich?d. The best thing about it is the musical score, I loved that soundtrack. So what didn't I like? Well, unfortunately I happen to know the series and therefore have come to like the characters and seeing some of them reduced to mere decoration, while completely changing the personalities and reasoning of others, was painful for me. For example we have the two cat women, Erya and Naria, reduced to barsingers. The reason for this was pretty obvious since Folken as portrayed in the movie couldn't inspire much of anything and certainly not the kind of loyalty as displayed by those cats in the series. The series was so diminished as a matter of fact that it seemed almost unrecognisable. The cast was reduced by about three quarters and their respective storylines went with them. The most obvious of those cuts being the deletion of the entire Zalbach empire, emperor Domkirk and the fate machine. The black dragons, bane of Vahns people, had to go as well. Since by then not much of the storyline of the series was left, the producers came up with the pretty lame alternative that a seer had forseen Vahn to be the better king than Folken, who left his home in a huff and after murdering his own people, now wants to destroy all of Gaia to take revenge on his brother. I always wondered at that kind of reasoning so regularly displayed by villains. As to Hitomi. Of course Vahn couldn't meet her while fighting a dark dragon on earth as proof of his ability to take the throne, since there are no dark dragons and his kingdom is gone as well. Hitomi can no longer read tarot cards and has no influence on fate, which was important for her interaction with Dormkirk and the Atlantean faith machine, but not here. What do we need her for? Well, apparently she is the Winged Goddess and the only one able to summon Escaflowne, the armor no longer being a legacy belonging to the throne of Vahn's kingdom. Folken is the one who brought her to Gaia, because he needs Escaflowne to destroy it. The relationship between Vahn and other characters in the movie is described with the wonderful sentence, we met on the battlefield, so Hitomi is also added to alleviate Vahns loneliness. While cutting not only most of the cast, but also the plot from the series, the producers still managed to add at least one character to the movie. A seeress, singing a part of that amazing soundtrack, allied with Folken, though not out of loyalty but some other unfathomable reason. Since not much is known about her, I really believe she was only added for the enrichment of that amazing soundtrack. And on that thought I give my final verdict: the movie has a beautiful soundtrack, not much of a storyline, but in itself isn't that bad. Compared to the series however it is a bitter disappointment. My advice: watch either the one or the other, but not both. "People bash it, but it wasn't really THAT bad" I've read reviews with people bashing the movie, saying it was too predictable and that there were too many cliches. Well, I think that cliches can be put to good use and can highten the impact of the movie. Whether or not the specific parts of the movie were unique, the combination of those parts, combined with the music, brought out a great movie which i love to watch over and over. The fight scenes were great. And even though most of the characters only had small roles, this movie mainly revolved around two characters, whose roles were fairly well done. "ESCA RUUUUUULLLEEEEESSSSS !!!!!" ok.....so it's not the show. I enjoyed the movie very much , although it doesn't go into as much detail as the show it has a good story line. It doesn't jumble up all the characters lives together. This movie is about Van and Hitomi. I am a giant Van and Hitomi fan and it was great to see them like this. I'm glad it came with the soundtrack because the music is so good. It sets the mood for the scenes and is great to listen to alone. If you're hoping for a continuation of the show this isn't what your looking for......although I've heard there might be a second series!!!!! ergh...I'm getting myself all hyper and it's time for bed. Happy movie watching !!! ^_^