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Appleseed (Widescreen) (2004) Actors: Ai Kobayashi, Jûrôta Kosugi, Yuki Matsuoka Director: Shinji Aramaki Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 105 minutes Studio: Geneon Entertainment Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10 Buy from Amazon |
 "Distopia"This animation is based on a comic by Masamune Shirow, a master of depicting distopian futures in which humanity must struggle with technology for its survival. In this case, much of the world has been destroyed by war, but one oasis of humanity exists, Olympus. Thanks to its balance of human and android inhabitants, it has been able to maintain a peaceful existance. However, there are those with prejudices who want to disrupt this balance. Can Olympus surivive? An attempt was made to maka a fully 3D animated feature like Pixar. However, there was a conscious effort to stick closely to the style common in anime. It's interesting to see the 2D world of anime come to life in full 3D. However, it was not an entirely successful transition. The characters are oddly weightless, so at times, it looks like dolls moving around on screen rather than flesh and blood (or steel!) characters on screen. In fact, this looks mostly like the intro to a game stretched out over 2 hours. For this, a take away one star, but it's still worth checking out. A good effort was made, and I hope we get more along this line, with better animation of course.  "HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS AWESOME! I'm no anime fan, but...""APPLESEED - DVD" I'm no anime fan but if they look this good and have this kind of amazing action I'm soon to be a huge one. I can't get over the fantastic action sequences and the way a cartoon movie had such a realistic look and feel to it. Also, the characters were very interesting. So much so, it made me want to care about them. The CGI is nothing short of incredible and when these huge vehicles come crashing towards the screen...well it's nothing short of amazing, too. I just can't say enough good things about this movie. I was reeled in the entire time and I can't remember the last time I could say that about any movie. I tried to get into anime once before by watching the COWBOY BEBOOP movie but I just didn't get a feel for it. Now, after watching APPLESEED, I can't help but feel I may really be missing out on something. FAN or NO FAN of Anime, if you like ACTION and tons of EYE-CANDY then don't hesitate to own "AppleSeed". I can't imagine anyone not loving this movie. It's nothing short of amazing. I only wish I'd purchased the 2-disc version first, so I could have saved a few bucks, because I must see the extras for this movie. TWO THUMBS UP and a huge MUST SEE!!! "A brief comparison..."Now this is not so much a review of the film mind you, but the manner in which it was released. I hope all you people over at Dreamworks/Universal are paying attention since that debacle that was your Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence DVD release, because this is how it's done... 1. Basics to begin with, this DVD has GOOD cover art, using original works by the 3D artists who made the film in a very manga-esque way. The art on GITS 2 was bunk. Hand drawn, and badly at that, it gives no impression of the mastery of the CG work in the actual film. 2. Seperate releases. Always nice to have the regular DVD and an extra special one with lots and lots of bonus content for those who want it. 3. English.. Granted the majority of anime fans want the subtitled versions because in Japanese you can't tell if the voice acting is bad or not, so it sounds good by comparison to most english dubs. But, some people just don't want to read their movies andfor a big release like GITS 2 i think a dubbed version isn't too much to ask.. Good job appleseed, that's 3 points in a row for you. Let's all just hope that next time anime is left in the hands of professionals like Manga, ADV, and Geneon, and the major American studios can just keeps their hands off. "beautiful"A great movie all around. Great animation, lots of action, a thought provoking plot and a great adaption of Shirow's orriginal Appleseed manga. The Limited Edition Collector's Tin is well worth it too. An extremely nice case, very impresive. "Some of the best CGI ever"This is, hands down, some of the best CGI anime ever made. Movement is smooth as silk, and realistically rendered; character interaction with background and surroundings is perfect. The storyline is well-written and the characters are rounded and believable. Even the dialogue, a perennial weak point for anime, is excellent. The only thing that lags here is the voice-over work, another area in which anime suffers as a whole. Perhaps this is because all the development money on these project is typically spent on artists and rendering equipment. The work of anime voice-over actors (especially English ones) is of generally poor quality and Appleseed is no exception. Appleseed instantly became a top-5 item for me, equalling and in some respects, surpassing the Ghost in the Shell saga. |
