View Larger Image |
Steamboy - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) Actors: Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, Alfred Molina Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Columbia Tristar Hom Region Code: 99 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-07-26 Buy from Amazon |
 "JAMMING"STEAMBOY is a brilliant failure. Like it's beloved cogs, gears and steam - STEAMBOY manages to run, but it never really runs at full power. THE ROCKETEER did this better, while the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN already sold us on the biggest problem with STEAMBOY... the message, and it's this message that grounds STEAMBOY well before the film has even gotten started. To bring it to a boil for you quickly - they don't call it an "arms race" because it sounds keen. This is a movie about science and technology and the precarious balance between its use to enlighten and advance the human race (THE GREAT EXHIBITION), or to enslave it (WAR MACHINES). STEAMBOY is caught on the horns of an age old problem - the same power I use to write this review also is used to execute people, or restart a heart, or light up the night. Power is power - it's neither good or evil, but can be used by those that would wish to do one or the other... and it's this point that STEAMBOY manages to display in some of the most beautiful and detailed artwork I've seen in a long time. But by now the films heartfelt message is only preaching to the choir - we got it, we've seen it, it's old news. And while STEAMBOY never made any promises, it was sold as a different film all together. If you're a fan of TOM SWIFT then STEAMBOY will send more than a few chills up and down your spine - it's so close to the tone of those first SWIFT adventures as to make you nearly drool. THE ROCKETEER is here as well, and while that film can't lay claim to being anything but a homage to past Rockeeters', STEAMBOY does pay its respects to the DISNEY film in several small ways. Little funny moments and in jokes are scattered all through this film (my hands down favorite is "Pregnant" Ray - during the very exciting train attack - watch for Ray sticking the Steam Ball down his shirt, and later during a quiet moment before he's kidnapped, he is standing on the train looking for all the world as if he's in his ninth month - and then watch him rub the Steam Ball like a baby - the visual is very clear and funny here... Ray is about to give birth to a whole new world. The Steam Ball is one baby that's going to change everything). STEAMBOY is a divided film - clearly they wanted the message of the film to be front and center, but you can't help but wish they had minimized this and instead gave us more of Ray being STEAMBOY. It's shocking that the film I really wanted to see could only be seen during the closing credits. All the action, romance and adventure I desired was all but hidden and being slowly clawed to death by the cast and production lists. The US voice cast is excellent, while the orginal language track delivers STEAMBOY's original passion, and the subtitles both add more information and also leave out important facts (if you get the chance, listen to the US voice cast and read the subtitles - it's like two different movies at certain points). In the end - there's not a frame of STEAMBOY that does not draw you into its world. It's packed with brilliant ideas, performances, and two big payoffs - the first being what can be called as the first Steam Ice Age, and the second - the closing credits behind which the real STEAMBOY's heart truly beats.  "Toothpicks to keep my eyes open."What a steaming pile this was. I had the unfortunate opportunity to see this film in the theater and took it. Katsuhiro Otomo has a fantastic reputation as an illustrator, author, and director. However, this does not excuse him from the prolonged banality that is called STEAMBOY. Though there is stunning animation, that is no excuse for the shallow character development and weak plot that permeates this film. Moreover, rampant explosions and wanton violence at the end (sorry for the spoiler, but AKIRA fans will know what I'm talking about) were not enough to erase the placid nothingness that forced this viewer to try and keep from nodding off for almost two hours. I must make a point that I am a big fan of Otomo's comics and the film version of Akira. Visually it lives up to his artistic reputation. Falling short doesn't even come close to describing how deep in the hole the rest of this movie has descended. "I want my money back..."...what was the director (Katsuhiro Ôtomo)thinking? I heard that this movie, in terms of animation, took TEN YEARS to complete. All I can say on that is, WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. I don't know about the DVD version, as I watched this in the theatre, but one thing's for sure; I will NOT rent/buy this DVD; the movie hits an all-time low from the very beginning. Why couldn't they dub this film in English????? It's not very realistic, seeing a bunch of ENGLISH people in ENGLAND speaking JAPANESE!!! The plot seems to wander aimlessly round and round so much my head spins just thinking about it...until we meet our alleged heroine, Scarlett O'Hara (what are they trying to point out here? Or was her naming just an uncanny coincidence?)who shamelessly displays animal cruelty on her poor, helpless little chihuahua. Needless to say, I loathed her from the very beginning. Being a rich, spoilt brat, she did not warm my heart, failing to play the part of a "heroine". Plus, the relationship between Ray Steam (like the pun?) and Scarlett did not build: there was one point where they seemed to be a bit 'different' so to speak, and that, apart from wowing at the graphics, was probably the best part of the movie. Other that that, I came out of the theatre very irritated and almost deaf: the volume was insanely high...I couldn't even catch up on some sleep! Plus the movie didn't even have any worthy morals; they seemed to promote greed and lust for power. To cut a long story short: Don't buy this movie unless you like pretty graphics (though not at all corresponding with the setting). Save your money, time and sanity!  "Great Movie"This was a great movie i loved every minute of it and there were a lot of minutes, it had very beautiful backgrounds and scenery. This movie requires some thinking skills. The only thing i regret is that i did not get to see it in theaters because of its limited availability. This is a great movie and it is full of action. I give it 10 ********** stars  "Anime for a mainstream audience"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. |
