I watched this movie on a lazy evening, and it did provide the pleasant escapism I was looking for. And steampunk, which I can never have too much of. And I see that people appreciate the fact that it hit the right note for most genre key elements.
Well, that was one thing I was hoping it would not do. I was expecting something a bit more zany, in the spirit of "20th Century Boys", which came out the same year. Or maybe just a touch of the slightly older anime "Karas". Instead of that, I got the most standard Hollywood superhero story possible. Everything was there - the reluctant and poor hero, the wicked and rich villain, the take-over-the-world evil scheme, the poor kids fed by the hero, the tada! he was the bad guy the whole time! ending, and we even have a princess.
Of course, the take-over-the-world device is a rather fascinating Tesla machine, and the whole movie contains elements from more than one genre - we got the steampunk city à la Batman, the poor kids à la various Christmas movies, the costumes à la various superhero period pieces (Zorro?), the villain+scheme à la several Bond movies, the alternate history line à la "2009 Lost Memories", and of course everybody is Japanese, which added a bit of extra flavor to an otherwise stale dish. But herein lie further problems, since the alternate history line reminded me of Okiura/Oshii's "Jin-Roh" - a very unflattering comparison, seeing how that is one of the best, and best animated movies in the universe.
Now, Takeshi Kaneshiro is lovely as the main character, and it was really nice to watch him train in parkour - aka the thieves' sport (one more unflattering interference here - the games "Thief"...)(and a flattering one - "Spiderman", which cannot overshadow much), and the whole atmosphere of the city was nicely done. But by the end of the movie my enthusiasm was bleeding heavily, and the final, entirely predictable and old tada! twist finished the last traces of engagement with a swift move.
In fact, I might be more tolerant with this kind of movie when it comes from the US, because that's where the tradition lies. Coming from anywhere else, and with no serious tone, narrative or mood change (as opposed to stuff like "Kung Fu Hustle", but similar to stuff like Salvatores' "The Invisible Boy"), I felt a little bored AND slightly betrayed.
I must stress out however that I do not find the movie by any means awkwardly made, or offensive to any faculty, and I'd have no qualms recommending it to less difficult movie watchers. After all, it really does what it says on the tin, and whatever other expectations I may have had, they were my own issue.
Well, that was one thing I was hoping it would not do. I was expecting something a bit more zany, in the spirit of "20th Century Boys", which came out the same year. Or maybe just a touch of the slightly older anime "Karas". Instead of that, I got the most standard Hollywood superhero story possible. Everything was there - the reluctant and poor hero, the wicked and rich villain, the take-over-the-world evil scheme, the poor kids fed by the hero, the tada! he was the bad guy the whole time! ending, and we even have a princess.
Of course, the take-over-the-world device is a rather fascinating Tesla machine, and the whole movie contains elements from more than one genre - we got the steampunk city à la Batman, the poor kids à la various Christmas movies, the costumes à la various superhero period pieces (Zorro?), the villain+scheme à la several Bond movies, the alternate history line à la "2009 Lost Memories", and of course everybody is Japanese, which added a bit of extra flavor to an otherwise stale dish. But herein lie further problems, since the alternate history line reminded me of Okiura/Oshii's "Jin-Roh" - a very unflattering comparison, seeing how that is one of the best, and best animated movies in the universe.
Now, Takeshi Kaneshiro is lovely as the main character, and it was really nice to watch him train in parkour - aka the thieves' sport (one more unflattering interference here - the games "Thief"...)(and a flattering one - "Spiderman", which cannot overshadow much), and the whole atmosphere of the city was nicely done. But by the end of the movie my enthusiasm was bleeding heavily, and the final, entirely predictable and old tada! twist finished the last traces of engagement with a swift move.
In fact, I might be more tolerant with this kind of movie when it comes from the US, because that's where the tradition lies. Coming from anywhere else, and with no serious tone, narrative or mood change (as opposed to stuff like "Kung Fu Hustle", but similar to stuff like Salvatores' "The Invisible Boy"), I felt a little bored AND slightly betrayed.
I must stress out however that I do not find the movie by any means awkwardly made, or offensive to any faculty, and I'd have no qualms recommending it to less difficult movie watchers. After all, it really does what it says on the tin, and whatever other expectations I may have had, they were my own issue.