Metropolis

This is another great masterpiece in anime. Also, it's very different from others, as reviewers have pointed out.

I never expected old-1930-ish-saxopohone jazz music to be playing in an anime movie. It's a great movie, and, like Akira, the Matrix, and Princess Mononoke (or, Mononoke Hime as I prefer), it gets better every time you see it.

and in the climax of the movie, you hear Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You". Puts in the same touch as how Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" was put in "A Clockwork Orange". It engraves the scene in your head, never to forget, and it does bring the scene back to your mind once you hear that song. It's happened to me lots of times after i saw Clockwork Orange.

Review: 5/5, Good Movie scale Ratings: US PG-13, UK PG, Canada PG

I have always been a fan of the 60's and 70's anime. I feel that the 80's and 90's Anime got a bit out of hand, but this film brings me back to the experimentation, the wonder, visuals and the drawing you into forgetting this is only 'anime' at all.

The story is an update of the fantastic silent film Metropolis, and at points in this telling, the story falls flat, but just watching the film drew me in and made up for those story gaffs. There isn't any one who can look at this and not be taken with its ambition. Old anime elements, new ones, stop action, realism -- you name it, its all in one nice package! I am looking forward to additional works from this team, I hope they continue on for I feel this project was a great venture and to what they are capable of. This film is really wonderful, I recommend it highly.

When I first saw this I was totally blown away by its beautiful animation and groundbreaking use of music! It really made me lyrical in a way few anime does - Rintaro and Otomo really has what it takes to make a masterpiece. The blend of charming old-fashioned technology and allusions to modern phenomenons makes it the perfect anime for the beginning of 21st century!

Metropolis is based on Tesuka Osamus first manga and later gave inspiration to his more famous "Astro Boy". Some story elements and characters from Tesukas later works are clearly inserted in Metropolis to make it work as a movie, which in this case is good... The choice of music is, in my opinion, daring and rather funny; jazzy tunes spiced with hits from the 60s (Ray Charles) sets the tone of the "optimistic atomic age". All in all, well made nostalgia...

I could go on forever with this rant, so I spare you that if you see this little animated gem! Rent it, buy it, steal it (if necessary ;) , you won't regret it!

In the futuristic Metropolis, robots are segregated and used for all the menial work. Many unemployed blame the robots and pushing for revolution. Duke Red is building a vast skyscraper. A robot disrupts the opening and Duke Red's son Rock destroys the robot. Private detective Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi are hunting for scientist Dr. Laughton who is supposedly trafficking organs. Laughton has actually been hired by Duke Red to recreate his deceased daughter with an advanced robot.

The visual style of this animated movie is beautiful. This is worthwhile watch simply for the visual aspect. The story is functional for more than half of the movie. Kenichi and the robot on the run is pretty good. The rest is a bit disjointed and complicated. Motivation is tricky. The twists and reveals are questionable and the story is overstuffed. It is still a beautiful looking piece of animation.

Fritz Lang's original 'Metropolis' is an enduring classic of cinema. The techniques used at the time that it was made were absolutely astounding and it is still astounding to consider the technical achievement that Metropolis represents even these days. This Japanese re-telling of the classic story doesn't follow the plot of the original film, but they are linked due to the way that they both utilise grand settings for their thrills and although it was a lot more impressive in 1927, this version of the story is still a very decent film. I can't say that I'm a big fan of Japanese 'anime', but every time I see a film in it's style I tend to at least enjoy myself, and that can be said of this film. The plot has too many elements to be fully coherent, but it serves its purpose and is always second to the visuals anyway. The story follows two societies; robots and humans, and comes together when a private investigator's nephew meets a robot girl constructed to rule the city. The script is somewhat taught, this may be because of the fact that it has been translated into English, or it may just be a bad script. It doesn't really matter though as, again, the sharp visuals are always enough to distract the viewer from the other areas of the movie. It's almost a shame that this movie isn't better when you consider that it has an absolutely great source of inspiration, but then again you can hardly expect it to rival Fritz Lang's classic. On the whole, I recommend this movie if you've seen Lang's and want some more, but otherwise I just recommend the original classic.