I was lucky enough to see this movie when it first came out in March 2002. It was featured at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Festival before the rest of the world sees it except Japan. Both the director and the writer of the movie came all the way from Japan to introduce and Q/A at the screening hall. How often do you see that? I had never seen a Patlabor movie before. I was totally blown away by how sophisticated this movie was. It rivals many Hollywood production movies if not better. The detective story, the visual, the soundtrack, the well written dialogues, the action sequences (though there are little) are all world-class beyond reproach. Fans of Patlabor will also be surprised by a change of perspective in this new movie, like that of "Metal Gear Solid 2" for PlayStation 2. This movie is simply amazing!