I've seen all the Appleseed flicks and enjoyed all of them.
This is the next logical step in improving the computer animated versions one step further.
This is not "state of the art" as the final fantasy movies are. As someone mentioned the skin of the characters looks a little plastic, and they haven't gotten the movement quite right (but what computer animated film has?). Also, where in FF The Spirits Within you could see the animation quality and the effort to make things look more realistic, in this movie the animation is actually a little step back. The best example is the hair of the characters (also as previously mentioned by someone else). The only realistic hair you see in the film is on Bularios clone, where although his hair is tied at the back, you can see individual strands. Personally I can't wait to see a computer animated movie where they get the movement of the characters spot-on.
The plot of the movie is great, well done. The acting is good and the script is also good. I thought the lip syncing could have been done a little better, but it is done well enough that you don't notice unless you look for it.
Also, thank the powers that be that it is "almost totally devoid of the philosophical musings that make" many animes so utterly boring. I remember the first time I watched Ghost in the Shell. Half way through the movie the main character starts rambling on about "philosophical musings" that bored the hell out of me and the other people who were with me seeing this film. Personally that is not why I enjoy anime.
This movie is pretty much none stop action all the way through, as we would expect from John Woo. It's done very much in his style, which is good. The actual rendering of the characters has been changed a little, talking another small step back away from the big puppy eyed classic anime character look. However, they didn't go overboard, and it still has that look we all love so much. (read, the babes still look awesomely cute). They sort of rub your face in it a little as the main character Deunan Knute has a great tush that apparently is so strong that while the rest of her body is covered in body armor, her tush is not. Hey, I'm not complaining....it IS anime.
I have watched this movie four or five times, and it's every bit as good now as it was the first time I watched it.
Anyone who is an anime lover (there are more and more of us all the time) will love this movie to pieces. People who just enjoy animated movies will also enjoy this movie because it is not your classic anime, but a little bit of an evolution of that genre.
