Steamboy Reviews

Since I’m a huge fan of ‘Akira’ (the comic-books and the movie), of course, I had to see this flick at some point. Unfortunately, I can’t say it was as awesome as ‘Akira’. I mean, visually, it was really impressive. It is pretty obvious that Otomo took advantage of his huge reputation in Japan and made one hell of an animated feature. Indeed, the hand-drawn animation was quite marvelous with tons of meticulous little details. But, it didn’t stop there, no, no, Otomo has also added some CGI and the combination of both techniques was quite seamless and really impressive. So, on the visual side, I was quite satisfied but, unfortunately, I can’t say that the plot was that good. Indeed, this time, Otomo decided to take the action in 1860’s Britain but, seriously, why?!? I mean, there was something really fascinating about his take of post-apocalyptic Tokyo but his vision of 19th century England was honestly rather dull. This period of time has been depicted so many times before by other authors and movie directors much more familiar with this age and it frankly felt that Otomo just took his stuff and just put it randomly in another place and another time,. Furthermore, I didn’t care much about the story which was honestly rather boring and I couldn’t believe that he ended up the whole thing again with some huge mayhem… I mean, the ending was really mind-blowing and unforgettable in ‘Akira’ but to see yet again the same thing happening in this follow-up felt just really redundant. To conclude, this flick is definitely no masterpiece but since it is visually really amazing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Katsuhiro Ōtomo's follow-up to his landmark feature, Akira.
Some of the tightest integration between CGI & 2-D animation on film.
The detail in this movie is just about about perfect, and it's English language version was treated exceptionally well, so that the dialogue flows alot more smoothly than the translations that are found in most other anime films.
Multiple viewings are required to just capture & appreciate all the beautifully intricate designs.
Plus, one of my favorite things about Steamboy, is the way that, even though the human figures are still drawn in the typical manga style, there's still a strong more western "realism" to the caricature element to their design, that it adds alot more weight to their forms. The end result is that it allows them to integrate into the multi-dimensional visuals so that their simplicity is not so overwhelmed by the deeply designed backgrounds.

You know, I rented it because I just thought it was something I had to see. I am pretty sure there is some deep meaning and undertone to the whole thing, but I never really catch those, and if I do I dont really care. It was a pretty awesome movie, but it was more oriented towards a younger audience, so it had a few things that just bored me. Some of the effects looked like a combination between animation and CGI, or the whole movie was done in CGI (Which would mean it was very good CGI). And the effects themselves where amamzing, with lots of action, backstabing, family quarrels, and explosions. The only issue I really had is that some of the machines where not all that amazing. Yeah, this was set in the late 1800s and it was steam powered, but you can come up with something better that what was there. Anyway, It was a pretty good one, and I really dont even watch anime. Good animation, good story, and awesome action seens. See it, you might enjoy it.

If Jerry Bruckheimer produced anime this is what it would be like. The animation was visually stunning at times, but this thing is cheesier than the fifteen year old sock I just found under my bed.