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Directed by: Masaaki Yuasa Starring: Koji Imada, Sayaka Maeda I just saw this a few days ago. I've made a few posts in FD, but I've never posted a starting review. I hope I'm not missing anything. Hopefully a few others who have seen it will find this and give a better review, but since no one else has, here I am. Visually it was the best movie I've seen since Waking Life. And I can't say enough about how awesome the animation is. It's constantly changing. In one shot you will see anywhere from 1-3 different animater's version of things, and within a scene, it's an orgy of color and movement. They use everything from traditional looking anime to more comic book styled shots. They have sketch drawings, a few short CGI shots, a few Disney-esque shots, and even a few live-action shots. It all blends together and transitions very nicely, even though you would think it would be awkward. It's not at all. It's incredibly refreshing. Even through the main flaw, which I'm getting to. It really is something else. That's the real focus here, and you can read plenty of good things about that. From the other thread in CD, everyone is raving about the animation, so just believe me when I say it's phenominal. But I'm going to hit the main thing's that no one else really did in the other thread. The film has a pretty good storyline going for itself but around halfway through it comes to a screeching halt. I won't say what happens, but just when you think you hit a minor bump in the road, it turns out to be a full out flat tire and the movie never picks up until the last 10 minutes, and then instead of finishing anything it started, it just gives this cop-out 'this story will never end' type of explanation. It's as if they started with a good idea but couldn't finish it, and instead of scraping it like most other half-finished movies are, they just let the animaters have a field day, and they did. Without the incredible awe-inspiring animation, this would have easily been a 2/5 star film. The animation makes it 4/5 for me, and since it's foriegn, I assume I'm missing all kinds of social and cultural references, so to make up for my ignorance, I bump it to 4.5/5. I've really never seen another Japanese film in my life, so I don't know what I'm missing I guess. If you can get past that whole 'oops forgot to write the second half of the film' part, then this is a solid 4.5. Ah, who am I kidding, the animation is way too loving good. 5/5 RATING: 5/5 PROS: Amazing animation. Unparalled. Good characters and story. CONS: Story kinds of cuts off halfway and drags until the end. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0452039/
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Jul 27, 2005 07:30
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Absolutely mindblowing. The ride of a lifetime, et.c. I really can't say anything negative about this film. 5/5
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Dec 23, 2005 19:18
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While there was a bit near the end that was kindof weak, it's a lot easier to sit through the second time. This film is awesome. 5/5
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Dec 27, 2005 21:54
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I find this film to be outrageously overrated. The first 20 minutes are pretty exceptional, but once the characters get stuck inside of a whale, the film drags the rest of the way. There are some great scenes in there, but the film really ends up contradicting itself by placing so much emphasis on exploring things and living life, yet it traps it's characters in one main location for 85 percent of the film. I'll give it points for originality, and it's not a bad film, but it's merely above average. And boy do they have the finale drag on for far too long. 3/5
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Jan 10, 2006 05:10
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