Short Peace (2013)

Short Peace (2013)

Directors: Katsuhiro Otomo, Shuhei Morita, Hiroaki Ando, Hajime Katoki

The more I dig into the world of anime films the more I find, sometimes I find treasures, and sometimes I find pieces of coal that need to be refined. You know how that goes, one film leads to another! Case in point, while exploring Japanese animated anthology films like Robot Carnival (1987) and Memories (1995) I learned that Katsuhiro Otomo the creator behind Akira (1988) was involved in directing one of the shorts in yet another animated anthology film called Short Peace (2013), so of course I was salivating at the prospect of seeing this film, the talent involved is composed of masters in animation.  I went into this one knowing next to nothing about it save for Otomo’s involvement, so this one could go either way. It could be a treasure or a piece of coal. So which was it?

Short Peace is composed of four stories that are connected by one theme and one theme alone: Japan. It was kind of tricky for me to grasp what held these four tales together, but the fact that they all take place in Japan and that that they all seem to focus on Mount Fuji when they end kind of led me to this conclusion, also because nothing else joins these stories together, they are quite disparate in nature. Reading up a bit about the film, they focused in Japan during different eras, so one takes place during feudal times, one is in the future, one is in the present, but the one that takes place in the present is actually a video game, because part of the marketing scheme for this anthology was to also release a video game along with the film.

Sadly I didn’t really fall in love with this anthology like I did with Memories (1995), Neo Tokyo (1987) and Robot Carnival (1987). My main problem with it was that the stories are not very engaging. Short stories should get to the point quickly; they should give us a lot of information in a very short time but with a quick jolt to the system. Now when you simplify the story to the point where there’s not enough meat to the short, well, you’re left with a short that you don’t connect with because it’s too simple, it feels like padding, like you are stretching it for running time. On Short Peace the stories are either too simple and end abruptly without proper closure. Short films aren’t meant to leave you hanging, they should start and end and tell their story all within their 20 to 30 minutes of running time; sadly that doesn’t always happen with the short films in Short Peace. To me they were very uneventful in a way.

Now this is not to say that the animation isn’t astounding, quite the contrary, on a visual level the film is solid. It’s the content that needed a bit more beefing up; it needed more weight to it. As it is, with some of the shorts here you’ll feel like you walked into a movie already in progress and by the time they end you’ll feel like you left the theater without seeing the ending. Take for example Katsuhiro Otomo’s ‘Combustible’ a short film about a young man who always wanted to be a fire extinguisher in ancient Japan. Technically speaking the short is impressive because it’s animated in a way that it looks like ancient Japanese scrolls, which is extremely interesting from a  visual angle. It’s a tragic love story that builds up to something, yet ends up never delivering, leaving you without closure. Suddenly, boom, it’s over. What happened to everybody and everything? Combustible had potential, but failed to deliver in my book. And this was the segment directed by Otomo! It was the one I was most looking forward to! And while innovative from a visual stance, story wise it was missing a lot. 

The film isn’t a total loss because there were two stories on it that I enjoyed a lot. The one called ‘Possessions’ was actually nominated for ‘best animated short film’ and it’s about this traveler who is walking around the forest when a storm breaks out and he has to shelter himself in this little hut, which just so happens to be haunted. This one was visually stunning, with a very unique look. They used computer generated images which were made to look like traditional animation. The whole idea behind this short is that old, used things are requesting their validity in this world. Suddenly a bunch of old umbrellas come to life, piles of garbage become steam spewing dragons and a piece of silk cloth becomes possessed by the spirit of a woman. Here’s a simple story that gives us everything we need, a beginning, a middle and an end and we’re left happy because the short says something and it entertains. Also, the colors on this one are beautiful. This short was awesome all around.  

The other one I loved was the one called ‘Gambo’ which is, again, a simple story about this small village that’s being attacked by a giant red demon that starts killing villagers and the soldiers who are trying to stop him. Thankfully, there’s a giant white bear who serves as a protector to this village and so at one point it’s all about Gambo the white bear vs. The Red Demon. I liked the concept of this huge white bear serving as a protector to this small village, he seems like a pure, gentle soul that at the same time won’t hesitate to rip your throat out if need be. This short is awesome looking because it has this sketchy vibe going for it and also because it has this one really gory, gory scene which just went on forever. Gambo proved one thing again, this film is composed of pretty visuals with not a whole lot of meat to them.

The last story in the anthology is the one called ‘A Farewell to Weapons’ and it’s about these Japanese soldiers who go around deactivating old weapons from an ancient bygone war. Their job is to go in, deactivate and collect old war robots. Technically speaking it’s an awesome short, the animation has a unique look and the designs are awesome, especially those suits the soldiers wore? With all their technical gadgetry, they reminded me of the suits in Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. On this short there are a lot of explosions, a lot of lasers and gun shots, but sadly it doesn’t feel like an important story. It just feels like a day in the life of these soldiers. It has a pacifist message which didn’t go unnoticed by this viewer; it’s just that I didn’t care much for anything that was happening in it. It felt like I was seeing a scene from Call of Duty or something, only I wasn’t playing it. Personally, there’s nothing more boring to me then following soldiers around, I don’t know, I expected something more exciting. This one was sort of boring in a way, worst part is they end the movie with this one, so the film ends on this boring short. 

So yeah, I guess you could say I was half way disappointed with this one. I mean, Katsuhiro Otomo equals excellence to me, so I expect nothing but the best in terms of production value, which is what I got here, a good production. But I do think that producers should request excellence in the writing as well the visuals or else we get an anthology that’s half cooked, missing in one department. Stories should have some weight to them, if they don’t simply entertain us, then they should move us and entice us, and not just in a visual level. On the other hand, this is a very Japanese film, perhaps there are certain aspects of their culture I’m not connecting because of that? Yet, if that was the case, why haven’t I had a problem with any other number of Anime films I’ve seen recently? Films tend to play with universal themes that we can all connect with, no matter what part of the world they are from. Sadly, as evidenced by some of the stories on this short film, blandness is also universal. This is not the worst anime anthology I’ve seen, it’s a quality production with beautiful visuals and animation, there’s no denying that. It just needed to be more engaging. So it’s the classic case of style over substance.  

Rating: 3 out of 5     

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (2001)

Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis (2001)

Director: Rintaro

Writer: Katsuhiro Otomo

The first thing that attracted me to this anime film is that it was heavily influenced by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and seeing an anime version of one of my favorite science fiction films ever was too tempting to ignore. Fritz Lang’s classic silent film inspired this film from inception, right down to when it was first conceived as a manga way back in 1949 by Osamu Tezuka; who by the way is also the creator of Astro Boy. You see, Osamu Tezuka saw a still image from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and that was enough to spark his imagination. He then wrote and drew his own sci-fi opus which he also called ‘Metropolis’, I guess as a homage to the landmark film. According to Tezuka, he wasn’t inspired by the film itself, which he hadn’t seen.  I’ve never read the manga, but supposedly it doesn’t share plot elements with the film, save for the fact that part of the story is centered around a female robot. So anyway, fast forward to 2001 where to anime juggernauts, Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo, decide to join forces to make a film based on Tezuka’s classic manga. Rintaro is the director behind the classic anime films Galaxy Express 999 (1979) and The Dagger of Kamui (1985). It was Rintaro who took over the directing duties for Metropolis, while Katsuhiro Otomo, the director behind Akira (1988) and Steamboy (2004) took care of writing the screenplay. What was the result of joining these two anime legends on one film? Nothing short of brilliance! 

In Metropolis, the people of the city are celebrating its magnificence! According to the architects of this advanced city, it represents the culmination of mans knowledge and intelligence. The city wide celebrations are due to the creation of a huge structure called “The Ziggurat”, a giant building that, unbeknownst to the people of Metropolis, is also a giant weapon. But, in the midst of this celebration, a rebellion is brewing and it’s all about Humans vs. Robots. You see, the rebels want to destroy the robots because according to them; they are taking their jobs away. So there’s a strong anti-robot sentiment throughout the whole city. Meanwhile, Duke Red, one of the wealthiest men in Metropolis is secretly orchestrating a coupe de tat by building a robot that will rule the entire city (and eventually the world) from a robotic, mechanical throne. Will he achieve his goals? Will his robot end up controlling the world?

The interesting part about this film is that while Osamu Tezuka said he wasn’t influenced by Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film when he created his Metropolis manga, the filmmakers behind this 2001 film were. If you’ve seen Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) you will see parallels between both films, some images are extremely similar. It is obvious that the filmmakers were not hiding the fact that Fritz Lang’s film was inspiring them. And if you ask me, that’s awesome because Lang’s film is an amazing film to be influenced by. Yet, while there’s no denying the similarities between both films, Rintaro’s Metropolis is actually very original in its own way, it’s not a rip off or carbon copy of Lang’s Metropolis (1927) because while Lang’s Metropolis centered around classist issues, Rintaro’s Metropolis is more about power and who ends up controlling it. It’s more about what makes us humans. You see Tima the robot is always questioning what makes us human, why we are the way we are. She is this films Pinocchio, she wants to be human, but ultimately can’t. It’s also about mans obsession with destroying and controlling each other. That thirst for power, the obsession with controlling the masses. It asks the question: should all that power be bestowed upon one person? Metropolis shares this ‘abuse of power’ theme with Akira (1988), which makes sense since both films were written by the same guy. As you can see, this is a film that can’t be blamed for being shallow.

At the same time, it’s visually dazzling. It never stops amazing us with its imagery. Rintaro went for something different, which was mixing traditional Japanese style animation with computer graphics. Now normally, I don’t like this mix because to me the two don’t mix. Something feels off about movies that mix traditional animation with computer graphics, to me they just don’t go together visually. For example, Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008), which took the original Ghost in the Shell film and added computer animation and backgrounds to it, didn’t exactly work in my book. I'd much rather watch Ghost in the Shell in its original traditionally animated form. To me, animated films should either be in traditional animation, or computer animation, but not a mix of both. Still, in the case of Metropolis I think it was handled beautifully. The film has a unique look to it, things feel retro, yet there’s robots and advanced technology. The whole film uses jazzy music, which gives an old fashion air to it. They even use Ray Charles’ ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ during a climactic scene, so there’s this merging of the old fashion with the futuristic. Another interesting visual aspect of Metropolis is that while the backgrounds are rendered in a somewhat realistic fashion, the films characters are done in an extremely cartoony style, paying homage in this way to Osamu Tezuka’s original manga. This Metropolis is a world on its own, a very unique looking film. So anyhow, in my book this is another amazing milestone in Japanese animation. If you ever feel like watching some of the best anime has to offer, you’d do good in including this one on your list.

Rating: 5 out of 5  

  

Memories (1995)

Memories (1995)

Directors: Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo

Katsuhiro Otomo, the director behind the seminal anime film Akira (1988) is one busy dude. He not only produces, he also writes and animates! His productions include some of the best anime anthologies around; I’m talking about films like Robot Carnival (1987), Neo Tokyo (1987) and most recently Short Peace (2013), an anime anthology that I will try to get a hold of soon, so expect a review for it in the near future. Otomo also produced the anime anthology I’ll be reviewing today: Memories (1995). I’m really enjoying watching all of these anime anthologies because they offer a quick jolt of awesomeness. Though each individual story lasts about forty minutes or less, they are always entertaining because the filmmakers involved in each short give it their all in both the story and animation departments. Memories doess just that, visually it packs a wallop, yet it also has some depth to it. Let’s not forget these anthologies are an artistic tour de force, compiling a lot of talent into one single movie. As you can see, animated anthologies have a lot to offer. So, what’s this particular one all about?

Anthologies are usually connected by a theme, something that holds them together.  But in the case of Memories, the shorts have no real connection to one another; all three stories are totally different. The first one is called ‘Magnetic Rose’ and it comes to use from director Koji Morimoto, a director I’m not entirely familiar with, but whose work I have seen a lot of. For example, he’s worked as an animator in films like The Animatrix (2003), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and Space Adventure Cobra (1982). He also directed the ‘Franken’s Gears’ segment in Robot Carnival (1987). So anyways, he’s the director behind ‘Magnetic Rose’, a short that shows many interesting influences. The story is all about these space garbage men, who are suddenly given the responsibility of responding to a distress signal from a derelict spaceship. When they board the ship, they discover that the ships A.I. has created a holographic world completely composed of one woman’s memories. As they explore the ship, the astronauts begin to encounter visions of a woman called Eva. Who is she? And why are they all experiencing supernatural shenanigans?

This short reminded me of various films, but most of all, it reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) because for example, the whole short uses classical music, just like Kubrick used classical music in 2001. The similarities don’t stop there; the short is all about discovering a derelict spaceship and a ghost like entity living in rooms furnished in European style. It’s also about astronauts drifting through space for all eternity, so, if you’re a fan of Kubrick’s 2001, then you’ll more than likely spot the parallels because the filmmakers behind ‘Magnetic Rose’ obviously loved Kubrick’s classic sci-fi film. Magnetic Rose also reminded me of Event Horizon (1997) because it deals with astronauts facing their fears due to a supernatural force that’s messing with their minds, so you can expect a “ghost in the machine” type of story with this short.

Then we move on to ‘Stink Bomb’ my favorite short in the whole anthology and in my opinion, the one they should have closed the anthology with. This one was directed by Tensai Okamura, a director who’s concentrated most of his career on television series like Samurai Champloo (2004) and Wolf’s Rain (2003) rather than on theatrical features, but you wouldn't know it from seeing this short. As it turns out, Stink Bomb is the most entertaining of the three shorts on this anthology. It’s all about this lab technician named Nobuo. A regular Joe who works in a science lab. Unfortunately, he also has a cold! When he mistakes a bottle of experimental pills for cold medicine, he unwillingly becomes a walking weapon of mass destruction! When he took the experimental pills, he really took pills that are part of a weapons experiment being conducted in collaboration between the Japanese and American governments! After he takes the pills, he becomes a walking death bomb! Wherever he goes death follows! Anybody who comes within a few steps of Nobuo instantly dies! This short turns real epic real fast, my recommendation is stick with it till the very end, it’s a very entertaining and rewarding short. Because of its funny tone, you don’t expect it to get so epic, but it does!  This short speaks about weapons of mass destruction, but it’s really just a fun short that plays out a bit like a Godzilla movie, with Nobuo being the destructive force headed towards Tokyo, while the military tries their best to stop him.

Finally, the anthology ends with Katsuhiro Otomo’s Cannon Fodder, a short that takes place in a fantasy world where society is built around war. Every single building in this walled city has a cannon or a gun sticking out of it. The story takes place in a city where its people only live for making bullets for their giant cannons, to shoot at an enemy they don’t even know. All they care about is shooting their cannons. It’s interesting, thematically, it reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984, because it’s a dreary, sad society whose only focus is producing, producing, producing. When they are not producing, they are being programmed to hate an invisible enemy they have never seen themselves. Since the short focuses on how a child sees the world, it comments on how the environment we grow up in forges our dreams and aspirations. The idea being that if we are surrounded by guns and violence; chances are we will want to become something associated with that world. Hence, the little boy who stars in the short draws guns with his crayons and aspires to become the man who pulls the trigger of the big cannon.

When this anthology was released, the short that received the most acclaim was Magnetic Rose, and I agree, it is the deepest of all the shorts, playing in the same ball park as Kubrick’s 2001, but also Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). ‘Stink Bomb’ was heralded as the most entertaining and funny of the bunch, though it wasn’t praised for its depth. Interestingly enough, it was ‘Cannon Fodder’, the short that comes from the most acclaimed of the directors involved on this anthology that got the worst reviews. Not that it’s a bad short; actually, it’s very unique visually. It focuses more on style and a certain type of tone. Stylistically, Cannon Fodder is amazing, very unique looking and it has a distinctive anti war message to it, which I think is where its thematic strengths lie. It sticks to its one theme through and through. I personally dug all three shorts for different reasons. One is deep and haunting, one is entertaining, funny and epic and one is stylish and offers social commentary. So we get a little bit of everything on this anthology. When we see it as a whole, it’s another gem in the world of anime anthologies. Highly recommend it.

Rating: 5 out of 5   

Neo Tokyo (1987)

Title: Neo Tokyo (1987)

Directors: Rintaro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Katsuhiro Otomo

I’ve been doing some catching up with old anime movies I haven’t seen, because let’s face it, there’s so much cool stuff out there to see that sometimes movies just slip through the cracks. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, boom, there’s universes within universes to explore. Case in point: Japanese animation. As I mentioned on my review for Robot Carnival (1987), Japanese animators love to do anthology films because it gives them a chance to expose their talent to the world. I’ve come to really enjoy a lot of these Japanese animation anthologies…here’s another one I think you guys will dig. It’s called Neo Tokyo (1987) and it includes the work of some truly awesome animators! Let’s see, first we have Rintaro, the director behind The Dagger of Kamui (1985), Metropolis (2001) and X (1996). He directed the segment entitled ‘Labyrinth, Labyrinthos’. Yoshiaki Kawajiri the director behind Ninja Scroll (1993), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000), Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007) and The Animatrix (2003) directed the short entitled ‘The Running Man’. And finally we have anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo, the mastermind behind Akira (1988), Steamboy (2004) and one of the shorts on Robot Carnival (1987). He directed the short entitled ‘Construction Cancellation Order’. So we have three masters of Japanese Animation working on this anthology, how did it turn out?

Wowzers is all I can say about this one. I mean, considering this was released the same year as Robot Carnival, the animation on Neo Tokyo is far superior in my book. I don’t know what it is; it just looks better, more modern somehow. Robot Carnival, though released on the same year, had an old school feel to it, even though it was about robots. I guess it just shows what a unique touch a director can give to their films. Without that vision, that idea, that feeling that a director wants to convey, a movie just isn’t the same. If you have an uninspired director behind the camera, then the film will be equally uninspiring. Which was not the case with Neo Tokyo, it’s quite evident from the first frames that we have a skilled and talented group of directors gathered for this anthology, each with their unique and voice.

First up we have the short entitled ‘The Running Man’ which is just an amazing short. It grabbed me from the first images and didn’t let me go. The control over sight and sound is so superior here…I mean, the visuals go so well with the sound, they create an otherworldly landscape of nightmares, and futuristic speed racing. Imagine mixing the world of Blade Runner (1982), with its neon lights and dark city landscapes and mix it with the podracing scenes from The Phantom Menace (1999) and you’ll get an idea of what to expect. Now mix in some ghosts…and you have your first ghost filled speed racing movie, with mind meld included in there for good measure. First off, stylistically speaking, this short is mind blowingly cool. The visuals will capture you, I mean, these race cars are so freaking cool looking! I want to drive one of these things! Second, it’s so much like Blade Runner, right down to having a detective investigating the whole thing. And a short film that appears to exist within Blade Runner is cool for me any day of the week. And third, it’s bat shit insane. I mean, what the hell? I had to watch this one a couple of times to fully understand it, but from what I could grasp, it was about this dude who controls the driver of a racing car with the power of his mind? The ghosts figure into the story somehow? Freaking crazy! Still, this is exactly what I enjoyed so much about the shorts presented on Neo Tokyo, they challenge your mind. And speaking of mind bending stories…

Then we get Rintaro’s collaboration to this anthology, a story entitled ‘Labyrinth, Labyrinthos’ a.k.a. ‘The Labyrinth Story’. And here’s where this anthology dives deeply into the surreal and dreamlike. So far, this is the most surreal anime short film I’ve seen. It is as if we were watching everything from the point of view of a child. We follow the child as he is playing inside his house….things are show from such strange angles that they seem different. It reminded of feelings I had when I was a child. You know how when you are a child, simple things can seem scary? This short harkens back to that, to when a childs imagination could transport him to a whole other world entirely. Mirrors are suddenly doors that can take us to another dimension filled with images that seem to make sense, yet they do at the same time when we look at the in a symbolic sort of way. You see all these crazy images which end up making sense when compared to your wildest craziest dreams. Feels like being a kid and seeing the world through eyes that get frightened easily. This short just blew me away as well. To me it felt like I was watching the film of a very distinctive filmmaker, one with a clear vision of what he wanted to convey; that weird, frightening, yet wonderful way in which a child looks at the world. This short was so amazing…obviously a master filmmaker at work here. One of the best things I can say about it is that it was an exercise in atmosphere, some scenes are spooky, they seem to come out of an old fashioned horror film. This short was one of the highlights of the anthology.

Finally, we move on to Katushiro Otomo’s ‘Construction Cancellation Order‘ which is all about this representative of an important development company who due to a change in government is now responsible for overseeing the cancellation of a construction project. The cancellation of this Project 444 presents its own set of challenges. First off, this development company was building a huge city in the middle of a dense jungle, so we have a futuristic city in ruins, being overtaken by nature. Second, the whole project was being constructed entirely by robots, with one robot overseeing everything. The problem is that the robots won’t stop working, since that’s all they were programmed to do and their one human supervisor has gone missing, they won’t follow any other order! So it becomes this gargantuan task to stop them. Again, same as in Robot Carnival (1987) the theme of man vs. machine pops up, but who will win? To me this short is amazing because of its design. You can see glimpses of the complex city designs that Otomo later uses in Akira (1988), also, it ends similar to Akira’s because it has its protagonist going up against a gigantic tentacled creature. While I enjoyed this short, I was disappointed with its ending, which feels unfinished. Just when you think you’re going to see this whole Man vs. Machine theme taken to its limits, poof, it’s fade to black and the short ends. What happened here? Did they purposely leave the audience hanging, or did something happen behind the scenes of the making of this short that didn’t allow them to follow through to the end? Whatever the case, the short is still amazing, and well worth watching. But if you ask me, the other two shorts are superior.  

After, Construction Cancellation Order, the anthology closes by going back to Rintaro’s Labyrinth Labyrintho’s and its back to surreal territory with the child still living out one of his horrible nightmares which involves circus clowns and black slimy monsters surrounding the child and his fat cat. But no worries, somehow, it all ends on a happy note and same as Robot Carnival, the short ends in a parade of fireworks, clowns and music, which brought to mind the final scenes in Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963), which ends in a similar fashion. When the film ends, it feels like those last minutes in a circus, where all the characters from the circus reappear to say goodbye to us. The film dazzled and amazed us and it is now ending with some eye candy so you can leave happy. I know I did! Though this anthology film is short in running time (only 50 minutes long) its amazing every step of the way and well worth including in your anime/animation collection.

Rating:  5 out of 5 

Robot Carnival (1987)

Title: Robot Carnival (1987)

Directors: Atsuko Fukoshima, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Hiroyiki Kitasume, Koji Morimoto, Takashi Nakamura, Yasuomi Umetsu, Manabu Ohashi, Hidetoshi Omori, Katsuhiro Otomo

I love anime movies, the problem with some of them is that sometimes they are so hard to get! Take for example Robot Carnival (1987), the film I’ll be discussing today. It’s an amazing animated film that I’m sure any anime fan would love to have in their collection, yet it to this day it hasn’t be released on dvd or blueray, and the only way you can see it is either by buying a bootleg copy with bad resolution, or you seeing it the way I did, on You Tube. Now normally I never watch movies on You Tube because to me it’s a travesty having to see a movie that way, but sometimes it’s the only way to see them, specially the more obscure ones. So anyhow, I finally got around to seeing Robot Carnival which was recommended to me by my good friend Sci-Fi Fanatic over at Musings of a Sci-Fi Fanatic, where he wrote this amazing article on abunch of anime films, some of which I have not seen yet. Robot Carnival was one of them. Of course I immediately searched this one out and well, here are my thoughts on it.

Robot Carnival is an anthology film composed of seven stories from seven different anime directors. Anthology films can be cool precisely because of this, because we get to see different stories, with different tones, themes and styles. Japanese animation director’s love making these anthology films, there’s a ton of them and I have to say, I’ve enjoyed all of the ones I have seen. I’d recommend checking out Memories (1995), which includes three animated shorts; one of them from Katsuhiro Otomo, the director of Akira (1988) called ‘Cannon Fodder’, great animation on that one. On Robot Carnival the stories are as diverse as they are entertaining and thought provoking. Some stories are simply an exercise in style, others are filled with sentiment. The one thing that holds these shorts together is that they are all about robots.  In the end Robot Carnival is one big mash up of great animation, it actually gathers an amazing group of animators, some of which went on to make milestones in the world of animation, like the aforementioned, Katsuhiro Otomo who went on to direct Akira (1988) and Steamboy (2004), two amazing anime films I urge you guys and gals out there to see at some point. Other animators who participated on Robot Carnival worked on films like The Animatrix (2003) and Blood: The Last Vampire (2000), so we have an amazing pool of talent on Robot Carnival.

So what is Robot Carnival about? Well, since it’s an anthology film it’s about a lot of things. But for starters, the film opens with these huge stone letters coming out of a dune in the dessert. When we take a good look, the letters spell the words “Robot Carnival”. Soon, from the letters, guns appear and start to shoot fireworks, then, an orchestra appears that starts shooting lasers out of their trombones. Suddenly we realize that this awesome fireworks display and these huge stone letters are really the title sequence announcing the opening of the film! As if saying, “Here’s our big Robot movie check it out! It’s going to be spectacular!” And that it was. It seemed to me like what these directors were doing was showcasing their artistic and storytelling abilities, showing the world what they are made of. You can tell that with each different short, the directors were trying their best to create a visual feast, something dazzling to look at. This is probably why a lot of the shorts don’t have a lot of story to them, in fact some of them don’t even have dialog, they simply focus on amazing us with the visuals, a quick jolt of coolness. In this way, it's a bit like Disney's Fantasia (1940). On the other hand, some shorts on Robot Carnival are thought provoking and even introspective; others cram so much story into them, that you feel like you’ve fallen right smack in the middle of a movie already in progress.  So as you can see, tones, themes are stories will jump all over the place, which is what’s cool about anthology films. So now, I’ll break down the shorts for you guys:

Star Light Angel -  is about these two girls who go to an amusement park filled with robots. One of the girls ends up falling for a guy in the amusement park who just so happens to be a guy that ends up turning into an evil giant robot. Then a good robot comes to save her and it felt a bit like an animated version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), with the good robot boyfriend vs. the evil giant robot ex boyfriend. It's a lighthearted short, filled with lots of colors and mostly happy moments. 

Cloud - is a very ‘artsy fartsy’ short, very symbolic in nature. I took it as a robot watching the history of mankind unfolding in front of its very eyes, from our birth, to our own self destruction, then to rebirth.

Deprive - has a hero, a girl in peril and evil alien robots taking over the earth. This short goes at a million miles per second, blink and you’ll miss something, but it’s cool stuff happening all the time. We get aliens, tentacled robots, lasers and the earth saved all in the course of a few minutes.

Franken’s Gears - is a homage to Frankenstein. In this short a mad scientist creates a giant robot in his dark laboratory. At first he thinks it’s not alive but after a few switches are flipped, lightning strikes and voila! The robot is alive! The robot begins to imitate its creator. Will this be for the good of the mad scientist? Or will it be his doom? Visually striking, loved this one.

Presence - This one also has an inventor working on a robot, this time in a secret secluded cottage in the middle of the woods. He ends up having conversations with the robot who expresses her desire to go out into the world and experience life. She reminded me of the robots from Blade Runner (1982), asking for life. It’s one of those stories that touches upon the idea of robots outliving their own creators. 

A tale of Two Robots Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion - is ‘steam punkish’ in nature because it’s all about two giant wooden robots fighting in the middle of a city, but not in modern times. It’s a period film, set in the 19th century, but with machinery that runs on steam. It’s visually impressive, what with giant wood robots walking about the city and all, yet it is also light on themes. It feels like we are watching a small part of a larger story.  

Nightmare - Is the darkest and most apocalyptic of all the shorts, it takes place in a darck city, as giant robots roam about the streets. Lightning bolts destroy the city and robot armies are formed, as humans run away from the chaos, trying to survive. This short is all about The Human vs. The mechanical. It has no dialog and gives lots of emphasis to mixing music with visuals. Very atmospheric and gloomy.

Then the film ends with another ‘wrap around’ story that ends the film with a bang. Robot Carnival is a great anthology film, a display of awesome talent in the field of animation. You’ll never feel bored because you’ll always see something different. You can tell this film was made by artists, its main emphasis is on creating striking visuals. So from that angle, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for a deep film, look elsewhere, because you’ll get depth only from a few of the shorts, the rest are eye candy, which is a good thing as well. Some films are meant to be enjoyed solely for their escapism. If you’re a fan of anime, science fiction and robots, you should definitely check this one out.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Steamboy (2004)

Title: Steamboy (2004)

Director: Katsuhiro Otomo

Review:

Akira (1988) was the Japanese animated film that got me started in my love for ‘Japanimation’ films. I don’t know if the term ‘Japanimation’ is used anymore. I think that the term has fallen into disuse (replaced with the term ‘Anime’) but back then, during the late eighties and early nineties, that’s what they were calling Japanese Animated films. Films like Vampire Hunter D (1985) Ninja Scroll (1993) and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994) were the talk of the town, these were the films that my friends and I talked about when conversations about Japanese animation were sparked. But Otomo’s Akira was always the king of them all, and still is in many ways. I first saw Akira way back in the 90’s when it was starting to get its acclaim as one of the greatest animated films ever made. And it had every right to be called that, the animation was excellent, it had that cyberpunk attitude about it, it was futuristic, nihilistic, cutting edge, epic. There was no denying that this wasn’t just any old anime film, this was something special. Then Ghost in the Shell (1995) came along with the promotional backing of American distributors and opened a whole other door to the genre. Producers were realizing that there was a market for these kinds of films out there, and they were making sure the world knew it.

The Masterpiece

Thanks to the interest in Japanese animation that was originated with these films, Anime films are now stronger than ever. They still don’t open to huge box office numbers, but they sure do sell a bunch of DVD’s. Things have gotten so good for Anime films that now, it's Disney who distributes Studio Gibli’s productions in America and so now Hayao Miyazaki’s films get theatrical releases. The latest example being Ponyo (2008). Akira will have a special place in heart as the first one that got me to love Japanese animation. These weren’t cute little animals talking; these were post apocalyptic teenagers riding their super charged motorcycles in a post apocalyptic ‘Neo-Tokyo’! So of course I was excited to hear about Steamboy, a film that was also directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of Akira. Interesting fact: Katsuhiro Otomo is the creator of both the comic book and the film adaptation for Akira. Don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Akira manga (Japanese for comic book) but it’s a colossal work of comic book art. It consists of 6 Volumes that cover 2,182 pages of artwork and story! It is an epic tale. Its film version takes that story and compresses it, while still retaining the themes of the epic manga tale. Both the comic and the film broke new barriers in animation and story telling. So of course, my expectations where set high for Steamboy. After all, this was the creator of Akira were talking about here!

I’m happy to say that my expectations were met. At first I had my doubts about this movie being as awesome as Akira. There was something about the period setting that turned me off somehow, apparently, the same happened with mass audiences everywhere. Because of its Victoria era setting, I thought it wasn’t going to be as exciting. This was the primary reason why I took so long to finally watch this film. But, thanks to my Japanese Themed Summer Blog-a-Thon, I decided to finally give this one a watch. I’m glad I did because as it turns out, I was missing out yet again. This happened to me for judging a book by its cover, or rather a film by it’s trailer. Or what I thought the movie was going to be like. Granted, I prefer a futuristic cyber punk science fiction films over those set in the 1800’s, but Mr. Otomo managed to make things interesting in Steamboy none the less.

Steamboy takes place in 1860’s Manchester and tells the tale of a family of inventors called The Steams, three generations of the Steam family have their efforts sets on creating something they call the ‘Steamball’; a gadget that compresses steam and creates tremendous amounts of power. James Ray Steam is the youngest of the Steams; a 13 year old boy son to Edward Steam and grandson to Lloyd Steam. Edward Steam decides that he wants to use the power of the Steamball’s to build a giant Steam Castle. It’s ultimate purpose? To sell it to a bunch of military leaders as the ultimate military weapon. Problem is that while Edward Steam thinks that steam power can be used for war and destruction, his father Lloyd Steam thinks it should be used to help mankind instead. So there’s a battle of wits as to how the Steamball’s should be used in the world, and little James Ray Steam is caught between this battle of wills; a battle of ideologies between his father and his grand father. Who will James ultimately side with?

At first I thought the movie was going to be a huge bore because truth be told, it does start out kind of slow. I was thinking to myself that my fears were becoming true, this one is going to be boring…but I gave it a chance. I was happy to discover that not only would I be treated to enormous amounts of action, but the film would also go on to explore some interesting themes as well. A lot of critics gave this film a tough time because supposedly it wasn’t as deep, or the story wasn’t as good as Akira. And I’ll admit, it is a simpler film in some ways, but this doesn’t mean the film doesn’t have something to say. It is a film of war vs. peace, of greed and power vs. humanity. What will science be used for? To advance military practices? To bring forth weapons of mass destruction? Or will it be used to make mankind happier and the world a better place to live in? These are the films main themes. Edward Steam is the power hungry inventor who thinks weapons will usher humanity into a whole new era. He ends up creating what he calls the ‘ Steam Castle ’, a gigantic flying fortress that runs thanks to the power of the Steamballs.

The Steamball

Grandpa Steam is all against his son war like mind, he wants to use steam to create a floating amusement park for children to enjoy. You see, Grandpa Steam’s original plans for The Steam Castle were to create a flying amusement park, complete with a Merry Go Around and a gigantic Ferris Wheel. Grandpa Steam asks: “What would men do with this new technology? Plunge the world into war and chaos?” His son Edward replies: “That very chaos would transform us. The heart adapts to reality” and Grandpa Steam says: “But the heart comes first Eddie!” This interchange between father and son shows us just how against each other these two mentalities are. Same as many films that pit the old vs. the new, or vice versa, it’s always in the hand of the youth to change things. In this case, it’s in 13 year old James Ray’s hands to decide how he will use previous generations’ discoveries. It’s that old idea that hope rests in the hands of future generations who can and should benefit from the accumulated knowledge of their predecessors. Newer generations can learn from their ancestors’ mistakes and improve on society and quality of life. The main idea being that we can’t forget the mistakes of the past, we must learn from them in order to improve our future. This ideology can be applied to different areas of life, including politics, religion, science and philosophy. So you see, this film does have some meat to it after all.

But aside from that, the film is one awesome spectacle of animation! The movie takes a while to really take off, setting up its characters and their different ideologies. The filmmakers really wanted you to know where each character stands, so that you could later know what they are fighting so much about. But once the action gets going, it doesn’t stop! The last half of the film is made up of none stop action and destruction! Dr. Edward Steam organizes a demonstration to show the arms dealers of the world just how much they can benefit from his inventions which include all sorts of military weapons. From flying soldiers, to submarines, tanks and men in armored suits; all powered by steam. The Steam Castle turns into this monstrosity that goes around London destroying important historical landmarks and freezing everything that comes into its path! Then it’s a race to the finish to see how they can stop the Steam Castle from destroying all of London . Now that I think about it, the ending with the Steam Castle destroying every building in its path was not unlike a Godzilla film. This film also had elements in common with Wild Wild West (1999), because that one is also a film about a crazy inventor constructing gigantic steam powered machines used for military purposes. Some scenes also brought to mind The Rocketeer (1991) because at one point James Ray straps on a steam powered back pack and flies through the skies!

Steamboy cost 20 million dollars to make, and 8 years to complete! American actors were brought in to dub the English version fo the film. The English dubbing was performed by the likes of Patrick Stewart as Grandpa Steam, Alfred Molina as Eddie Steam, and Anna Paquin as the voice of James Ray Steam. That’s right Anna Paquin plays the role of a boy, but if you’ve watched anime, you’ll know that this is a common practice in Japanese animation; women do the voices of young male characters. So the film was prepped for an international release. Unfortunately, this film didn’t set the anime world on fire, and it wasn’t a box office smash. Not even in Japan. This was a huge let down because this was the most expensive Japanese animated film ever made, actually, as I write this is still holds that title. But it didn’t garner enough attention from audiences to make its budget back. I think audiences reacted the same way I did, thinking it would be boring because it took place in the 1800’s. As it is, this movie was actually action packed! As I recently discovered, once Steamboy takes off, it really takes off! Some critics where criticizing the film for the same reasons I loved it. Some said it was an empty action spectacle, with no depth to it. But in my opinion, the film had a healthy balance of ideologies and action. Give Steamboy a chance, I think you’ll be surprised. 

Rating: 4 out of 5