Alicia I love this movie so much

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Leuron Noegard When I first watched this Anime I didn't know anything about it, but it turned out to be the best Anime I've ever seen!! I love the drama and the romance, and the whole epic feeling (The musical score is just great). I love the darkness mood of the movie too, and for those who love dramatic stories, and dark stories, I really advise you to see this, you'll really enjoy it very much, it's really well made and with feelings, much of the anime out there don't have them, I like movies with feelings and great stories, it's essential.. Well, the drawings are amazing too and the characters have rich personalities. This Anime lies in my heart, and if you let yourself in, you too will enjoy it!!

bongo fury This film embodies everything wrong with anime. Everything in the film has been copied from somewhere else, but has lost its context in the process, leaving a soulless, formulaic film. Having been adapted from a TV series, the story makes very little sense and is filled with superfluous characters. This isn't that big a problem, as you will have probably heard the plot a million times before, and every character fits into a tired anime stereotype. There's the angsty schoolgirl (who for some reason wears her uniform for the entirety of her stay in fantasyland), Mr. Long Hair Big Eyes Big Sword, Cat-Girl, etcetera. The dialogue is equally clichéd, as you would expect from such cookie cutter characters. More than that, the clichés are very poorly done, and make little sense. For example, the Hotheaded Hero is about to kill the Schoolgirl heroine (well he is waving his sword around and saying he will) when his boss orders him not to. Of course, being hot-headed he then attacks his boss and they proceed to fight. The worst thing about this film, however, is the voice acting. I realise that the kind of people who would like Escaflowne would be listening to the original Japanese anyway, but the dub was particularly bad. The animation and artistic direction, while technically proficient, is also riddled with lazy unoriginality. When some of the characters sprout angel wings, as they tend to do occasionally, the air is immediately filled with hundreds of feathers, perhaps symbolising something but more likely hollow eye candy. The wings must be moulting at an alarming rate. Anyway, if you have read this far you will have got the message; Escaflowne is an exercise in formulaic shallowness.

Ryan Miller Several things bothered me while watching this film. One of the first thing i noticed was the animation - the faces on the characters were horridly drawn, making it hard for facial expressions to appear believable. The animation in itself was fine, however the way the people were drawn was distracting. Secondly, the plot was disorganized and scattered; making the film hard to follow for even fans of the Escaflowne TV series. The closing doesn't redeem much of the films' weak points - I wouldn't recommend this for those new to Escaflowne or those who are fans. It would be disappointing either way.

HPeep I haven't seen the entire series `The Visions of Escaflowne'. What I saw I really liked, but it needed something. It needed to be a much darker and more grim story. Well, this movie has a grim and dark story, with plenty of graphic violence to boot (now why did it get a PG-13?). Even though it kind of is a condensed version of the series, it does tell it's own story in a way. Though some `Escaflowne' fans may be disappointed by how much different the movie is, many people will be happy with the style. The story is basically the same as the series: A normal high-school girl named Hitomi is transported to the world of Gaea to help the survivors of countries that fell to the powerful Black Dragon empire in one final battle that will determine the fate of their world. It's actually a pretty good story with amazing animation and characters who are much less annoying in the movie than they were in the series. The music is also stunning with several great tracks. Every way I look at the movie I love it. It's even kind of a cute romance movie. If you have a friend who wants to see some anime, show him this. If you liked the movie then get the 3-disc DVD. Well worth watching, but do get the subtitled version. Dubbed: C, Subtitled: A.Rated R for graphic animated violence/gore, language, and sensuality. Suggested for ages 15 and up.