AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

dee.reid (I saw this one first back in the summer of 2006.)It must be said that widely acclaimed Japanese animation (Anime') director Mamoru Oshii is one of the most distinguished personalities in all of Anime'. His most famous work - and my personal favorite film of his - is 1995's "Ghost in the Shell" (which gained added popularity in the United States and around the rest of the world for its apparent influence on "The Matrix" and its sequels).Before "Ghost in the Shell," though, he was probably most famous for his work on the "Patlabor" series of films, which were adapted from a popular Manga (Japanese comic) and TV series - both of which Ishii himself co-created (based on original concepts by Yuuki Masami), alongside longtime collaborator Kazunori Ito and several others. The first in the series was 1989's "Patlabor: The Movie." While a little confusing at times, I got through it with little difficulty. The story itself is engaging, but I actually save my best praises for this film's darker, superior, politically-charged and mature 1993 sequel, "Patlabor 2: The Movie.""Patlabor: The Movie" is set in Japan in the late '90s (the then-future), where mankind is aided in everyday tasks (like construction work) by "Labors," giant robots that are operated by specially trained humans. They are also used extensively in military and law enforcement duties; the series focuses mostly on the "Patrol Labors" ("Patlabors") that are being used by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police force.The plot gets moving when the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's 2nd Special Vehicles Section (SV2) begins investigating a series of incidents where Labors of differing size and operations begin malfunctioning all across the city. The young SV2 operative Asuma Shinohara, alongside female SV2 pilot and close associate Noa Izumi, suspects that a new operating system (OS) that had recently been installed to over 80% of the labors in the city, is what is causing the malfunctions. The OS was written and designed by Eiichiro Hoba - who committed suicide just five days before the story begins - with the intention that all Labors installed with the program deliberately malfunction if a series of specific conditions are met (like high winds generating low-frequency sound-waves all across the city, for example). The now-deceased Hoba had become obsessed with the Babylon Project - a series of man-made islands in the Tokyo Bay area, and its nerve center the Ark (Hoba's fixation was on the obvious biblical allusions to the Ark, as in Noah's Ark) - and specifically targeted the Labors involved in its construction."Patlabor: The Movie" is quite an early achievement from Mamoru Oshii and shows many of his trademark filmmaking signatures that would become more apparent over the course of his career. The numerous biblical references; the deep, involving plot and colorful, multi-dimensional cast of characters; the moody, atmospheric score by frequent collaborator Kenji Kawai; and philosophical musings about technology run amok in the then-future all appear here. It's an astounding piece of animation, though as I stated earlier, it's not as good as its darker, more mature and plot-heavy sequel "Patlabor 2: The Movie."8/10

El_Farmerino_Esq It's worth noting before I begin that this was my first encounter with the Patlabor series - I went in knowing nothing of the characters or overall plot of the series. I mention it because, though it posed absolutely no problems for my understanding of the piece, it does relate to the one criticism I have.Positive things first, though, of which there are many. Most impressive, as with much of Ishii's work, is the scenery. From the highly industrialised city streets to the run-down shacks mastermind Hoba made his homes, each location is fantastically rendered and informs the mood of the piece easily as much as any of the characters. Not that Patlabor - The Movie is really lacking there, though; Both Asuma and Gotoh make for brilliantly likable protagonists, while aforementioned and never-seen villain Hoba is a more than worthy foil. The plot moves along at the right kind of pace - brisk enough to keep the viewer interested, but relaxed enough to allow one to savour the rich atmosphere of the world Ishii creates.If there's a problem, then, it stems simply from the fact that this is what it is; a spin-off movie which is only part of an ongoing series. As such, and great as the characters may be, there is very little in terms of development - next to none, in fact. Yes, this is an expected and necessary result of the movie's very nature (it can't do anything that's really going to significantly affect the plot line of the series); still, it dulls the impact of an otherwise excellent film. Of course, there may be (and I expect there are) many nuances of dialogue, story etc. that are lost on a viewer with no prior knowledge of the series and perhaps viewing the film in context would provide a more rounded experience. Regardless, as a stand-alone film, it's less involving than it could be.Despite this minor quibble, though, Patlabor - The Movie is a great introduction to a series I plan to familiarise myself with further in the future.

prowl-7 This movie is widely considered a masterpiece. The story is set in an alternate history where by the late 90's Japan is using large robots called "laborers" in the Military, but also in municipal functions like construction, and especially, the Police.Something is causing laborers in Japan to go berserk and reject human control, sending them on a rampage. It's up to the people of Special Vehicles Section 2 to discover the cause before it's too late! Some may be disappointed by the fact that the laborers for which the title gets it's name aren't featured in every single scene: this film is not about constant fighting and action, though the action scenes that do exist are very well done and fascinating. Because this is more of a crime/mystery movie instead of hardcore action, people with different tastes may not enjoy it as much.This was the first anime movie I ever saw and it got me hooked with it's completely original story and lovable characters and robots! Certainly an animation masterpiece!

emaan Much as I love Patlabor the OAV and TV series, I found this film too be too slow moving at times and all too serious. The quality of animation was slightly above the OAV's and the character designs also kept closely to the OAV (as opposed to the more mature look in P2).As I understood the plot, a mysterious hacker introduced a virus into the operating system (called H.O.S. or Hyper Operating System) for ALL labors in Japan. This virus could cause unmanned units to go beserk, and is activated by a unique ultra-sound frequency created at random by the gusty winds that blow across the Tokyo skyline.Tied in to all this is the newly completed tower of the Babylon Project to reclaim land in the Tokyo bay. Apparently the tower is a giant tuning fork which could give the doomsday signal when a great storm hits the bay.All this sounds intriguing, but it takes way too long for the plot to advance to a coherent stage. There is hardly any action save for the last 20 minutes or so. Most of all, I missed the great dialogue and humour in the video and TV series.