BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

SmallFox 1 *Spoilers* *Spoilers*The first half of the movie consists of characters that are so empty and dull. I don't even care to remember what their names are. They are that bad. The biggest problem with main character is that he looks so uninterested and boring. And if he's uninterested and not invested, then why should I care about him? He's a cardboard cutout of Sasuke Uchiha.And no, the first 30 minutes or so aren't just "slow" like some of the other comments have said because absolutely nothing happens! I'm not kidding, it's just pretty establishing shots and other characters who mean nothing in the slightest, oh yeah they kinda help out to what's going on in the plot but, they never leave an impact. Even the so called " comic relief" just smiles and picks up bitches. That's it.And yes, the ending is horrible too. It's a huge exposition dump that should have been fleshed out throughout the story but nope, the movie just dicks around and when the movie finally let's on to what's going on regarding the war, the movie is almost over. Oh, the real kicker is that the main character doesn't just die, he dies from a master pilot who is really his father, who we've never seen or heard from in the story. We never even see them talk to each other let alone his dads face. And the character dies without their ever being any resolve, no heroic death and no sacrifice. So to sum up, this movies' a huge tease. It had potential but, I feel like the creators had a "make them want it" kind of idea but, the movie just kept on holding back and making so many bad decisions that the finished product just fades into obscurity. And rightfully so.

bertbaer1990-504-224215 I would always see this film on the shelf of the ANIME section of my local BLOCKBUSTER store. When they had their OUT OF BUSINESS sale, I figured buying it at a discount couldn't hurt. It would be a month and a half until I would finally sit and watch it. Please bear with me, this is my first written review. The story follows a young fighter pilot named Yukito who has just transferred to a new base. He is puzzled by feelings of Deja vú and by the fact that nobody will answer him about the pilot he is replacing. One thing viewers should keep I mind is that this isn't the action packs spectacle the cover makes it appear to be. Don't get me wrong, there are some stunning dogfights in this movie, but they are few and far in between. Most of the movie's time is spent following Yukito as he tries to unravel the mystery of his predecessor, of his superior, Kusenagi, and his own past. And honestly, I found it thoroughly engrossing. Almost as much as the battles which got a tad bit confusing because all the planes look similar. The movie goes for a more philosophical approach on the topic of war and peace, poses questions about the choices we make as humans. The movie however did get a tad cliché near the end, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't see a lot of the plot twists coming a mile away. But it still holds interest, builds up suspense, creates a certain atmosphere, and brings new ideas that will have you mulling over for a couple hours after viewing. Just know that this movie takes a slower pace and isn't as much about the fighting as it is the who and why.

popitotoro I just watched this movie and it upset me after the first 30 minutes. I'm not a huge fan of Mamoru Oshii but I loved the job he did on Ghost In The Shell 1 and 2 as well as Patlabor 2 (in a lesser way). I think I understood the movie pretty well, and I agree with most of the arguments of the reviews praising the movie, except that for me the plot is just inadequate for an animated movie. It's far too slow, the characters are quiet, boring, plus the character design looks so poor compared to the CGI, it's just not fitting at all. There is a lot of static shots, with pretty much nothing to think about. Okay, they give you some of the reasons why it was so slow all the way long, nearly at the end, but my point is that it's too late! It's not like I jumped off my seat, I was actually quite disappointed, so long for this! And what do I care? It's not like after 2 hours I really got attached to any of the characters... It just barely saves the movie.I understand it could work very well for the graphic novel (wouldn't get this issue with the different styles, plus you can read it at your own rhythm, and go back for another reading after the big revelation at the end), but here I just got the proof from Oshii himself that one cannot adapt everything to animated movies or movies. Sometimes it's just impossible. A movie HAS to entertain, and not only for the last 5 minutes.

8thSin I found the view of wars as an instrument to remind us of what it means to be peaceful to be an interesting idea. The concept of Killdre who can't (won't?) become adults were also quite interesting, but I felt they could've done much more with this story.Throughout the film, the main character repeated that there were no reason to become adults, but what was the real difference between childhood and adulthood? Children and their immaturity come from inexperience. Even if their bodies never grew up, wouldn't their minds continue to grow into an adult? I wish they had explained this more because the Killdre pilots in this movie didn't behave that different compared to adult pilots. To me, it seemed like being children had no real advantages other than better reflexes and lighter weight for the planes.They did a fine job with the revival problems of Killdre, that they can't escape the war even through death, but I wished they focused more on the subject.Animation on this was quite disastrous in my opinion. In this day and age, many anime series mix 3D-CGI and traditional cel animation. This style of animation never worked for me, since the hand-drawn cel animation seems like laziness behind 3D backgrounds, especially since there were many 'frozen' frames where a character don't move for about 5 seconds. Such wide gap in animation quality within an anime movie seems unnatural, and I believe the CG technology in Japan has not reached a convincing level in anime yet. Some plane fight scenes were quite cool, but the following cel animation in the base always seemed awkward afterwards.Truly great animated films in recent years like "Byousoku 5cm" and reputable anime studios like Ghibli and Mad House still use computer graphics only to assist the hand-drawn special effects without using protrusive 3D-CGI in 2-dimensional background or characters. Japanese anime creators need to wait until they have enough budget and technology to match current Pixar films before using CGI in their anime films.I really liked the character development in this movie, but I believe this film had a lot of space for improvements.