Steamboy is a beautifully animated film that starts off with considerable promise but seems to loose focus in its final third. The Victorian settings are well used and the characters are fairly well defined. The film falls into fantasy/science fiction sub-genre of steam punk which basically means it's a story set in the Victorian era with a strong dose of either fantasy or science fiction which produces an alternate history to that which we actually experienced.
The films protagonist is Ray Steam is a young inventor whose scientist grandfather and father are absent pursuing some great advance in steam power. After some sort of accident a package is sent to Ray by his grandfather and he quickly finds himself pursued by those who want the package. The importance of the package is apparently connected to the upcoming Great Exhibition of 1866 in London. While I won't spoil the films resolution I will say that it is unfortunately a little heavy handed and over the top. The conclusion isn't enough to spoil my overall enjoyment but it is disappointing and inconsistent.
The DVD has available both the original Japanese audio with sub-titles (for the purists) and is also dubbed into English with a fairly note worthy cast. The American cast includes Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart. The film was both directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo who is probably best known for the blockbuster anime Akira.
Although Akira is definitely a superior film it did similarly also lose direction somewhat toward the end. An impressive vision of a future Tokyo, an intriguing story and the characters got lost somewhat in the over the top resolution. Despite this drawback I still recommend 'Steamboy' and highly recommend 'Akira' for their amazing animation well realized characters and settings in addition to their story concepts. Although I feel both tried to hard to achieve a monumental conclusion that wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.
The films protagonist is Ray Steam is a young inventor whose scientist grandfather and father are absent pursuing some great advance in steam power. After some sort of accident a package is sent to Ray by his grandfather and he quickly finds himself pursued by those who want the package. The importance of the package is apparently connected to the upcoming Great Exhibition of 1866 in London. While I won't spoil the films resolution I will say that it is unfortunately a little heavy handed and over the top. The conclusion isn't enough to spoil my overall enjoyment but it is disappointing and inconsistent.
The DVD has available both the original Japanese audio with sub-titles (for the purists) and is also dubbed into English with a fairly note worthy cast. The American cast includes Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart. The film was both directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo who is probably best known for the blockbuster anime Akira.
Although Akira is definitely a superior film it did similarly also lose direction somewhat toward the end. An impressive vision of a future Tokyo, an intriguing story and the characters got lost somewhat in the over the top resolution. Despite this drawback I still recommend 'Steamboy' and highly recommend 'Akira' for their amazing animation well realized characters and settings in addition to their story concepts. Although I feel both tried to hard to achieve a monumental conclusion that wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.