Steamboy is comming soon to US theaters!

[Mach5Motorsport]

I caught a Steamboy trailer on TV last night.  Looks really, really impressive.  Among the English voice talent is Patrick Stewart :D

Very nice stuff.

[astroboy]

Strange how I just read an article about it in Animerica yesterday. It has a "sci fi" feel to it even though it takes place in the 1860's in London if that makes any sense. IMHO it was the advent of coal that helped create the British Empire....but that can be left for another debate. In this alternate universe it's steam balls not coal that powers steam engines.

And of course since this is an anime there are a whole bunch of really neat machines which would never exist in the real world due to inconvienent restraints like financial budgets and the laws of physiscs.  :D

[Nemuren]

Word of warning: The English dub is 15 minutes or so shorter than the original Japanese version. I still want to see this on the big screen, but I was a little disheartened to hear that. Some markets, like San Francisco I hear, will be showing the uncut subtitled version. I'm curious as to what the DVD release will be like due to this situation.

[Random]

15 minutes shorter? that sucks.
My guess is that the DVD will be treated like the Shaolin Soccer DVD.  You get to choose what version of the movie you want in the opening menu.

[ced1106]

Saw it. Good stuff.

It ain't Akira. It's a great action fix for your steampunk needs.

Dubbing's great. Usually movie dubs are. Patrick Stewart, known for his "noble" roles in Star Trek and X-Men, plays a rational, but kinda mad grandfather scientist. Alfred Molena (Doc Ock in Spiderman 2) plays the quiet steam inventor father. Anna Panquin (Roge in X-Men) plays Ray, the grandson. The story's a classic "conflict between generations" as grandfather doesn't want his great steam invention, a battery of sorts, to fall into the hand of the war profiteering industrialists, whom the father has joined. Ray is on the side of his grandfather, but still cares for his father. Unfortunately, the obligatory annoying anime girl, an American called Miss Scarlet, while played by a voice actress, **is** annoying on the ears.

As for the 15 minutes, I suspect the cuts were minor. For example, in the cut version, Miss Scarlet's chihuahua is introduced early in the film and not seen again. Also, a bullying mustached guy appears in the beginning and in a climax at the end, but I don't remember seeing him anytime during the film. Don't let the cuts keep you from watching the movie in the theatres. The beautiful panoramic shots and big action scenes are best seen on the large screen.

Oh, and if you see it in the Pruneridge, you can get a Pizza my Heart $5.75 pizza, salad, and drink deal which you can bring into the theatre!


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

[gmontem]

Erk, dubbed and cut.  No thanks.  I'll wait for the R1 and watch from home.

[KimaLucifer]

Mm. Watched it today with the Chu.

It's not a bad movie, but this movie cracked me up by having things that parallell other anime movies. >_<

[Mach5Motorsport]

Mm. Watched it today with the Chu.

It's not a bad movie, but this movie cracked me up by having things that parallell other anime movies. >_<

One thing that really limits anime is the "recyling" of themes, not slightly but outright.  Originality is hard.  That is where the writing for animated movies in the US recently seems to be better. But that is only becuase there are a handful of animated feature films.

The strength of anime cinema is the animation (of course) the merging of traditional 2D and computer 3D animation techniques coupled with the artistic designs.

What sucks is the tepid marketing support in the US for Steamboy and other anime movies.  Very little effort in the form of sparse tv ads and only select theaters.  Pretty much concentrating on video sales.

[KimaLucifer]

Oh. By parallel I didn't mean the theme. It's some of the things you see in it.

*spoiler type parallels*
The steam castle will remind you of Howl's Moving Castle
The ice-crystallization will remind you of the Entei Pokemon Movie
*end spoiler type parallels*

But I agree that it's hard to be original these days.

[Mach5Motorsport]

Oh. By parallel I didn't mean the theme. It's some of the things you see in it.

*spoiler type parallels*
The steam castle will remind you of Howl's Moving Castle
The ice-crystallization will remind you of the Entei Pokemon Movie
*end spoiler type parallels*

But I agree that it's hard to be original these days.

There are few trully "original" big-time anime projects.  This stems from the reputation that a Japanese strength is to refine existing idea, rather than being the originator.  

Of course this is a generalization from industrial-commercial ventures, but in anime a lot of originality is discarded for the sake of security.  How many people have heard of the term "magical girls" or a "tenchi harem" .  Warner Brothers and Disney also suffer from a creative vaccum too.

[ced1106]

What sucks is the tepid marketing support in the US for Steamboy and other anime movies.  Very little effort in the form of sparse tv ads and only select theaters.  Pretty much concentrating on video sales.

Go with what you know: Most anime sales are DVDs. Ergo, sell anime assuming DVD sales. Riiight.

Also bad is that the commercials are portraying this as another Akira (well, at least the trailers from the preview disk). Again, I can't stress that this a a theatre-screen movie, dub and cuts or no dub and cuts.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^