What rights do robots have? At what point does something become alive? These are some of the questions this anime film asks, but it wraps these philosophical conundrums up in an exciting adventure/love story. At its heart this is a simple tale of boy meets robot, boy falls in love with robot, robot tries to destroy the world, though some political wrangling and a psychotic assassin give the film a little more depth.
But while the story is an engaging one, there are elements that didn’t seem to fit together as they should; at least they didn’t for me. The computer animated backgrounds and sometimes violent nature of the story seemed at odds with the cutsie character designs, although this may be in keeping with the source material, not having read the original manga I can’t say (if anyone reading this has, please let me know). The jazz soundtrack also didn’t feel quite right but that may have more to do with my musical taste than any fault of the film.
It was fun looking out for references to science fiction classics (Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Blade Runner being the most obvious) but the film never feels like just a rehash of old ideas. It’s an intelligent film spoilt (for me) by some of the director’s choices, that give the film a unique feel but also a slightly disjointed one.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 