So has seen STEAMBOY?

[sktchrtst2002]

I went with a group of friends on Saturday to catch a theater showing of OTOMO's latest project and came out well........ anyone seen it yet?

The animation was very good. Funny how an OTOMO movie doesn't look like it's anime, from the detail and lack of overdoing emotional expressions, to the realism of the character designs, he stands alone. Five mintues into the movie I knew it was an OTOMO project. heh, and they called this as done by the STEAMBOY COMMITEE, not the AKIRA COMMITEE like it was stated on AKIRA.

The battle sequences were of OTOMO scale-grand.

The story?

um.......

well you see.........

yeah, that's how I felt coming out.So has anyone else seen STEAMBOY?

Edited March 20, 2005 by sktchrtst2002

[sktchrtst2002]

Oops!

I meant to say HAS ANYONE SEEN STEAMBOY!

heh, it's sunday morning, not really awake yet

[NERV]

i wanted to see it but its not playing near me, gotta wait till dvd

[That NOS Guy]

I saw it, praise God in heaven for Philadelphia art theathers, and it was rather good.

It's kinda spooky how the music from Akira carried over to parts of the film.

-NOS

Spoiler free. Bitches.

[HG Blows]

Caught it at the Landmark Nuart Theater last night. It was alright. Animation was good, story was so-so. I'm a little iffy with anime-with-characters-with-round-noses to begin with, so I was pleasantly surprised.

[JELEINEN]

I saw it raw a while back. Awesome film, but too bad Kansas City looks to be the closest to here with a theatrical release.

[Slugworth]

I have a question about this film. How long is the US version? I read an article in Starlog about it being trimmed by 20 minutes. The Japanese version is 126 minutes. I will wait for the DVD version if this is true. Good or bad, I hate watching films in "manglevision".

[Panzer]

whoa.. so it has AKira music? that OST has always been one of my faves. I've gotta see this now..

[NERV]

I have a question about this film. How long is the US version? I read an article in Starlog about it being trimmed by 20 minutes. The Japanese version is 126 minutes. I will wait for the DVD version if this is true. Good or bad, I hate watching films in "manglevision".

Starring: Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, Patrick Stewart, Masatane Tsukayama, more credits

Directed By: Katsuhiro Otomo

Released By: Columbia TriStar

Theatrical Release Date: 03/18/2005

Run Time: 126 min.

Genre: Action and Adventure, Science Fiction, Animation, Drama, New Release

Rating: PG-13

[NERV]

also note that it's columbia tristar, and akira was releaed by pioneer, i assume 'manglevision' reffers to 'mangavision' which doesnt apply in either case?

[That NOS Guy]

whoa.. so it has AKira music? that OST has always been one of my faves. I've gotta see this now..

No, no. What I said was how some rythms and themes found their way over. It's not a transplant as much as you can tell there's obvious influence.

[Radd]

I really want to see it if for no other reason than Akira has the best animation in any movie I've ever seen, except for possibly a few sequences in Fantasia 2000. I doubt Steamboy has quite as good animation, simply because I can't imagine any production running up a budget the likes of wich Akira boasted for its visuals. Still, from what I saw in the trailer, it's very possible it does manage that level of awesome.

[Radd]

As for the question of length, here's a blurb I read at the bottom of Ebert's review of the movie:

Note: The movie is showing in most theaters in a 106-minute English-dubbed version, but some also offer a daily screening of the 126-minute, Japanese-dubbed version with English subtitles. Check your local theater. The DVD will presumably have both.

I had to take his review with a huge grain of salt, as he complained that the colours were not bright and eyegougingly colourful. From the trailers, the colours looks just fine to me, very fitting to the setting and style.

[Slugworth]

Nerv, I apply the term "manglevision" to any film altered by a someone other than the director. I'm not aware of the Manga Ent. connection. Many of Jackie Chan's films are released in the US in manglevision. Miramax does this a lot, too. Yes, I'm sure Otomo "approved" this cut and the dubbing, but only so he could get it into US theaters.

For the DVD, an uncut/subtitled version will be available.

The anticipation is killing me though, I will likely break down and see it anyway. I must see this on a big screen at least once. Even if its dubbed and cut.

[Gui]

I saw this one a while back because it was into french cinemas at the beginning of december IIRC...

Was technically impressive but looked like lacking of 'thoughts' contrarily to Akira which presented both: Steamboy could almost have been a Walt Disney...

Still, a very nice enjoyment IMO: I recommend everyone to check out

[areaseven]

From the Anime News Network:

Steamboy Performs Poorly at Box Office

Earns less than $4000 per screen

posted on 2005-03-21 10:37:31

source: ICv2

According to ICv2, Steamboy earned approximately $150,000 this past weekend at the 39 theaters the premiered the movie. This is significantly better than the $80,000 earned by Appleseed in its opening weekend (31 theaters), but significantly lower that the $318,000 earned by Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (47 theaters).

Box office rankings for the top 50 movies this weekend are not yet available. Steamboy's performance, if the $150,00 figure is accurate, would have placed it 33rd at the box office last weekend.

Over at Rotten Tomatoes, a website that ranks movies based on their average score from movie critic reviews, Steamboy has earned a 65% fresh rating (65% of reviews were considered positive). Comparatively, Appleseed and Innocence earned 17% and 60% respectively.

[Radd]

Sadly, what can you expect? It's not like Steamboy is being heavily marketed, or showing in a lot of theatres. It's turning up in art theatres, and has less of a built in audience than Ghost in the Shell.

[NERV]

Nerv, I apply the term "manglevision" to any film altered by a someone other than the director. I'm not aware of the Manga Ent. connection. Many of Jackie Chan's films are released in the US in manglevision. Miramax does this a lot, too. Yes, I'm sure Otomo "approved" this cut and the dubbing, but only so he could get it into US theaters.

For the DVD, an uncut/subtitled version will be available.

The anticipation is killing me though, I will likely break down and see it anyway. I must see this on a big screen at least once. Even if its dubbed and cut.

well manga entertainment sometimes attached the title 'mangavision' to their releases and alot of ppl reffer to manga as mangle cuz they screw up alot of their releases, bad ex is EOE, while the actual release was good they delayed it over a year from its original release date

[Renato]

I saw it last summer, and loved it while I was actually watching it, but I was rea;;y let down by the ending.

Still, they really did their research on this one: If anyone here is from the UK, notice the famous "Rover's Return" from Coronation Street in the background of one of the scenes.

[kensei]

For me this was like yeah...okay..., as well.

I don't know why, but I really hated Akira. I found it disturbing, and it even scared the freakin' hell out of me or grossed me out at times. Don't ask me why, it just did.

[Anubis]

I competely forgot it came out, even though I wanted to see it in the theater. That's what they get for poor marketing. They wonder why it did poorly? Duh.

[MSW]

I wanna see it, if for no other reason then its steampunk

But I'll prolly wait for the DVD as it isn't likely to get shown around here

as for its boxoffice numbers... I don't know...$150,000 is a lot of $$$...especialy for only 2 days on 39 screens...Yeah, opening weekend is important for the modern Hollywood buisness model...but the modern model is basied upon the runaway success of Jaws and Star Wars in the 1970s...Hollywood used to do things quite differently before then...shame they can't seem to remember how, or are willing to try.

Hollywood used to do traveling "regional" releases...a film would be in release, sometimes, for years...they would release say a hundred prints in NY state, run them for a month...then move the prints to Ohio, run for a month..then to Virgina, etc...this let word of mouth do much of the advertiseing...and a great many became very profitable when it was all said and done....but of course this takes patience, something very lacking in our modern instant gratification Hollywood

[ewilen]

Well, I just saw it today in the uncut, subtitled version at the Lumiere in San Francisco.

Visually, it's fantastic. I did notice that the colors are subdued, but this mostly works and results in the film looking like a moving version of certain European comic books. There's incredible detail along with a crisp style, and some of the action scenes work well, particularly in the first half of the movie.

However, the story breaks down about midway through, and the visuals start to become just repetitive. The movie does not compare favorably with Akira, or similarly-themed Miyazaki films such as Nausicaa or Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The retro-technology, along with some of the action, also reminded me a bit of Wings of Honneamise, which again does not help.

The problems with plot and pacing are actually so severe that for once I wouldn't be surprised if the 20 minutes of editing in the English-dubbed version might do it some good. However, I don't expect to find out unless I get bored enough to rent the DVD.

Recommendation: see this at a bargain matinee in a theater with the biggest screen possible, don't worry about sub/dub, and just enjoy the craftsmanship that went into the animation.

Edited April 6, 2005 by ewilen

[Mr March]

Steamboy came to theatres here in Calgary this week, so a friend of mine (who just so happens to be English) and I went to see it at the late showing last night.

Must say, it's been quite some time since I've been insulted by the level of simplicity and idiocy in a film as I was with Steamboy. Steamboy definitely ranks high as one of the most bland, unexciting stories for an adventure film I've seen to date. Correspondingly, the cast of one-dimensional characters is the most uninteresting group I've ever had the displeasure of watching on film. The Scarlett character alone would have ruined the movie, were it not a weak film in it's own right. Needless to say, the dialogue that plagues this film only adds to the problem. I think I almost rather would have paid for a ticket to see Sahara...and the only interesting thing about that film is the legal battle with Clive Cussler in real life.

The dub was very poor, especially being that this is now 2005 and not 1989, I demand better of a dub, if I'm forced to watch it at all. Ray Steam's "accent" in particular was terrible, having been voiced by Anna Paquin (I swear to god). My friend cringed at almost every piece of Steamboy's dialogue, and while my reaction was thankfully numbed due to my ignorance of foreign accents, it was bad enough to notice. Both my friend and I would have much rather watched the film subtitled.

I can say that the film makes excellent use of complimentary CGI. Like many Studio Ghibli films (and I loathe to compare a film as bad as Steamboy to such high quality films) the combination of cell and CGI is seemless and very dynamic. One scene at the beginning showed two cell drawn characters running from inside the house to outside, almost as if the camera was on a dolly following the movements of the characters. There were also some very interesting full 3D backdrops which rotated around the characters, with the cell art reacting in perfect unison. Very visually pleasing and a great way to meld two art forms.

Overall, I'd give Steamboy a 2 out of 10, narrowly missing a score of one simply based on the impressive visual appearance of the film. If you're looking to support anime that comes to your local theatre, you can do a lot better than this and you'll save yourself some grief too.

Edited April 17, 2005 by Mr March

[Hoptimus]

Whew boy.

I was really looking forward to this one.

I was really let down.

Incredible looking but seriously bad.

It starts great and then the pacing goes to crap.

that 1h and 45 min felt like 2.5 hours to me.

[Mr March]

Oh Mike man, I feel for ya. This thread is bringing back my unhappy adulthood of exactly one month ago

[Hoptimus]

Seriously.

Avoid this like the plague.

Damn. What happened.

[bsu legato]

Its that bad? Yikes.

Maybe Otomo would be better off making another Spriggan movie.

[Less than Super Ostrich]

I can say that the film makes excellent use of complimentary CGI. 

I just saw the DVD release. My review sounds like many above. Visually done well with great use of CGI that complements (rather than contrasts) with the traditional animation. The story line and the world he created were very interesting. However, the story dragged in too many parts. This is what happens when you have too many characters that you are trying to empathize with (Grandpa, Dad, and Steamboy)... focus on one to tell your story. Or else call the movie the Steamfamily. As a history major in college, I can only suspend my disbelief for so long. Steam powered flight 36 years before the wright brothers seems a bit of a stretch. Still the contraptions were interesting (and I'd love someone to do some resin cast models!). Anyway, i give it a 5 out of 10.

[HWR MKII]

If you got the double set that came with memories you still got one good dvd out of it. Memories ROCKS. steamboy was ok a little over te top, did steamboys father remind anyone else of the Colonel from Akira?

In Memories i loved the first portion called Magnetic Rose, Stinkbomb was hilarious, and the third act was well... it was.