Cat Soup (2003) Movie Review

Tatsuo Sato’s “Cat Soup” is an odd brew. And because it’s such a short experiment in bizarre visuals, giving this 30-minute movie a grade becomes a problem. It’s much too short to be properly judged, feeling more like a 30-minute episode of a long serial rather than the...

November 22nd, 2003 | Read More

Elysium (2003) Movie Review

If you approach it correctly, the South Korean animation “Elysium” really isn’t that bad. I mean, it is quite unremarkable, that goes without saying. The whole movie is essentially a 70-minute episode of “The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” (or whatever title the show...

November 16th, 2003 | Read More

Lady Death (2004) Movie Review

In 1998, Lady Death creator Brian Pulido announced that the character would make the transition to the screen in the form of an animated feature film. Six years later, the “Lady Death” film finally arrives on video shelves for the perusal of those so inclined. While not exactly worth the...

October 3rd, 2003 | Read More

Wonderful Days (aka Sky Blue, 2003) Movie Review

Visually startling, with a haunting soundtrack that hits you right in the soul, “Wonderful Days” nevertheless falters badly when it comes to story. Narratively speaking, the South Korean animation moves well, and there are few, if any, dead spots. Running at just 85 minutes, “Days”...

October 3rd, 2003 | Read More

My Life as McDull (2001) Movie Review

If there’s one thing I can fault “My Life as McDull” for, it’s that the movie, running at a scant 70 minutes, gets perhaps a bit too somber toward the end. While there’s no doubt that the movie’s original creators (and screenwriters) Alice Mak and Brian Tse have more...

September 4th, 2003 | Read More

Finding Nemo (2003) Movie Review

Let me confess that American-made animation is not the type of thing I go out of my way to see, since most movies always seem to be adaptations of other Disney movies, only with different characters and different songs. I hate singing cartoon characters. Then Disney surprised me with “Lilo and...

August 27th, 2003 | Read More

The Animatrix (2003) Movie Review

Most of “The Animatrix”, 9 short animated episodes (about 10 minutes a piece) that takes place within the world of “The Matrix”, is superfluous. But there are three segments that have direct bearing on the world of the Matrix, not to mention acting as prelude to “The Matrix:...

June 26th, 2003 | Read More

Kite (1998) Movie Review

Yasuomi Umetsu’s one-hour animation, “Kite” (which is actually compiled from 2 25-minute episodes), suffers from what I like to call Dumb Action Movie Clich’s. DAMC is responsible for a lot of the things that makes audiences roll their eyes. “Kite”, a movie about two...

May 15th, 2003 | Read More

Black Magic M-66 (1987) Movie Review

As long as you don’t expect too much, I suppose Masamune Shirow’s 1987 effort, “Black Magic M-66″ isn’t a bad way to spend 45 minutes. At least 8 years before he would blow the world away with one of the best cyberpunk animation of all time, “Ghost in the Shell”,...

April 25th, 2003 | Read More

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) Movie Review

Even if you had absolutely no interest in animated movies of any type, Hayao Miyazaki has a way of convincing you to rethink that notion. Miyazaki’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, a 1989 feature about a 13-year old witch who sets off to find a new town to call her own with her trusty...

April 16th, 2003 | Read More

Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) Movie Review

The only reason that could possibly explain the making of “Heavy Metal 2000″ is the cult following for the 1981 original. Unlike its predecessor, “Heavy Metal 2000: F.A.K.K. 2″ uses traditional cell animation in combination with CGI, as is the trend nowadays. Similar methods of...

March 3rd, 2003 | Read More

Princess Mononoke (1997) Movie Review

I should first say that I have nothing against nature, forests, and all that other good ecological stuff. Hey, plants keep us alive, right? It just so happens that whenever someone attempts to make a movie about how nature is good and how man is inherently evil since all they want to do is destroy nature,...

November 30th, 2002 | Read More

South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999) Movie Review

Depending on where you live, you may or may not know what “Southpark” is. For the uninitiated, “Southpark” is an animated cartoon that shows on Comedy Central, a basic cable channel here in the States. It stars 3rd graders Stan, Kenny, Eric, and Kyle, kids who live in a small...

November 22nd, 2002 | Read More

Lilo and Stitch (2002) Movie Review

“Lilo and Stitch” is a new animation film from the house of the Mouse (re: Walt Disney). As such, it has all the trademarks and “touches” of the Mouse, namely manipulation of emotions, a loud soundtrack that’s been pre-planned to sell albums, and outstanding animation that...

July 2nd, 2002 | Read More

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001) Movie Review

My memory of the original Vampire Hunter D, of which Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a sequel to, is a little hazy. The original came out in 1985 and I saw it somewhere in ‘93, perhaps a few years earlier or later, and I distinctively remember that it didn’t make...

April 20th, 2002 | Read More

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Movie Review

I will first grant you that I find the main premise behind Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within to be just a little silly, with its focus on the Earth as a “living being” with a spirit and other such New Age nonsense. Then again, what did you expect going into a movie called Final Fantasy? A...

March 14th, 2002 | Read More

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998) Movie Review

A movie like Hiroyuki Okiura’s Jin-Roh is why the Japanese are considered the pioneers of animation. Over the last decade or so the shortcomings of American “cartoons” and animation have become painfully obvious when one looks at what’s coming out of Japan now — and even...

March 11th, 2002 | Read More

Waking Life (2001) Movie Review

You know how when you’re talking to someone and instead of saying what they think or feel, they recall what they’ve read that someone else has said, and recite those sayings to you, as if hoping you’ll somehow miraculously forget that they’re regurgitating someone else’s...

March 6th, 2002 | Read More

Monsters, Inc. (2001) Movie Review

I’ve never been too fond of CGI animation. Sure, I enjoyed Toy Story, Shrek, and now Monsters, Inc., but I’ve just never been overly enthusiastic about seeing them. The simple reason is that I’ve never found anything especially interesting or dynamic about watching computer blocks acting...

January 9th, 2002 | Read More

Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) Movie Review

Blood: The Last Vampire is my second Japanimation in as many days. Blood is a cinematic feature that runs just over 45 minutes long. In Japan, this would be akin to a movie-of-the-week, since animation is considered a movie art form there, not just another weekend morning cartoon show as it is here in...

January 9th, 2002 | Read More