Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Appleseed, 6 Jun 2008
The first thing I noticed about this DVD was the amazing packaging. The 2-disc collectors edition comes in a nice steel case and comes with a small Appleseed comic book. Annoyingly the comic book doesn't fit inside the case, leaving it a bit lost, but still a nice addition all the same.
Having seen and loved the Ghost in the Shell series, I had been meaning to see the Appleseed movies for a while, but never got round to it. But after reading a rave review in a magazine, I decided to give it a shot. The animation is absolutely top-notch, and the level of detail is simply breathtaking. I often found myself saying "wow" at some of the usually most simple things. The character development is lacking in depth a bit, due to the fact that this is the second movie in the series. However, I haven't seen the first movie, and I didn't find that it was a major problem. The film was easy to get into, and the story is deep and practical. The whole idea of a utopia in which robots are treated as equals with the humans, but lack emotions is very interesting.
The voice overs are wonderfully done. The emotion and atmosphere is brought across really well in the voices, and they fit superbly with the characters. The music is also beautiful. Some wonderful orchestral pieces, and some electronic up-beat moments too, which works well with the mechanical "tech" feel of the film.
Overall, I thought the film was excellent, and highly enjoyable. I recommend it to anyone interested in Anime, especially the Ghost in the Shell series, because it does have slight similarities in style and presentation. Expect to be amazed.
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9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Destroyed a Great Story and No Original Sound Track, 28 Jun 2008
First off, where's the Japanese audio, in this day and age it's unbelievable that only English and German audio tracks are offered for a Japanese movie.
Secondly, the CGI at first looks fine, but they concentrate too much on small details, such as shell casings hitting the ground and earings moving in the breeze. Shame they could not have put the same level of work in to the faces, which are static and feel like a 2-D mapping moved round an oval, like in a computer game from 10 years back. Also the eyes look like those painted on a doll, with as much emotion.
Next they have changed the characters, as much as you can tell anyhow as there's no background supplied (in the original manga, which is 4 or 5 volumes long, there is a lot of detail), plus Dunen is now no longer half-cast, something which was actually important (I believe she was the first non-white/Japanese hero in a Japanese manga).
As to the story. Thin, obvious, key plot parts spoon fed early on. There's little suspence, little plot, and frankily most the action scenes look like John Woo has spent far too much time watching the first and third matrix movies.
If you're not seen the original movie, the CGI remake from 2004, or read the manga, then you may actually like this, however if you have then you will be deeply dissapointed.
In fact if you are in to manga or anime then the originals are a must and I know available from here.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
No OV!, 6 Jul 2008
First of all, greatly disappointed it did not come with Original Version as 99% of Anime DVD's and it was not clearly indicated on the website. I feel I just wasted my money.
Then I find incredibly dodgy the fact my DVD's mention "For Rental or Resale", but to be honest, reselling is what I want to do right now.
The action scenes and choreographies scream John Woo all around. I guess expected baring in mind he is involved on the film. Myself, I felt I was looking at certain point at some smart-ass cowboy movie with "witty" lines all the time from the main characters. At some point I felt Briareos was some sort of Han Solo having with Leia a "-I love you -I know".
In Ghost in the Shell, both movies and series, I always felt the feelings/relationships were always restrained and just insinuated or unspoken. However, this film I find it rather cheesy. But that might be because I watched it with the English dubbing, and a lot of times, English dubs "Americanise" characters and stories. Hopefully I'll be able to find a Japanese audio release with subs and maybe it is not that bad.
But for today, I'm disappointed.
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