Customer Reviews

Sky Blue (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As alot of the other reviews say the animation in sky blue is flawless,the detail is breathtaking(see the bikes in the mist scenes).I Also think the plot and storyline although slow burning at times held me captivated throughout,it is not as complex as somthing like "akira" but it is deeper and more powerfull than "Appleseed"(both films of which im a big fan).The soundtrack was both powerfull and moving,using many stles of music throughout.(want to find it on cd)I have watched this anime several times in the last few months and i enjoy it more and more each time as i notice more detail in the animation and the storyline.Its a film that i have been proud to share with friends that arent anime fans...all have enjoyed and some have even bought it for themselves!I have yet to find another Anime that mathes this in both its animation and story!A must see for all anime fans new or old!

I had heard about this film years ago under it's original title "Wonderful Days" and kept an eye on it waiting ages for it's UK release. For the English speaking market the title changed to Sky Blue for some silly reason. It was released in UK cinema's but it must have been a select few screens - none of my locals were showing it!
I was patient enough to wait for the fully fledged UK DVD release. The movie was re-editied and given a new soundtrack for the English speaking audience. A fine job done, too!

The other reviews are correct - this film looks absolutely fantastic. The option of using a hybrid of 3D and 2D animation works a treat. It's taken something like 5 to 7 years to produce this movie. Time well spent in the beauty department!

The plot on the other hand starts off quite promising, building pretty well, but the ending is somewhat disappointing. It left me feeling quite empty, as the film hadn't really explained why the characters took the actions they did in the films climax.
I felt a little bemused, wondering if production funds were cut short causing a sudden need to hurridly end film-making, or whether it the Korean's were creating a typically Japanese climax causing you to think long after the movie credits rolled by. (If it's the latter, they failed miserably.)

Fans of animated flicks will enjoy and drool over the visuals, probably not caring too much for the plot, and loving it all the way through. The standard film buff will probably be disappointed by the weak plot and not care too much for the animation style, classing it as eye candy. As mentioned the animation is flawless, but the plot obviously holds it all together - it does do this well until 2/3's of the way through where things crumble somewhat.

In my honest opinion, this is probably just a suitable purchase for animations fans. It's nowhere near as good as Akira (plot is weaker, but it potentially looks far greater), but it's is definitely no weaker than Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
The average film buff would get bored and probably only watch it once and forget about it, prefering to stick with Disney.
Depending on which category you fall into, I think I've given you a straight answer.

Having said that the Korean's have done a great job but let themslves down with the ending. However, they should definitely do something again as they truly could take the reign from Japan! I look forward to checking that potential soon!

This is a great film, beautifully imagined and animated. It would have been good to see the human characters rendered in the same way as the fantastic scenery, but the hand drawn animation does work well.

It is a pity that the film contains such graphic violence as I'm sure my 9 year old would have loved it.

Over all though recommended viewing - well worth a rental.

SKY BLUE is the first UMD movie I've bought, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It's a Korean movie, a beautiful (if initially peculiar) mixture of futuristic CGI imagery and traditional animation.

The story focuses on social imbalance, with the safe and idyllic lifestyle of the HAVES being facilitated by the hazardous work of the HAVE NOTS. Into this mix throw a heroic revolutionary figure trying to level the playing field, his beautiful lost love, her ambiguous boyfriend, and an evil grafter trying to maintain the status quo, and you've got a good tale for the telling. The pace is fast, the characters well formed, and it's gorgeous to look at. I'd heartily recommend it!

From a technical point of view, the movie looks terrific on the PDP screen, it's a vibrant and crystal clear transfer to UMD. Special features are lacking, but as a newcomber to UMD movies I'm not sure if they're typical in most offerings so I've not let that affect my rating.

FOUR STARS!

Unfortunately this Blu-ray release tried to cram the movie, a Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA track onto a BD25 and the result is excessive banding in the image.

The film Sky Blue is in my book a real masterpiece of animation; visually stunning, with an interesting storyline that manages to include a romantic element without swamping the action. The music is beautiful. I had the dvd, and loved it. Upgrading to blu ray was my mistake. The blu ray version doesn't look anything like as good as the dvd, for some reason; scenes that simply blew me away on the dvd were reduced to just 'pretty good' on blu ray. Watched on the same HD tv, with the same HDMI input, and the same Sony blu ray player, the only difference was the format itself, and it just hasn't enhanced the film. On top of which the dvd extras had almost all vanished, and there was not even an option to watch the film in the original Korean with English subtitles. If I were you I'd go for the dvd 2 disc edition, because this was a letdown.

I checked this out on here since I was curious what other people had though of it. I've owned this myself for months and I have to say I consider it a top drawer film. The combination of animated characters and CG works great, with only one or two places I can think of where they didn't quite mesh. The story has a great deal of depth, and the charaters are wonderfully developed with some interesting twists. I'd definitely recommend getting this.

Yes the animation is better than the cliched plot, but you could say Star Wars had a cliched plot and not hear any fans disagree. The fusion of 2D and 3D effects is very very good and similar to Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig or 'Innocence'. The DTS sound is spot on and all in all I found this a very entertaining film.

I enjoyed watching Wonderful Days many years ago and eagerly awaited the UK release, I first got let down by the name change, but then, the English dub only audio tracks really killed it off for me. The dubbing is bland, doesn't give the characters any life to them and are somewhat dull to the ear.

The animation is superb in this movie, with it's very well done blend of 2D and 3D, it is an absolute visual treat and a good movie to have in your collection just for it.

The rest of the first disc is very empty, with just one featurette, though with the disappointment of the release as a whole, I just don't care!

In short, it's best to avoid picking up this disc and look to another countries release, one that has the Corean language along with English subtitles, the movie will make more sense as well.

Got this for my sister fo x-mas...very dissapointing. The plot is dull as are the cast. The plot seems a mix of already done moments from hollywood and japanese anime. For something that took 7 years the end result is a sometimes beautiful but dull work with the most annoying child character ever who really should have died violently.

In the end the hand drawn animation looks like the current crop of US animation, by that I mean attempting to look like anime. The mix of CGI, live action and hand drawn digital characters often fails to blend together. GITS 2: Innocence does this and that didn't take 7 years!! Why it as been billed as Akira for the 21st century I don't know? Elements of Sky Blue seem to try and copy from GITS, Akira and even the matrix (i.e the wooden acting of the leading man) but the whole film comes accross as (as other have have said) a practice of style over substance, something. A problem which also plagued GITS:2, however Oshii's work maintained momentum and my attention.

Sky Blue is not a bad film but for the time and effort put into it and its position as the beacon of korean animation, it lacks to beauty of classic anime - Akira and the mind boggling, griping,to all out fun and weird aspects of the work found in japanes animation.