Review of Escaflowne: The Movie (2000) by Jeremy D — 30 Jun 2010

Escaflowne - The Movie is based on the original twenty-six-episode anime series. The story is far from being a duplicate of original, although the key elements are the same.

Unfortunately, the movie seems to depend very much on the viewer being familiar with the original characters. I suspect newcomers will be confused by the introduction of some characters for no apparent purpose and by scenes whose significance is difficult to discern without familiarity with the original Escaflowne. I imagine some will find this thought provoking, and will enjoy attempting to make sense of the movie. Most, I suspect, will simply dismiss it as a badly-written movie.

Luckily, the movie is capable of bringing a nostalgic tear to the eye of an Escaflowne fan. This is due partly to the way in which it reacquaints one with altered but familiar characters, and partly to the way in which the story builds up to a moving ending. Consequently, for this alone, I have grudgingly given it five stars...