Review of Escaflowne: The Movie (2000) by Harts C — 06 Mar 2010

I'm not sure what to make of this mess. On the one hand, it wants to pay tribute to the tv series. It keeps most of the same characters and story elements. On the other hand, it wants to tell a 12 hour story in 90 minutes, so it cuts corners and reinvents things on the fly.

Some of it works, most of it doesn't. In a lot of way, it ended feeling like Evangelion, with it's abstract cut aways, and flashbacks and flash forwards. Don't get me wrong though, there is some really cool stuff here: the animation is stellar, the score and music is unbelievable (I already bought a copy), and in many ways it's like watching your favorite show injected with a bigger, better budget.

But I missed the heart found in the series. The love here seems forced and there aren't really any truthful moments to get swept away in here. In the end, I was pretty disappointed.