Review of Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006) by Kaya O — 30 Nov 2011

To be honest, this film is good, but not great.

I saw it selling for £3 in HMV and thought I'd give it a watch. To be honest, it really grabbed me at first, but I'm not sure where but somewhere along the lines it faded. I will begin with the films good points.

Firstly, gorgeous graphics, you are hit by them INSTANTLY. Every crisp forest leaf is beautifully rendered, the sparkling waters, the deep blue empty skies, everything shimmers with glory and unbounded beauty. In particular, I want to bring to attention the leaf dragons, they ARE the film! The way they twist and coil, hurtling through space and glowing allsorts of yellows and greens, they are amazing. Had there been more scenes like the unforgettable beginning scene, the film may have been a great deal better. Now, as for some of the graphics they do jar a little, in particular the cumberson machines that look somewhat animalistic, and the animation itself is smooth, but I feel they could have done alot more with the character design. Everyone feels... flat... emotionless. Only in the beginning do you feel Agito's mischevous personality, but the rest of the film he's just a generic hero saving his damsel in distress.

Further criticisms are the plot itself. It's a great idea, the forest itself attacking people, but somehow the two towns attacking each other never really seem at war in any way, it just seems like the entire plot is one big misunderstanding of each other and then the villain isn't really a villain as he realises he can't hurt the forest and really, I couldn't figure out when the middle of the film started or finished.

I was looking for diffrent elements in the film to help me understand the plot better, the storyline reminded me a little of Princess Mononoke, some of the building design reminded me a lot of Laputa, castle in the sky, then I wandered if it would be like Akira with a massive earth-shattering ending and the only thing I got was... volcano on legs... what?

Okay, if the volcano had a bomb plunged into it or something maybe it would have made sense the villains madness, but legs? It just seems a bit random to me, I don't know why, but it just does. Although I suppose the moon itself hatching is a bit odd, but that was cool, but volcano on legs, seriously folks? It's not the worst ending but it just makes no sense. I quite liked some of the music within, particuarly the vocals at the beginning, very powerful, still, the film's mediocre.

Overall, glorious graphics, great dragons, mediocre characters and mediocre storyline with a crummy ending. It was worth £3, maybe £4, but I'd just watch the intro if I was you.