Review of Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) by Ismael S — 03 Apr 2009

Resident Evil Degeneration. What is it? A standard Japanese CGI film made for an American audience with the thought of fulfilling the dreams of worldwide fans to make a film based on the video games and not something else.

We have a usual T-Virus outbreak, but this time it's at an airport and Claire Redfield happens to be on scene. The US Government sends in a top agent, Leon S. Kennedy, to deal with the problem. I don't want to say too much else about the plot, but I'll talk about it's structuring in a bit.

I'll talk about the film's quality. The animation is great, sometimes, and it is expected, you'll see an occasional flaw, or some hair and cars that just won't seem to follow the laws of physics.

There was one character that seemed like his arms were too long, but it was no longer noticable in later scenes. Despite the filmmakers stating hat they hired American actors to portray the characters so that their mouths would move with their dialouge, you'll still find that the mouths don't really match up with the corresponding mouth arrangment required to make a certain sound.

For example, when someone says the word "you", their mouth most likely looks as if they using a straw to drink something. Well in this film, you won't see that all the time. It has to be an issue with dubbing.

But I will say that the dialogue doesn't continue when the character's mouth isn't moving, and vice versa. Those were the only flaws that I could really notice, everything else was actaully pretty good.

The character's lines had some cheezyness to it, but if you know Resident Evil, this should be expected. You'll find Leon saying, "Shoot them in the head" or some extra shooting a zombie yelling "Yell you like that!?" Surprisingly, none of it was annoying.

But the voice acting was superb. Thankfully they used the same guy who voiced Leon in RE4, and that really made a difference. The character models were beautifully rendered; sometimes you'll find yourself asking, wow that looks so real.

The animation is great for the most part. There's no awkward movements, there's just the occasional moment where you can really tell this is an animated film. The sound is actually pretty good for an animated film and it met my expectations.

Now to the plot. This is basicaly like playing a game without using a controller. You have the same type of Resident Evil story, Twists, confusion, unexplained things and brutal combat. Some things I was expecting, since I've played these games, but some things had me sratching my head until the ending.

This is one of those movies that will have you talking and asking others questions at the end. "Wait what happened here?" or "I didn't get why he didn't do that." Surprisingly this is one of those movies.

Zombies aside, there's a huge sense of realism in this film, something very realistic and possible in today's time, that is driving the movie forward. I thought the story was wonderfully written, and although you didn't really need to be a RE fan to understand what was going on, it would help to know who Leon and Claire are and what has happened to them in the past.

The films hints about this, but once again, it's best if you know at least a little. Contrary to the games, this isn't really a horror film, more like an action film. The beginning is great, it rips you right into the mood for action, then it slows down for a few minutes only to pick right up where it left off.

I really liked this movie and was extremely surprised by its execution. If you don't care for animated films then stay away, Resident Evil fans will love it and fans of the films might be confused.

That's another thing, the live action films weren't bad, but they just kinda....well they sucked. The only exception was part 2, and that was because of Jill Valentine, she was eye candy. I hated the fact they killed off most of the characters from the games.

In the films, you do have some characters from the games but they are only supporting ones. Carlos has somewhat of a major role in the films, but he's almost invisible in the game. Jill disappears from the third film, and Claire is barely mentioned in the third film.

This animated film however, comes straight from the video games. Being an animated film, it's a little harder to be attached to the characters, or anything else that might seem relative, but I still think it kills the live action movies.

Just remember, if you like Resident Evil or CGI films, then watch this. You'll love it. I give it four stars.