Review of Steamboy (2004) by Allan C — 06 Oct 2012

Nowhere as wondrous as the films of Hayao Miyazaki or even director Katsuhiro Ohtomo's own "Akira". Still, it's fun to see a wildly elaborate anime steampunk Victorian England. What's lacking though is that a majority of the film is continuous action, without anytime spent developing any of the characters or their relationships beyond the superficial level.

While "Akira" had loads of action, it didn't skimp on the character relationships and took the time to even make the villain sympathetic. This film contains no subtle nuances of that sort.

The spectacle is grand and makes the film worth watching, but it's severely lacking in any emotional depth.