Review of Steamboy (2004) by Larry L — 23 Jan 2008

Set in 19th century England this is a Jap-Anime about a Mancunian Teenage Inventor Ray Steam. One day he receives a mysterious steam-ball sent by his grandfather. Of course other's want it and Ray ends up being kidnapped along with the ball and sent to the capital. Caught between 3 opposing sides with different ideals (2 of which are very similar) can Ray save London and more importantly his inventor Grandfather and Father.

The first thing you'll notice is that this movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The level of detail in everything is very high, not surprising when the animators spent something like 9 years animating on computers.

Bare in mind that I watched the movie in Japanese with subs so don't know if the English dub is any good. The story itself is okay although it's more about the characters and their relationships and morals than plot. Basically Ray's father has to sacrifice his ideals so he can make his greatest invention and Ray's Grandfather doesn't agree with him.

Even though it's mainly about the character's there is a lot of action in the movie especially in the last 40 mins or so when everything becomes apparent about the opposing sides and the steamballs are put to proper use.

The only problem I had with the movie is that it just ended suddenly, no come down from the action. Saying that, it did drag nearer the end and would have been better if it was a little shorter.