| Metropolis | 
| List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 222 reviews)
Sales Rank: 25903
Category: DVD
Actors: Yuka Imoto, Kei Kobayashi, Kouki Okada, Jamieson Price, Go Nagai
Director: Rintaro
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Studio: Sony Pictures
Brand: Sony
Label: Sony Pictures
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Georgian (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 108 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD07796D
ISBN: 076788180X
UPC: 043396077966
EAN: 9780767881807
ASIN: B00005V4XG
Release Date: April 23, 2002
Theatrical Release Date: January 25, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Metropolis is a grand city-state populated by humans and robots the cohabitants of a strictly segmented society. Amidst the chaos created by anti-robot factions detective shunsaku ban and his sidekick ken-ichi are searching for rebel scientist dr. Laughton to arrest him and seize his latest creation. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/27/2003 Starring: Animated Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg13
Amazon.com
Adapted from Osamu Tezuka's 1949 manga, Metropolis (in Japanese with English subtitles) is an opulently beautiful film that fails to present a coherent story worthy of its extraordinary visuals. Evil Duke Red (voice by Taro Ishida) plans to rule the world from Ziggurat, his newly completed art deco tower. A new robot is being developed by his henchman Dr. Laughton (Junpei Takeguchi) to control all the machines in the world from Ziggurat. Japanese detective Shunsaku Ban (Kousei Tomita) and his nephew Kenichi (Kei Kobayashi) arrive in Metropolis in pursuit of Laughton and are plunged into Red's plot. When the duke's maniacal adopted son Rock (Kohki Okada) attacks Laughton's hidden lab, Kenichi and the waiflike android Tima (Yuka Imoto) flee into the city's subterranean slums and fall in love. Despite a protracted series of chases and violent shootouts, there's little excitement and less character development. Director Rintaro (Hayashi Shigeyuki) borrows heavily from Fritz Lang's 1926 Metropolis, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, and Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, but his staging makes much of the action hard to follow. The film takes an unintentionally hilarious turn when Ziggurat crumbles to Ray Charles's "I Can't Stop Loving You." The computer-generated skyscrapers, machines, and airships offer dazzling vistas of an overscaled and sinister deco-dystopia. But Tezuka's flat little characters, with their big eyes, round noses, and bubble-shaped feet, don't fit into that realistic three-dimensional environment. MPAA rating: PG. Contains considerable violence and grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 217 more reviews...
Ambitous, Beautiful Anime January 4, 2009
Metropolis is one of the more interesting animes I have seen, and I was very pleased that it was made.
I've gotten tired of all the self important and slow moving animes(Jin Roh), or the female friendly, melodramatic animes(take your pick) that have seemed to dominate the scene in recent times.
Not to say that Metropolis is some kind of manly gorefest(Ninja Scroll). However, despite it's childish looks(the film is designed after Tezuka's art style), the film has a mature feel to it, and never dips into melodrama.
The animation is genuinely beautiful, with a mix of 2D and 3D. The 3D looks a little dated, but still looks nice overall. The style may throw some people off. It basically has an Astro Boy look to it.
The story is well done, with a screenplay by Akira's Katsuhiro Otomo. It's basically the "man vs. robot" theme we have seen many times before, but it's executed quite well here. The characters are interesting and relatable, and the world is quite beautiful and fleshed out.
It also has a moving ending, which was quite unique, due to the odd choice of music played throughout the climax(you'll see).
Metropolis is one of the last animes that really impressed me, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves animation with a mature story, and not a bunch of melodrama and flash.
Great movie January 2, 2009
Metropolis does not go beyond the average sci fi movie, but it's enjoyable. And there's something about the style that I like. It's strange story and climax makes me want to see it again.
This film is based on Osamu Tezuka's manga November 19, 2008
Metropolis is based off of Osamu Tezuka's manga of the same name, and the film is directed by long-time Mushi Productions staff member Rintaro. The script was written by Katsuhiro Otomo, who was the creator of Akira.
Metropolis blends traditional cel animation with 3D animation, and the filmmakers did a fantastic job at melding the two animation styles. This is a case where the combination of the two animation styles really helped to define the futuristic world that is portrayed in the film. Also, when I watched the film, I could tell that Fritz Lang's classic science fiction film Metropolis had an influence on this film.
The DVD pressing I watched of Metropolis came with a second 3" DVD that contained all the special features. The first special feature on the 3" DVD is a photo gallery, which includes model sheets, a 33-minute special about the making of Metropolis, filmographies for Rintaro and Osamu Tezuka, a text-only history of Metropolis, animation comparisons, and an eight-minute interview with Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo.
Metropolis is a very well-done film, and you can tell that the animators went to great lengths to preserve Osamu Tezuka's original character designs. The soundtrack for the film (which sounds a lot like New Orleans jazz) really helps evoke a certain ambience to the film. While the city itself may look futuristic, the score and the character design evoke the "Roaring Twenties." And I think this melding of the past with the future really adds a layer to this film.
The audience who would have the greatest appreciation for the film would be older teenagers and adults. This film should really be in the DVD library of almost any anime fan.
 Cheesy and Annoying Cartoon Dystopia July 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recently did a review for this film that I had to delete. I hadn't seen the movie in years when I wrote it. After praising "Metropolis" as "one of the most visually beautiful movies ever made in the entire history of cinema. Period. Much more impressive than Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" which is the mother of all sci-fi eyeball dazzling visual extravaganzas" - I went back and watched it.
I guess the CGI and traditional animation combo really impressed me a few years ago. Lol. First off so many films have come along since that are much more impressive and secondly, while comparing this "Metropolis" to Fritz Lang's is unavoidable and not entirely without merit, it's still wrongheaded to imply the cartoon is simply superior. Wrong because it isn't superior and because the animation style of a 21st century cartoon and the visual effects of a sci-fi classic made in the 1920s are apples and oranges.
I originally said this and still agree: All sci-fi film portraits of future civilizations are compared, especially those set in all encompassing, vast, cityscapes. So, of coarse, upon seeing this film most will recall Lang's vision, which is obviously an influence here -an inspiration for central plot elements maybe more than visual style, but also "Blade Runner" and "Akira".
But there is a serious problem with the animation that has been pointed out by many reviews, just as it was when I watched the movie with friends. That of coarse is the character design. I attempted to appreciate them as perhaps throwbacks to an old 1920s style, perhaps in fitting with some of the Art Deco architectural elements as well as the terribly annoying Dixieland jazz playing throughout the movie. But they are too goofy with their round noses (well one is a giant beak), huge eyes, bulbous feet, and one dimentional appearance.
And guess what? Unfortunately the story is muddled and characters underdeveloped. Heh, how often is that the case? I'm tellin' ya brother. When it all comes together you have GOLD --You have cinematic magic-- a new classic on your hands. But when it doesn't, it just doesn't, and you can't pretend otherwise. I do dig the political intrigue and drama involved in the portrait of a corrupt plutocracy and the chaos and disaster that ensues. It's a wild, cheesy, bumpy ride.
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So, after seeing this "Metropolis" again, I liked it less. It's even more cheesy and annoying than I first recalled and the CGI infused picture less impressive. Oh, and I couldn't stand Duke Red's adopted son, Rock, at all. One of the least sympathetic little pricks I have ever seen in a movie.
Aestheticly unique. May 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
While anyone can harp about the character designs not matching up with the background, its more important to apreciate what this anime did deliver, and that would be overall aesthetic quality. I my self actualy wanted a more expanded version of Metropolis even after I finished watching it, which is more than I could say for most movies. Im aware that the manga does exist and is problaly better, but in many cases the graphic novel or novel in general is always prefered by audiences who have actualy read them. For example there are many discreptincy's between Jurassic Park and Micheal Crichton's Novel, including The Lost world. were the books as good as the movies? at least in this case not quite. The only redeming factor of the movie was the sheer aesthetic value and suspense, I have never seen anything so realistic, especialy considering how increadibly limited CG technology was back in the early 90's. Anyways if you like quality work metropolis is for you. Finaly I would like to point out that the character designs are made to look like Osamu Tezuka's characters, while he himself never wanted this particular work to become an anime for reasons unknown I still think it was a good idea to get it out there.
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