Steamboy

I grew around steam and I loved it, the art has to be some of my most favorite steampunk-esque work done to date, it feels grounded and yet I know it's not real. Loved the Alterative history about it, and I'm a big fan of "what if's?" and so forth I also like the fact that it looks and feels like victorian england, the arcitecture of the streets and stations feel like the UK hecc the trains look and sound like they were there (I could name some of the engines that looked like desgins lifted off the Midland railway) which I applaud, Ok yeah some of the English voice dubs are grating but I can deal with them..

Fantastic art, beautifully rendered animations that feel very fluid. For a movie titled "Steamboy" I strongly expected steam punk aesthetics throughout the movie and was met higher than my expectations. Character designs and artwork regarding its historical setting was contextually very accurate, and made for a very swift immersion for audiences into the world and beginning of the plot. Easily the strongest aspect of enjoy-ability from this movie. The several chase and action scenes of the movie involving lots and lots of Steam powered machinery was very fun. Most flaws lie in the writing of this movie, and it is rare for me to rate a movie above a 5 with lacking writing as it is arguably the heart of any movie. Firstly, the introduction, usage, and portrayal of the MacGuffin of the movie, the Steam Ball - was very uninspired and bland. The movie never really goes into the whys and hows of the Steam Ball, which would've made it more interesting/easier for audiences to consciously care about. However its just shrugged off as this "important thing" which has insane amounts of steam power and is juggled between the several parties for the remainder of the film. It's very easy for writers to use any form of MacGuffin as a shortcut to avoid detailed exposition, but the Steam Ball was a clear example of how NOT to use it. Scarlett's role, in the context of the story is very VERY important. As a literary character in the movie however, was severely lacking. She didn't really serve a purpose and fell into the sad trap hole of forgettable supporting female characters. The Steamboy himself. I felt as though his most important scenes were all done and dusted by the starting half of the film, and towards the end he simply served as a "fetchboy" of the Steam Ball without having any influence whatsoever in the events that occurred, despite the heavy foreshadowing and possible implications. Of course him carrying the Steam Ball around and stopping the antagonistic powers of the movie from abusing it was what he ultimately did, BUT it doesn't mean that the way he did it was interesting or clever. An enjoyable movie for first time watchers, and the animation and art throughout is very satisfying to the eyes. People who love steampunk will really enjoy this film. People who don't like steampunk, will still gain interest through this film. However, the aforementioned flaws are too apparent to enjoy this movie for a second or third time. Final Wording: GEARLTY PLEASURE

I love steam punk stuff. I love Victorian England. So, when a legend like Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of "Akira", does a film based on that subject in that setting- you get "Steamboy". Yet, with all that going for it, it does good but falls short of greatness. The storyline is generic. You get a boy genius, family conflict (involving 3 generations), actual conflict with steam punk technology, and off we go on our journey where it's up to our boy genius to save the day! It serves the film fine, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. Good not great. The art is wonderful and it puts you right in the middle of 1890s England with the coal smoke, the buildings, the trains, and then kicks it up a notch with some of that neat weird science that goes along with the steam punk genre. But, nothing I saw wowed me. Generic coolness. Good not great. The sound effects are really good and the soundtrack by Steve Jablonsky (famous for the "Transformers" films amongst other things) is one of the better ones to grace an Anime film. Sub vs. Dub? Because it takes place in England it makes more sense to watch it in English and when you add three mainstream actors like Alfred Molina, Patrick Stewart, and Academy Award winner Anna Paquin in the lead, it makes it a no-contest in favor of the English cast. Dr. Octopus, Professor X, and Rogue? How cool is that?!?! But, having them play pretty generic characters like a boy genius, like a mad scientist, like the old man warning against the dangers of certain applications of technology, makes it a waste of their talent. Good not great. Outstanding cast and director aside, it's an above average Anime film. The visuals give us some cool moments. The story does move well. But, with so much going for it, you expect a lot more than what you end up with. I had a lot of fun watching this, but I expected a lot more. Once again and finally, good not great. Cheers!

I saw the Director's Cut of Steamboy recently, which had me reevaluate the movie more positively than I had in the past. Not that much more positively, mind you. Steamboy is, if the title didn't already imply, a Victorian England Steampunk movie. I have no hate against Steampunk, but no love for it either, and Steamboy, I feel, falls flat on the premise of having awesome steam-powered machines fueling the action. They're there, but only on a small scale. The premise of Steamboy is that two famous father-son inventors have discovered a marvelous steam-powered machine part which will change the future of mankind. The grandson gets involved in the plot, thinking that his father is dead, and his grandfather has entrusted to him the most prized of their proprietary inventions: the Steamball. Steamboy does a few things right, but far many more things wrong. The O'Hara foundation, who is funding the Steam family's research, is interested in harnessing the power for weapons of war. Their English opposition, on the other hand... is... also, interested in harvesting the power for weapons of war? Taking place in 1866 England, the American Civil War has already passed, so not only does and English vs. American war seem out of place, but the idea of warmongering for either country seems mismatched. This isn't really a fault of the movie, though, since the ideas are much more generalized: should science be used to advance the military prowess of powerful countries, or not? Does humanity suffer from the advancement of military technologies, or does it merely allow the most powerful countries to assert their culture as the proper and right culture and enforce their beliefs onto the less powerful, or does the creation of man-annihilating machines simply allow the powerful to decimate their opposition? Unfortunately, Steamboy only dwells on this issue for about 15 minutes of the two hour runtime. The majority of the film revolves around the grandfather-father-son dillema of who is right - the crazed father or the righteous grandfather? This conflict could have been more dynamic, as we see in earlier scenes that the father has been writing home consistently even though it's been censored by his company, but later on it's revealed that he's insane anyway, so the point becomes moot. The movie does try to stick it to the industrial-military complex at points, but this seems mostly childish, as evidences by the main proprietor / opposer of those ideas, namingly, the spoiled O'Hara child. Steamboy could have succeeded on a philosophical and emotional level, but it wraps itself too much around the conflict of the ridiculous situation at stake: a giant steam-powered floating island which is about to crash into London. Considering that I haven't heard about the "great crashing of the steam castle into London" in history books, I can't say I was too intrigued by what the outcome was going to be. There is definite potential in Steamboy if you're a fan of the Steampunk genre, but don't expect more than is on the surface.

My Family Is Full Of Steam Steamboy Is the movie with a lot of energy, just like a steam engine, but it gets lost in its themes and animated spectacle. The anime is absolutely master fully animated. has some amazing backgrounds and steampunk technical design. character design is also distinct and really wall animated, with some weight behind every motion. Where it suffers ultimately is in its pacing. It's action segments Just go on for way too long, so it becomes tiring instead of energidrik. It feels like a way too big story, slim down to 2 hours, and it is jarring. That's what a noise me about the movie. It has such a great potential behind it, but it's just lost in the steam. But it's such a unique mess with such great themes behind, it so I will recommend it.

This is such an eyegasm. peak animations of the era. Not to mention, the one behind Akira is the one making this. Steamboy is such a marvel of animation. ..and only in animation. In contrary, The writing didn't help to elevate the film. The writing is mediocre. I really hate how repetitive the dialogue could get. Heck, i wish i could edit the film so Scarlet doesn't appear in the film. If i cut her out, the film would stay the same. Every time she appears in the film (expect when with Ray), she's like a fly who suddenly appears in front of us. I guess this movie was going to be an OVA series, they decided to expand it into the film. I think it didn't help it spread the plot thin, making it simple (or even cut things, as seen in the epilogue in the credits. a sequel we never get :( ) All and all, it's still a good film. I give a 7/10.

Animation is consistently good/amazing, has some fascinating ideas and approaches the morals over technology, though maybe it could use more. The movie is mostly action and the characters are mostly meh, not having much to them-rather being there as puppets to play/make the story happen. This is all steampunk style so if you like steampunk and engineering, id say this is a pretty good fantasy-like story. Its exciting, full of action, and fun to watch. I do like the steampunk style, although it is not my favorite I still enjoyed watching this movie, but I dont think Ill rewatch it. I would mostly recommend this to anyone who has interest in steampunk engineering fantasy worlds. The animation does not disappoint, and the overall execution feels alright-mostly glancing over at exciting, action based moments. Overall depth of the story is.. lacking as I mentioned earlier with its characters. I rated it a 8 because it was exhilarating to watch and I was blown away by the animation and its ideas using technology. But it probably is more reasonable to rate it a 7.

The good first. The cgi and animation hold up almost 20 years later. It really is a beautifully shot and designed movie. The compositing basically seamless and the effects animation is gorgeous and had me gasping as you can feel the weight of giant machines fly and fall apart. This all pains me to rate this movie so low given the technical prowess. The Bad. Everything else. The story, the plot is mid, the pacing is slow. There are no redeeming characters, they are all frustratingly incompetent and either terrible humans or too stupid to still be alive. There are several scenes where our hero is cornered and the villains take 20 secs to walk 10ft to snatch them, giving the hero enough time to come up with a way out. Motivations are confusing and the message is clunky. SPOILERS? Nobody gets what they deserve besides a few goons. The main bad dude gets to walk away after destroying millions of lives. Scarlett, the blonde, dog beating, capitalist hell spawn never had a redeemable moment, despite her suppose to be the love interest. She's dumb as rocks and doesn't realize that her company is building weapons of war despite living in the weapon castle and having free travel around it. She beats her dog and nobody calls her out for it and never atoned.

This is the perfect steampunk anime movie, for sure. The visuals are great. The story is filled with exciting 2h of watch time. It felt like I was in the Victorian era, everything, from the colors to the movement, was thoroughly thought out. Also the characters were realistic and I cared a lot about the villans and the good characters too. I would definitely rewatch this movie. I liked the message about capitalism and the working class, as well as the themes of helping humanity, for better or worse. I can also recommend this movie for kids around the age of 10, as well as for adults, it’s the perfect mix.

Steamboy was a frustrating watch to be honest. This has been on my list for such a long time with me waiting for the right moment to watch it. Well, I finally watched it and as above, it was frustrating. Here is why Starting with the animation. I can't say a bad word here. It was, to be honest, flawless. It's a beautifully animated steampunk world. This might be the finished example of steampunk in animation I have ever seen. The animation inside of the steam castle, at times, blows you away. At best it's either making you watch in awe or at worst making you watching still in awe just to a lesser extent. It's excellent. It's a 10/10 Music I thought was practically non existent. I'm likely completely incorrect but I just came aware remembering nothing of the music. I'm aware this film had a rather high budget and is one of the most expensive anime films of all time. I am now also aware all of this budget went on animation. Now, I'm not saying there weren't any music, of course there was, but I remember none of it, I can't even remember a single note I heard. So, this means I'm giving the music a 3/10 I believe from googling, that this film cost $22m to make. That is a significant amount of money, even today. That $22m definitely provided unbelievable animation. Turns out though, doesn't matter how much you spend, it doesn't mean you'll get a good score and a good script. This is a 2h film and it felt quite rushed. There is very little character development and Ray flops around aimlessly as to who he wishes to align to with the smallest amount of supporting evidence. The characters are all a little bit annoying. I actually watched the dub and sub and let me tell you. Regarding the dub, I'm from Yorkshire, for those of you that don't know, that is connected to Lancashire (knobs) anyway, in the dub, there are attempts at regional accents as the main characters are either from Yorkshire or Lancashire. At first, I was quite happy but the more the film past the more these regional accents attempts started to sound like soulless AI. The script is garbage in both but my god is the dub terrible. It honestly becomes insufferable. As for the actual story well, there's just nothing to it really. There's steam, there's weapons and there are people that want to win this weird war that isn't explained. There are just people fighting against each other and it's all really odd to be honest. 4/10 Well, in summary, for me this $22m anime gets a very well deserved 5/10. Meanwhile, we have Fog Hill that was originally made by 6 people....... Enough said I guess.

ART: I felt like I was seeing a Disney animation, 100 Dalmatians. The details behind every gear must have made the animators spend a lot of time. The scenes inside the moving tower, with those elaborate doorways, full of gears, deserve a 10. I liked the camera following the characters like a dolly rather than the usual right-left transitions SCRIPT: 1866 quarrel between father and son, two scientists with different ideas. On the one hand, science seen as progress for the well-being of humanity, on the other, science used as the destruction of the enemy for a utopian equality of the human species. Who will be able to put an end to this quarrel?... The nephew. The future of the world in the hands of young people is what I have always believed in, and still believe in. Those who watch anime should feel like heroes of their own lives, like Ray, even if I think this anime didn't convey this message in the best possible way. It's not inspiring enough.