Steamboy (2004, Katsuhiro Ôtomo)

Okay, this super-production may not be the best Asian animated film out-there, but it is a remarkable achievement nevertheless. It takes off and flies high (no pun intended) mainly because director Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s sensibilities always work amazingly well when the project at hand requires the director to be both a visionary and an entertainer. Ôtomo and his crew have created such a comprehensively enchanting and exhilarating film that all my senses were screaming with approval. Much of the brilliance of the film has to do with its worshiping of details. The production design is simply astonishing. Ôtomo pays homage to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. In fact, there are countless of jokes regarding the Victorian era. The narrative has the simplicity of an old-fashioned adventure tale; the good guys are easy to love and the bad guys are easy to dislike. It’s a lot of fun.

~ by gelpi2008 on Monday, June 15, 2009.