CULT DVD Review

Remember Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within? No? Neither do I. Well, I do remember thinking that the animation was really cold and that the story was very dull. Unfortunately this latest release edges dangerously close to that same level of blandness.

I’m not particularly a fan of rotoscoping animation (where actors are filmed and then animators draw over them) as it often looks a bit weird for my liking. It might work in something like Richard Linklater’s Waking Life where the surreal quality adds to the style of the film, but it’s hard to go for naturalism when the characters look like they are under a thin layer of jelly.

This is not to say that the animation on this latest Manga release isn’t pretty because occasionally it certainly is. The feature contains two short films, Symbiotic Planet and Elliptical Orbit, and they are based on a manga series. Both are set in a not too distant future where space travel is commonplace. The first tells the tale of a government spaceship who comes under attack from space pirates soon after they have taken on board another group of travellers. The second tells of two families who are at odds with each other on a planet that contains strange fungus like creations.

The first story has an intriguing gimmick for the two central characters (they may or may not be lovers but she’s been cryogenically frozen for a large number of years and he’s aged) but beyond that there isn’t much going on. When the space pirates attack it might look impressive but the villains are totally useless and the threat doesn’t come across as anything worth getting worked up about. At one point they don’t even bother to show you how a room full of bad guys end up losing their guns to the good guys.

The second story is much more successful and plays out like a Romeo & Juliet in space and the threat of the alien fungus on the human form is nicely played out. Here the animation looks great because we aren’t stuck on board space shuttles. This piece also has a nice message of peace underlying it. May have all been done before but it’s good enough.

What both features lack is a proper running time to develop the themes within them or do more than skim the surface of the characters (there is of course room to fit in the obligatory naked woman shot). They both run between 30 and 40 minutes and I would say they both could have done with an extra half an hour to make more impact. As they stand, they seem more like pilots for a TV series rather than a proper feature.

Extras:

Interviews with the director and stars: The two actors from the first story are irritating as hell - how do you manage to come across as pretentious and thick in such a short time? But the interviews with the very excited younger stars from the second story is a bit better. The director has some interesting notes on Hollywood, Hayao Miyazaki and Star Wars (he basically admits to ripping it off with the shot of the mothership).

Trailers and TV spots: Which, tellingly, do not feature any of the animated characters, just locations and spaceships.

FEATURE: 64%

EXTRAS: 15%

OVERALL: 48%

Stewart McLaren