[.ca] Escaflowne: The Movie

Additional Features:
The "Extras" disc includes brief interviews with director Kazuki Akane, composer Yoko Kanno, voice actress/singer Maaya Sakamoto, English voice actress Kelly Sheridan (Hitomi), and three of the film's producers. Most of the subjects limit their remarks to "we tried to do our best, we hope you like the film." But one really spontaneous moment occurs when Kanno turns to Akane and tells the interviewer, "He's an inarticulate person; he puts into the project whatever he does not say face-to-face in real life." The footage of the first U.S. screening at the 2000 Anime Expo in Anaheim, California, and of a Korean/Japanese preview in Fukoka is awkwardly shot. On the CD of Kanno's eclectic score, the Carmina Burana-esque theme song from the TV series occurs near the end as "Dance of Curse II." This nicely packaged set is for hard-core Escaflowne fans, rather than general viewers. --Charles Solomon

Sweeping anime epic (Minor spoilers):
This movie was great. I loved every minute of it. Being a huge fan of the tv series, I was looking forward to seeing this movie and was not disappointed. The movie differs largely from the tv series in that it is darker, more brooding, and is, in my opinion, more realistic. The inner turmoil of the characters is explored more fully here, and the "cuteness" of the tv series is overplayed with the more gruesome reality of sorrow, war and hate. Folken's character probably changes the most, as he is completely evil and his only goal is to kill Van and control Escaflowne (whereas in the series he still cared for Van). And I have to admit that after seeing the series (in which I was always waiting for Dilandau to get his come-uppance), I enjoyed watching Dilandau get blasted by Folken a couple of times in the movie. I did notice some similarties and common themes when compared with the tv show. For example, the same voice actors are used, which I was very glad to see because it made the story flow better (at least for me). There are also some scenes that look exactly like the series, such as when Van sprouts wings and saves Hitomi from falling, and when the Escaflowne goes black, submerging Van into a spirit world where Hitomi has to travel in order to save him. The ending was similar too, although instead of Hitomi rising up into a beam of light to return to Earth, she sprouts imaginary wings and then just disappears from Van's sight. It was a nice ending to the movie and once again, left me wanting more. Escaflowne 2 anyone?

Pretty good:
I think the movie is a pretty good condensed version of the anime series. True, it doesn't touch so much on the supporting characters, but it keeps to the main story line. You can watch and follow the movie without having seen the original anime series (I do recommend you watch the series, i.e., the unedited version of 26 episodes). The anime art and music is exquisite.

Gold + Gold = ....:
No, the title is correct. How somebody could go wrong mixing the character and story from the Escaflwone TV series with award winning animators is simply beyond me. The movie is pretty terrible, really. Extremely rushed with little plot explanation, and seemingly no direction for a good 30 minutes worth. The only saving graces of this "Ultimate" Edition are the art box, booklet, and Yoko Kanno OST included in it. If you pick this up just for those, you could probably toss the actual film and the extras disc and be happy enough.

Don't expect follow-up of series. Expect much more & like it:
I saw the trailer at th officical site, and could tell right away it wasn't going to follow the series, but I could tell it was going to be good. Therefore, when I saw it at Blockbuster, I rented on the spot. I got what I expected and much, much more. I'm sure fellow animé enthusiasts who saw it would agree. Highly reccomended.

Not as good as series:
I have to say, this movie is a great movie, but don't expect it to be like the series. I was a little dissapointed in how it lacked in details about the actual characters. There was more focus on themes of war and hatred. I myself liked how the series provided more details about the dynamics between the characters and emphasized their personalities. Overall, not a bad movie, but no comparison to the series!