Rating: 
Summary: Art Overcomes the Commonplace
Review: Escaflowne: The Movie is an example of how individual producers and performers can overcome the limitations of a genre. The story, which varies greatly from that of the television series, actually features a degree of originality. Scenes involving the over-sized "robot" battle suits are kept to a bare minimum, thereby making what is seen of them much more effective. The voice work by the Japanese performers is among the best you will find in anime. The English track, as usual, hurts the film badly, as the rhythms of English simply do not fit with the rhythms of the film, particularly in this case.There are visual moments in Escaflowne which also transcend the limitations of anime. It is true that the story is marred by the visual inclusion of the "cute" and decidedly comic-book minor characters that so often keep anime in the realm of children's films. And too much of it is rather static. But there are also scenes of great visual beauty and innovative technique. Somewhere inside the people who made this film is another Princess Mononoke. Perhaps the best aspect of this film is its score: a full, richly-toned orchestral suite. The inclusion in this three-disc boxed set of a CD containing the score is a definite plus. The score of Escaflowne is, bar none, the best done for an anime film...and deserving of far more attention than it is likely to get. The second disc is "exras"...some interviews with the three principal Japanese voice actors (fun but not very interesting, really); some moments with the producer, the composer, and the director (who seems almost unable to speak when he is around other people); and lots of details about design and planning and production that will be of enormous interest to anime devotees but are quite boring to everyone else. In brief: Escaflowne is a superior anime with a brilliant score, and this boxed set of three discs is a good value.
Rating: 
Summary: escaflowne movie kicks ...
Review: Magical girls... Seers... Dashing knights... Shirtless bishies(guys)... And our favorite pyromaniac! Welcome to Escaflowne! Yes, the movie is way different from the anime series(which, btw, is also :really: good), but it is supposed to be a completely different interpretation. It's a stunning retelling and I just :had: to get the Japanese version. For those of you die-hard otakus (or even if you aren't an otaku) who don't know Japanese, get this version of the Escaflowne movie. Go buy it. Now.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning re-telling
Review: The best advice to give anyone seeing this movie who is a die-hard fan of the series is to let the series go for an hour and 40 minutes. For those of you who are not familiar with the movie, it is not a sequel or a prequel. It is more of an alternate telling of the Escaflowne story. The story cannot possibly maintain all of the plot lines of the series (which is about 13 hours in total). However the themes remain the same: lonliness, friendship, honor, love, family, and redemption are all integral parts of both the movie and series. Some of the key characters had to be omitted for brevity's sake and it is my opinion that this was a wise decision. It stripped down the plot and concentrated on the development of Van and Hitomi's relationship (for details read the amazon.com editorial review). Now, I haven't seen the American DVD release but I do own the Japanese limited edition DVD. I also saw it both dubbed and subbed in the theater. The dub (both translation and voice acting) is a bit of a dissapointment. Although the voice acting is improved from the series dub it still pales in comparison to the Japanese cast and I just didn't feel that the intensity of the on screen situations was conveyed well. The animation is superb, some of the best I've ever seen in an animated feature film (that's all animation not just anime). To top it all off, Yoko Kanno does another breathtaking job with the score. So please, when watching this movie, sit back, relax, and enjoy one of the best films I've seen in recent years - and by all means watch it in Japanese!
Rating:
Summary: the only thing that tops escaflowne is the movie
Review: i've already seen the escaflowne movie and i've been waiting for this ultimate addition to come out for some time now. Let me just tell you that if you like escaflowne - than you'll really love the movie! This limited addition is worth every penny! A great movie, plus amazing music by kanno yoko and an extra cd full of bonus material will please any anime fan! a definate must-have. the animation is amazing and the voice-acting is supurb! Go on! Buy it now! ^.^ ...
Rating: 
Summary: Horribly disappointing
Review: I shouldn't have been surprised to be terribly disappointed in the Escaflowne movie. I absolutely loved the animation style and the new music created for the movie. The effects of both were spoiled by the horrid translations, dubbing, and the disjointed feel to the story. A few hardcore, anime-loving friends watched it with me...ones unfamiliar with the entire television series. They understood the basic premise of the story, and still had trouble following the storyline. Even walking into the theatre knowing how vastly different the movie was from the series couldn't save it for me. I was embarassed to have hyped the movie up beforehand.
Rating:
Summary: Justice to the series
Review: To start, I have not actually seen the DVD of this movie, but I did see the movie at Fantasia in Montreal last year and it was spectacular. It put the intensity of the entire series into a single feature length movie.
For those who have seen the series, you will find that they were liberal in their adaption of the characters for a shorter feature, eliminating some all together, but stayed true to the spirit and essence of the series characters. Not as touchy-feely as the series, the movie holds a balance of the elements the series displayed, allowing each to surface at the right time for it. And for those who don't know the series, this will make you want to see it.
My strongest congratulations go to Jôji Nakata, for sucessfully combining a series worth of story into one highly entertaining, action packed and intesive movie. I enjoyed it so much, that I have been keeping my eye out for the DVD for almost a year.
Rating: 
Summary: my views on the import version.
Review: ... i've known about this movie for a while now. it was one of three anime movies that were nominated for the best animated feature this year, but i couldn't find it anywhere. i figured it might not have been popular enough to get a u.s release, so i ordered the import on [an auction site] for a [price]. i already own the 8 discs that comprise the t.v. series as well. today i recieved a mailer from bandai about a movie screening in my city of boston and of the upcoming box set of all 9 dvd's and of this 3 disc set of "a girl in giya". now i watched the movie in the original japanese with english sub-titles and from the previews on the official web-site, this release will be in english as well. this movie is good if you've never watched the series before. it only loosly follows the same lines. i found it hard to accept some of the things that occured, since i have the series almost memorized. none of the characters look too similar, vahn's name is bahm, everyone rides horses, there's no levi-ships, alan's vessel is a giant boat-looking thing being pulled by giant oxen, the evil empire's giant floating fortresses are now hot-air ballons, and theres only two gymeliths in existance in this feature. one of my favorite things about the series is the outstanding art-work put into the giant battle-suit fight sequences. and how escaflowne is unstopable and an inseperable part of vahn. this release however, only has the two machines, escaflowne itself is only present maybe 7 minutes, and their only fight lasts less than 5 minutes. i guess the basics of my review would be, if you know the series don't expect to see anything too familiar here. the series was definetly better than the movie. i would suggest buying the limited edition box set that will have all 8 of the series dvd's as well as this movie, if you don't own them already.that seems like a really good deal. I'm hard pressed to buy this set though. maybe after i go see it in the theater i will feel differently about it and change this review.
Rating:
Summary: Very cool
Review: I loved the escaflowne movie!! I had never seen the series before, but it was still quite easy to understand. It started off a bit slow, but once things started rolling it was great. Music is by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop) so you cant expect anything bad coming from the music department. The movie has some cool swordfighting scenes and mecha fight scenes, and the story was overall enjoyable. I would recommend seeing where this movie is showing, and if its coming to your town, see it!
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not great
Review: When I discovered that a little hole-in-the-wall theater near me was playing the "Escaflowne" movie, I rushed to go see it. In hindsight, I'd just as soon have waited for it on DVD. It's not that there was anything particularly BAD about the movie, it's just that there was nothing particularly GOOD about it either. Quite frankly, there just wasn't much to write home about. Sorcery, sword fights, a chosen one, warring clans, mobile suit (oops, I mean guymelef) battles...they're all there, but nothing really stands out about them. The movie is a remake of the television series, with a lot of twists and turns in it. Here, instead of being the king of a ruined country, Van travels with a band called the Abaharaki, made up of the survivors of the Black Dragon Clan. He is savage and feral here, and his brutal slaughter of the bad guys in the first few minutes of the movie is a highlight. Hitomi, instead of the outgoing track star from the TV show, is now perpetually depressed and unhappy. Think Shinji Ikari from "Eva". Allen is as cool as ever, and Merle remains pretty much the same. Millerna...well...she doesn't wear as much in the movie, looking more like Xena than a regular princess. Dilandau is as annoying as ever, but thankfully the 2-hour time limit cuts down on the amount of boring speeches we hear from Folken. Those are really the main differences. None of them are so jarring as to make the characters unrecognizable, but then again, they don't really add anything new, either. The movie does have some high points, though. Van slicing his way through bad guys like a wood chipper, Allen and Van's (embarrassingly one-sided) battle, the Abaharaki's reaction to how strange Hitomi looks...and of course, the best part...finding out what happens when sorcery is applied liberally to an enemy's horse. Yuck. Long story short: a great television show has led to an okay movie remake. As long as you know what you're in for, you'll enjoy yourself.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: this movie is a joke. there are serious flaws in either the script or the translation, so most of the dialogue is laughable. The voice actors are uniformly miserable. Characters appear and disappear with no explanation, and many major characters in the series are introduced to say one line and not be heard from again. why are they even there? personally, i have no problem with the changes in the storyline, although i know many people who thought it was ludicrous. but the fact is, whether or not you are familier with the series, its just a bad movie. its not entertaining, its not interesting. i give it two stars primarily for the artwork, which is much better than the series, or most animated films.
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