Rating: 
Summary: Alternate universe, unrelated to the series
Review: Escaflowne is about an earth girl who gets transported to a fantasy world where people use swords, flying ships, and giant robotic battle armor.The Escaflowne movie has no real relation to the Escaflowne series other than its name and the names of its characters. The story itself is almost completely different (including the ending). Good parts:
1. The artwork and animation are excellent (far superior to the series).
2. The music is decent.
3. There are some good action scenes.
4. The story is significantly different from the series. Bad parts:
1. Too many really slow, almost waiting scenes. It was like the artists wanted to show off some of their excellent artwork, but couldn't figure out how to integrate some meaningful dialog with it.
2. The story and character development are not nearly as good, deep, or meaningful as the 26 episode series. Overall, it's very watchable, it just seems weak when compared to the series. If you are going to watch both the movie and the series, you should probably watch the movie first, because the series is truly excellent and you'll end up disappointed by the average quality of the movie. Again, the movie does NOT ruin any part of the series as long as you understand that the movie characters are NOT the series characters. They simply share the same names and have similar appearances. The movie characters' abilities and backgrounds are typically significantly different from those of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: A nice return to Anime
Review: I hadn't seen any of the TV series but picked up the Movie anyway. I thought it was really well done and the only thing I would have liked to see more of would be to see Vahn's (spelling) friends do some fighting instead of sitting back and talking the whole time. I guess you can only put so much in 90 minutes. I hadn't been too big on anime lately but this is definately good enough to keep my interest up. Yes, the infrequent appearance of Escaflowne itself made me want more but what you see is cool. Where's part 2?
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, compared to the original series
Review: First of all, I have to point out that I am a fan of the original twenty-six episode series, which I consider to be an absolutely stunning production and story, with a slightly disjointed ending. That said, I admittedly watched this with an existing bias. As a movie in its own right, this is very nice; compared to the original series it was adapted from, it's a bit of a let down. The production standards were excellent (after all, it appears to use the same cast and crew as the original series), but to somebody who had already experienced the richness of the original, the retelling was rather abrupt. In my opinion, it is best to consider this to be an alternative history type of tale, that happens to feature many of the same characters. The storyline only bears a superficial resemblance to that of the original, but it's a decent storyline in its own right. If I had seen this before watching the series, I would probably have considered it a 4 of 5 overall. Character designs are nice, and the animation is excellent. The sound quality seems to be very good, but they don't seem to be trying for the immersive audio experience of the series. I cannot comment on the quality of the dub work (didn't listen to it) but considering the company, it's probably decent. Acting on the Japanese audio is excellent, and, if I'm recalling names correctly, features the same cast as the series. The subtitles are nicely legible, although I was watching it on a 31" display using an S-Video hookup. I can't comment on the extra features available, as I've only seen a rental edition (no bonus disc included), but the extra features on the main disc are minimal.
Rating:
Summary: Escaflowne remixed?
Review: Watching this movie is like listening to a familiar song remixed. I am not a huge fan of the TV series, but had watched it on and off for its imaginative worlds and mechas. The biggest turn off of the original series are the character designs of the main characters, which is something that this movie fixed. The redesigned characters are way better looking and sexier. Some of the fight scenes and CG sequences (the opening sequence for example) are very well done but at other times, the quality drops to TV series quality. The biggest flaw of this movie is that if you haven't watch the series on TV, you will not have much compassion for the characters and the plot. It seems that Hitomi's character in this movie has no clue at all what's going on in Gaia, even towards the end of the movie. Now for a main character of a movie to do that is quite strange! And some of the important relationships between the characters are not explained at all. What is feels like is an epic story squeezed into under 2 hours with not enough deveopment. Nonetheless, the visual flair makes this film entertaining. Just don't expect everything to be explained.
Rating: 
Summary: One word...WOW!!!
Review: When I first thought about seeing this movie, I heard a lot of negative feedback by the diehard fans of the TV series. Then, when I finally got the movie, I was in awe. During the first twenty or so minutes, I was trying to figure out why they changed the series so much, then, when Hitomi met Van, it all fell into place. This is the MOVIE, not the TV series. From then on, I watched with an open mind. About three quarters of the way through, I was again slightly disappointed because they made Naria and Eryia be singers in Dryden's club, but, several minutes later, I forgot about that. This movie is totally pleasing to the senses. Yes, there's violence, but, there's also a lot about human discovery and the exploration of life. It's totally worth it to pay the fifty or so dollars to buy this. The movie is great, the special features are good, and the soundtrack is beautiful. Even if you think that this movie will [stiks] because of the fact that it doesn't hold totally true to the Escaflowne story line, it's worth spending the money just for the soundtrack and cast interviews.
Rating:
Summary: Escaflowne- the movie
Review: i think this movie has all u wont in a dvd or vhs for anime fans!
if u dont like anime well sorrynothen we can do for u aha no but realy this movie can keep u on your feet 100% of the time its got same funny parts in same sad in same that u guse cant put down im not gone go in to detail cuse i dont wont to rek the movie for yea but this movie has the profect mixture of horror sadness funny parts in times u think ur like there watchen in real life now im a anime fan watch escaflownethe movie it changes ur mind on the anime world u can tell that it's a great movie its got chrators that are a bit werid in same sing in it WATCH IT IF UR TIERD ULL GO TO SLEEP! aha in most it u can understand in now how it works if your young (o.o)im righting it cuse i think ud like it other wish i wouldnt so try it u might like it if not watch it a few more times in i bet u well or rent it well i hope yall find it helping.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than these people claim.
Review: I picked up this DVD before seeing the series, and I have to say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. The movie itself was filled with lots of great action, and as much story evolution that one could expect from the feature-length adaptation of an entire series. It did seem a bit disjointed, but that's forgivable, considering. The movie has really piqued my interest in the series as well. On whole, though, I think the movie would have earned 4 stars from me if it weren't for one thing, the included Soundtrack CD. This baby alone is worth laying down the extra green for the set. Allot of great orchestral pieces spotted with a few great J-pop tunes, and one.... curious.... English adaptation of a J-pop song. All in all, I would say, if your an Anime fan, you really can't go wrong with picking up this disk, and don't skimp out and get the bare bones disk, the soundtrack is worth it, trust me.
Rating:
Summary: People bash it, but it wasn't really THAT bad
Review: I've read reviews with people bashing the movie, saying it was too predictable and that there were too many cliches. Well, I think that cliches can be put to good use and can highten the impact of the movie. Whether or not the specific parts of the movie were unique, the combination of those parts, combined with the music, brought out a great movie which i love to watch over and over. The fight scenes were great. And even though most of the characters only had small roles, this movie mainly revolved around two characters, whose roles were fairly well done.
Rating:
Summary: A good enough movie, but a horrible conversion
Review: Careful this review contains some spoilers!
The movie when not seen as a part of the series, but by itself, was not the most overwhelming thing I have ever seen, but still a good movie. It is well drawn and has an engaging story, if somewhat shallow and clichéd. The best thing about it is the musical score, I loved that soundtrack. So what didn't I like? Well, unfortunately I happen to know the series and therefore have come to like the characters and seeing some of them reduced to mere decoration, while completely changing the personalities and reasoning of others, was painful for me. For example we have the two cat women, Erya and Naria, reduced to barsingers. The reason for this was pretty obvious since Folken as portrayed in the movie couldn't inspire much of anything and certainly not the kind of loyalty as displayed by those cats in the series. The series was so diminished as a matter of fact that it seemed almost unrecognisable. The cast was reduced by about three quarters and their respective storylines went with them. The most obvious of those cuts being the deletion of the entire Zalbach empire, emperor Domkirk and the fate machine. The black dragons, bane of Vahns people, had to go as well. Since by then not much of the storyline of the series was left, the producers came up with the pretty lame alternative that a seer had forseen Vahn to be the better king than Folken, who left his home in a huff and after murdering his own people, now wants to destroy all of Gaia to take revenge on his brother. I always wondered at that kind of reasoning so regularly displayed by villains. As to Hitomi. Of course Vahn couldn't meet her while fighting a dark dragon on earth as proof of his ability to take the throne, since there are no dark dragons and his kingdom is gone as well. Hitomi can no longer read tarot cards and has no influence on fate, which was important for her interaction with Dormkirk and the Atlantean faith machine, but not here. What do we need her for? Well, apparently she is the Winged Goddess and the only one able to summon Escaflowne, the armor no longer being a legacy belonging to the throne of Vahn's kingdom. Folken is the one who brought her to Gaia, because he needs Escaflowne to destroy it. The relationship between Vahn and other characters in the movie is described with the wonderful sentence, we met on the battlefield, so Hitomi is also added to alleviate Vahns loneliness. While cutting not only most of the cast, but also the plot from the series, the producers still managed to add at least one character to the movie. A seeress, singing a part of that amazing soundtrack, allied with Folken, though not out of loyalty but some other unfathomable reason. Since not much is known about her, I really believe she was only added for the enrichment of that amazing soundtrack. And on that thought I give my final verdict: the movie has a beautiful soundtrack, not much of a storyline, but in itself isn't that bad. Compared to the series however it is a bitter disappointment. My advice: watch either the one or the other, but not both.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: It may have not been just like the show but who cares. It was a great movie with great animation and the ending was my fave...sent chills and i got so happy when everyone looked up and saw at the end...oh you'll know see it when you watch it. :)
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