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X - The Movie

X - The Movie

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An awesome movie, yet doesn't live up to the manga
Review: First things first: The movie ROX! the animation is excellent, the action is great, and the voice actors and music are very well done. However i have two problems-0 1. I read the manga series first, so i was dissapointed by the lack of character development, and 2. (WARNING: SPOILER. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK) EVERYONE dies!!! Either by fighting their opposite number, or by fuuma. by the end of the movie, Kamui is the only one alive!- but other than that, it is amazing. Oh, and for those of you who've seen the movie, but haven't read the manga, the art is the best animation i've ever seen.... but it doesn't even compare to the manga art. Plus the manga, while confusing, builds the characters...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: X is spectacular!
Review: The bottom of the front cover of the box reads: "One of the greates orgies of battle and destruction ever seen in a live action film or an animated one...a feast for the eyes" and they weren't kidding! The powers unleashed by the characters in this movie are awesome to behold! The visuals and animation of these powers are vivid, extremely colorful and mind boggling! This movie has scene after scene after scene of descimation! But don't get me wrong, this movie also has an intricate plot and an apocalyptic undertone that creates a gothic and engrossing experience like no other anime. The only area where this movie falls short is the ending. Don't worry, I'm not going to spoil it for you, but most Japanese anime films leave the viewer with something to think about (like a moral or a lesson or some mind boggling idea that fries you brain if you think about it too hard (i.e. Akira)) but this movie lacks that. The end kind of leaves the viewer with a feeling of hanging or a "so what" feeling. Ohter than that, the animation, the powers of the characters, the gothic and engrossing plot and the descimation (crank your subwoffer if you have one) will leave you speechless! X is a must buy for every Japanese anime fan!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ummmm.... HUH?
Review: Pretty pictures. Yup, lots of pretty pictures. That earns one star for Clamp's "X". But in all conscience, that's all I can give it (and that's just 'cause I've had my morning coffee, so I'm in a generous mood). What were they THINKING? I admit, I had my hopes up: while I'm not necessarily a huge Clamp fan, I did get a kick out of Clamp School Detectives. (Cute vids with interesting characters; I'd recommend you pick 'em up if you haven't already.) I've read a couple of the "X" graphic novels, and I was hoping this movie would reflect some of the story's suspense while providing the audience with a more concise resolution to the plot. But nooooooo...... What we get is an awkward, tangled MESS of real-time and dream-time images that only serve to further confuse an already complicated storyline. It's sad, really: some of the characters had the potential to evolve into interesting, 3-dimensional personalities... if only Clamp wasn't so dead set on making a few quick bucks off of some pretty pictures! You'd almost think they were American... Anyway, highly disappointing, and definitely not recommended by this viewer. If you're looking for action, beautiful animation, interesting characters, and a plot you can follow without heavy medication, try "Escaflowne" or "Rurouni Kenshin". They're a MUCH wiser investment of your money.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nothing Compared to Manga Series
Review: This was the movie I was most eagerly awaiting in 2000, the film based on the long-running manga series by CLAMP (Card Captor Sakura). Not usually known for their serious comics, many people had doubts whether or not CLAMP would succeed with X/1999. However, it became a great manga and among my favorites.

I then had doubts about X: The Movie. My fears were realized. First of all, many volumes of intense and dramatical manga were crushed into an hour and a half of special effects and great animation. The script went wrong somewhere, because at the very beginning we are winded with an enormous amount of information that unfolded nicely in the manga. The viewer is then subjected to our main character, Kamui, being projected back and forth from dream to reality, and honestly, it didn't create the effect intended. There were so many new techniques tested in this movie, that it seemed more like an animation demo than a film. Events pass too quickly.

Now, onto the good. The drawings were excellent and so were the coloring. Music was powerful but not exceptional like Yoko Kanno's works. This is the equivalent of MI2. New techniques in filming, but a pretty dull movie (no offense to fans of MI2). Remember, this is only my personal opinion, and others may have enjoyed this movie very much. If it had been made into a long-running series with the same techniques and animation, it would be among my favorites. But, unfortunately, CLAMP opted for a 90 minute movie instead.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for an X/1999 TV Series or OAV series to be released in the not-so-distant future. If you want to see what this movie really should have been like, read the manga by CLAMP.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Movie^_^
Review: This movie is just great...it's moves ur feelingz and emotionz...and you'll cry too! I don't wanna tell ya about the story line or the end...cuz you gotta see it by your self..the ending is something ya may not expect at all! This movie is a must...you won't regret buyin' it at all!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: short reasons why this movie is lacking
Review: it kills women which is sick i mean even in evangelion didn't have that much disgusting killing the story was kind of quick compared to the manga which sounded more interesting as a happy ending fan and since Kamui was dealing with God's power, the people he cared for should have came back to life not remembering what happend

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sureal and Freaky
Review: Oh yes! If you loved Akira, yer gonna go nuts for X. However, if you've seen the manga you might be a little dissapointed with it, but the animation in this film has no equal here on in Japan. I will say this. Buy it! Its definetly worth it. And if you were one of the few lucky people to actually see it in theaters, I envy you. Maybe I'll be a little more lucky when Manga Enteretainment brings End of Evangelion to theaters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best supernatural action I've ever seen
Review: I watched this movie on the big screen and loved it, even when a couple of women walked out, muttering that they did not understand the movie at all. Even though Clamp is an all-female team, I saw the guy appeal of this movie. So I bought the tape. I did not read the manga, but knowledge of some common Japanese themes helped. For example, I find the same theme of catching cherry blossom petals in the opening FMV of Final Fantasy VIII. Another example: shrines and landmarks in Japanese cities possess supernatural powers, whether they be energy sources, spiritual hotspots, interdimensional gateways, etc. Examples of anime that carry this theme are Tenchi and Poltergeist Report (YuYu Hakusho movie). The antagonist would seek out each of these places so that he/she/they can break the seals and unleash the power. The protagonists will attempt to stop the antagonists at every turn, but will lose every battle except the final battle at the most important landmark. So in the end the plot is quite simple. What puts substance in this movie is man vs. nature. In this case, God's Power sides with man, though nature makes a good argument. There are many analogies and parallels. The characters fall into anime stereotypes, but there are movies dedicated to character development and this makes itself clear that it isn't one of them. The animation is as good as Ghost in the Shell, with very, very detailed backgrounds. The action sequences, involving battles with the elements (fireballs, etc.), as well as sword fights (there should have been prolonged, and more of them), are perfectly choreographed (they are just way cool). Overall, I find this movie more engaging than Dragonball Z.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I dunno... felt like something was missing!
Review: I'm sure you've heard this many times before, but X was originally a very long series... and the movie seems kinda strange on it's own. I know nothing about the series, so some things didn't seem explained well-enough. The visuals were very nice, but the whole movie was pretty much in the dark, which was somewhat annoying, although I guess it was just the atmosphere of the movie.

Other than that though, the movie didn't have really any flaws. It's the story of a young man named Kamui who controls the fate of the world. It eventually just ends up as a battle of 7 on 7. The Dragon of earth versus the dragon of heaven. These "dragons" are really clans. The Dragon of earth is a clan that wants armageddon, and apocolypse so that the Earth can have a fresh start. The dragon of Heaven wants to try to stop the Dragon of earth, and try to keep the same earth. Kamui sides with the dragon of heaven, so the dragon of earth is essentially the bad guys. I'm not going to spoil anymore of the story for you though.

I bet that this movie would done much better if it was 2 and a half hours or something, rather than 1 hour and 40 mins. I'm sure they could've made everything much clearer for the viewer if they'd done this. I still thought the movie was very good, and had plenty of action and nice animation, but It just seemed like I didn't even have the chance to "meet" some of the characters before they died.

There is lots of explosions, and Akira-like actions... where enemies use their minds to make the ground fall beneath their opponent or something of the sort. There's also a lot of blood. There're swords going through people, and heads coming off. The violence isn't gratuitous, but is fairly graphic. That would probably explain the "R" rating.

In the end, I was very satisfied with "X" and thought it was a worthy effort at changing a series into a movie (even though I never saw the series), but it could've used some more explaining and background information... and some character development. But the stunning animation and character design made up for that... If you like action-sci-fi type anime movies with some ninja and Akira-style fights, check this one out, you probably won't be disappointed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: X or X/1999, 12 volume books into 100 minutes?
Review: When I heard about this movie I had to buy it, I'm an avid X manga fan and I love clamps work. The way the weave stories and plots with dramatic twists. But when I saw this I couldn't help but to compare it to the manga with which I love. That was my first mistake. This is a movie which tries to condense a series of graphic novels into 100 minutes or less. It leaves out characterization for action and gore, alters the story from the original too. I went in expecting an animated version of the manga, what I got was good, but not what it could have been. I've heard that theirs work on a tv series based on X, maybe this time they'll stay with the story and not change it for time constraints. Oh, and the ending in the movie is different then that of the manga, the movie was made before the manga even had an ending written. If your a fan of the manga and just want to see your favorite characters animated then watch this, but if your expecting something as great as the manga you'll be sorely disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this movie ranks up their with Ghost in the Shell and Akira, and even Vampire hunter D, but that's if it's viewed as a seperate entity then the manga. So enjoy, but as with most books turned into movies it could have been better.


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