Escaflowne - The Movie

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING MUSIC!!
Review: I bought the regular dvd of this movie, having absolutely no previous knowledge of the original series, and i found it pretty good, espeically the mecha fight scene at the end. And the story was pretty good too, though the skips in the story line kind of confused me. But what blew me away was the music! It ranges from gregorian chant to almost a pop/techno-y, to full blown choral symphonic. I later found out that this movie is only "loosely" based on the tv show. The names and some elements are the same. I would like to see the original show someday.

Anyway, i had gotten the regular dvd, and was contemplating buying the cd soundtrack, which was...import. But, i found THIS set in the store, and i went for it. Mostly for the soundtrack. IT IS THAT GOOD! the music i mean, which is why i gave it 4 stars. It's one of my favorite cds now. The story's so-so, but amusing.
Bad thing: the sound is kinda bad. Hitomi's hard to hear at times, and so is the elf-looking lady with Faulkon. and some times, it's too loud. so be warned.

Rating:
Summary: I'd give it ZERO stars if I could...
Review: I can not emphasize enough how utterly bad this film is. It has got to be the worst anime series-based film I've ever seen. I made the huge mistake of watching it before watching the series, Vision of Escaflowne. Big mistake. The series is beautiful, with endearing characters, fabulous music, a brilliant story full of twists and turns, action, humor & drama. But the movie...that's another story. The first 5 minutes are probably all that's worth watching, where Van flies down to a ship where he dispatches a bunch of soldiers guarding the Escaflowne. From then on it goes nowhere but down. Our much loved series characters have been changed to show little to no emotion here and are extremely unlikable. Especially Hitomi. She is totally different from the series. Here, she is very depressed - even suicidal, but you feel no sympathy for her whatsoever. She has nothing to be depressed about! (Unless perhaps she's re-thinking her decision to appear in this film in the first place.) She has no heroine charisma. She does next to nothing in the film, yet everyone calls her the "wing goddess". Talk about misleading. Her friendship with Van (or lack there of) is horribly done. They barely speak to each other and are both very wooden. I don't know what the creators of the film were smoking when they wrote the script. It's highly unbelievable that she's saved the world & aided Van when you only see her actually call Escaflowne once (not even meaning to) and she does little else but pout. I couldn't get over how bad they've made Folken look & how little he's given to do. (he's a wonderful character from the series.) And don't even get me started on the ending of the film. Let me just say it's like: nothing that leads up to nothing. To sum it all up...spend your time watching something else, like the brilliant series. All of the scenes in this film are dark, confusing, and boring. It's pretty much just a poorly done ode to the series. They've dissected all the characters in every way possible and given it NO plot and a lousy ending. Thanks for reading my review.

Rating:
Summary: The first anime movie that I owned
Review: I really liked the movie, but I only watched a few of the series. The 3 disc collection was worth it also with the memorial book. It's a great anime film, but I've seen better ones like Princess Mononoke and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. Those are my very favorite anime movies so far. Escaflowne is one of my favorites, too. Wish I can buy the Escaflowne - Series (Limited Edition Box Set), but don't have the money for it.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing but magneficent retelling of a wondeful story
Review: For the uninitiated, Escaflowne is the story of a girl named Hitome, who is tired of her life and wants to commit suicide. (She evens writes a note to a friend that read, "Dear (forgot her name), I am dead. Signed, Hitmoe"). When she recieves of mysterious pendant she is wisped away into the land of Gaea, which is under siege of the Black Dragon Clan. She is the Wing Goddess, sent to release Escaflowne and save Gaea. The story is superbly made into a dark, mysterious tale woven through the lives of 3 people (Van, Hitome, and Falcon(or something like that) filled with drama, action, and even romance. The Ultimate Edition is for any true anime fan. It even has a cd of Yoko Canno's (Cowboy Bebop) wonderful score. Buy the dvd soon as possible.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Surprise...
Review: I have seen a couple of previews about the series and thought about watching it. However, I am not a big fan of major fantasy animes, at least not the hard core fantasy. Sometimes the fantasy storylines seem to be overstuffed with magic, characters, legends and twists. Complex stories are too much work. Call me lazy, I don't care.
Yet, my husband mentioned he saw this Escaflowne Movie at the video store, so I picked it up.
I was pretty impressed with the artwork. The characters were uniquely drawn. Sometimes their eyes looked kind of freaky. It reminded me of the sequence in the Evangelion Movie where Shinji is a boy playing in the sand with those two dolls. The roundness of how they were drawn was a bit over done. But it added to the surreal effect they were trying to achieve.
Also I really like how venerable the main character was portrayed. She did not have special skills or weapons to defend herself. All she had was her powers and good heart.
The Van character was the typical hero that you find in an anime. He sort of resembled Hiro from Gundamn Wing with his anger issues and quest for vengence. But I wouldn't expect anything less from Japanese writers.
I have read the other reviews about how the series was better and how the movie is rather disappointing. That may be, but since I have never seen the series, I wouldn't know. The movie is a bit rushed as others have written and the characters are underdeveloped, but it is still a very good anime. The music is mesmerizing and the story is very interesting. Looking at this movie as an independent move away from the series, it definitely deserves more credit than people have given it.
The only problem I found with the movie: you want to story to continue! So my next step is checking out the series. :o)

Rating:
Summary: Enchanted....
Review: Well, many ppl i know thinks it's an OK movie, coz 96 mins included all the episodes of escaflowne..
but the whole movie is just....enchanted, the story lines, the songs, when i was watching it, it felt like i was in a different world. lol The ending isn't like a whole happy ending, which is the thing about the movie, it left a mysterious feeling to let you think. It's really sad though, I don't really wanna spoil anything =P Anyway...the movie is not merely a fantasy anime, it gave me feelings that are really different than the episodes. If you like anime, it's definitely worth a buy.

Rating:
Summary: Good movie, but confusing if you haven't seen the series
Review: I saw "Escaflowne - The Movie" without having first seen the series - and found myself completely confused at times. The characters aren't strongly established (the assumption seems to be that viewers will know them and their relationships) and the action is often darkly animated, with pivotal moments arriving so quickly and then left behind just as abruptly, robbing the viewer of the significance.

Having said the above, I still enjoyed the movie. Hitomi, even in her two-dimensional angst portrayal, is charming. Van is better developed; his character drives the film with his anger and loneliness. Although the animation is a little uneven - breathtaking at times, static at others, it is well executed overall.

If you purchase the ultimate edition set, you'll love the CD of the soundtrack. The disk containing the production art gallery is less interesting. (The art gallery pictures are difficult to make out, for one.)

I recommend watching at least a few episodes of the series "Escaflowne" before watching this movie. Fans will probably divide into two camps: those who hate the cursory compilation of the series' storyline, and those who can't get enough of "Escaflowne."

Rating:
Summary: This Was Pretty Overhyped...
Review: Man, did I love the Escaflowne TV series.

I guess that's why I was disappointed with the movie so much. Don't Get me wrong; this movie has all the trimmings of the show (albeit with a slightly more "Asian" aestetic): Midieval swordplay, mecha, "magic girls," a love story, characters you can easily get into.
The problem is that they tried to cram 26 episodes of the show into about one hundred minutes. The end product is a movie that could have been an extremely interesting film if it were about two hours, but unfortunately everything seems sort of rushed, key characters from the show take a back seat, and the disappointing ending leaves the viewer yearning for a cool sword/magic duel.
In all, I have to rate the movie for three people. If you hate anime, this movie won't change your opinion. but if you're into this kinda stuff but have never seen the show, it's at least worth a rental. But if you're like me and you love the show and everything about it, then you may walk away complaining.

Rating:
Summary: OK
Review: I thought the story was OK, but the part with Dalandai was absolutely gross. It was to bloody and graphic for my liking. My friend was pretty disapointed by it and she saw the series. I loved the artwork though, it was like being in a dream. Compared to Endless Waltz and Princess Mononke, this movie doesn't even compare.

Rating:
Summary: I expected so much more...
Review: Well, I'm writing this review without looking at any other reviews first - just the overall ranking - because I flat don't agree with it.

The TV series had a wonderful whimsical, intriguing, mystical feel with the giant magical mecha suits, its odd combination of magic and technology, and the girl lost in a strange world storyline, but this movie gives us a fakey angsty twist on the main character that I found completely pointless and rather annoying. It did nothing for the main storyline and made her seem rather pathetic, in the end, rather than heroic. There wasn't enough motivation given for any kind of change in her character and it all came off as rather flat. Hitomi deserved better treatment than that.

The visuals are also extremely dark, if beautifully designed, and the battles can get a little confusing because of it (but Van's initial attack on the airship carrying Escaflowne... wow! Brutal and savage and incredibly rendered in near-monochromatic silhouette... oh yes, kiddies, swords are NOT toys...) but I was vastly disappointed to find that most of the main characters had been reduced to mere leather-clad charactures of themselves or given inconsequential cameos. (Dryden? Allen? Gaddes? Naria & Eriya? Cripes... was *that* Millerna?! Somehow I don't think she's studying to be a doctor anymore... *sigh*)

The re-design of Escaflowne itself was interesting (as was the twist on how the suit bonded to Van... blood... *shiver*), but not much more than that. Besides, it was just too dark most of the time to see it very well... and I prefer the suit's original incarnation and it's old flying dragon-form to the new design.

Dilandau's obsessiveness was nicely highlighted as was Van's pain at the choices necessary in the end, but overall I was highly disappointed with the movie. I expected something with at least a little of the charm and pagentry, heroism and melancholy of the series and got a grim, battle-heavy, dark, angst-fest instead. (Oh, poor Folken!) Some of the fight scenes are cool, but, unfortunately, they don't have as intriguing a story around them to make them have a real point. Why do we really care about the final duel here? And that's one of the best scenes in the series... the final duel between Dilandau and Van... with Allen stepping in... everything had built to that point. This movie takes the barest, barest essentials of the plot of what is a rather complex series and crams it into a single movie. It just loses too much for me, and I felt they could have handled the condensing with more care - or picked a sub-plot from the series to expand into something more true to the source rather than this odd re-hash of the whole thing.

I've already bought it - and Van's first fight is incredible to watch - so I'll keep it, but frankly the TV series itself is far better. I recommend you pick that up instead. (And you'll even get used to the ski-jump noses after a while too... *grin* They grow on 'ya.)