Metropolis

It took over five years and more than $15 million to create the 150,000 individual cels ultimately used in writer Katsushiro Otomo (Akira) and director Rintaro's (Galaxy Express 999) big screen animated adaptation of manga grandfather Osamu Tezuka's 1949 comic Metropolis…and the results are mixed. Set in a megalopolis divided by an H.G. Wells-inspired human and robot caste system, where the elite live aboveground, while laborers toil below in a subterranean "labyrinth," the story opens with the dedication/celebration of a gigantic new skyscraper named Ziggurat. In the rather confusing narrative, politico Duke Red's cryptic plans for a coup d'état involving a staged revolution and a super robot girl named Tima are foiled when his robot-hating adopted son Rock goes on a rampage, chasing the bewildered Tima and her young rescuer Ken-Ichi through the cityscape--above and below. While the first 90 minutes seem plodding (the much ballyhooed marriage of CGI backgrounds and traditional cel animation is not initially all that impressive here, especially as the characters are very cartoon-y looking), the final half-hour kicks into high gear, culminating in an orgy of destruction weirdly juxtaposed to Ray Charles singing "I Can't Stop Loving You." The double disc DVD version features a fine but not spectacular transfer with a superb Dolby Digital 5.1 (as well as DTS) soundtrack on the first disc, and on the second mini (or "pocket") disc, a 33-minute "making of," character sketches, interviews, and bios. Given the hype surrounding the film (one of the few Japanese anime feature-length films to play across America in metropolitan arthouses), consider this a strong optional purchase. (R. Pitman)