Steamboy

STEAMBOY (2004) - Oct. 28, 2004
What a let-down! Not that this was a bad movie per se, but considering this is Katsuhiro Otomo's first film since his masterpiece, Akira, I was expecting so much better. The plot is too convoluted to sum up in one sentence, but it was something about a crazy alternate nineteenth century where steam technology is much, much more advanced. The main problem is that at just over two hours, it was way too long, and it certainly felt that way, especially towards the end. It was also quite heavy-handed in its message that technology should be used for good, not destruction (though I guess that's not too surprising considering the film came from Japan). That's not to say that there was nothing good about the movie. The whole look of the film was quite amazing, and the animation was really good (the blend of traditional animation and CGI was pretty seamless). It's just too bad that the movie itself was so mediocre. **1/2