As a general rule of thumb, movies based on video games tend to well, lets say, not quite meet expectations. Although there are exceptions to the rule (like Pokémon, or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), for each good movie there is three or four bad ones (like Street Fighter or Super Mario Brothers).

This being said, a quick read of the cover jacket piqued my interest, as this Blu-ray was a compilation of seven stories told through eight anime shorts. As a lover of anime, I find that the art form (when done well) has both emotional and aesthetic resonance that stays with the viewer days afterward.

Therefore, I optimistically sat down to view this Blu-ray with an eager air of anticipation – even though it was based on a video game, I knew there was an opportunity to enjoy the work of at least seven different anime directors.

Film 

There is always some difficulty in reviewing anime, as I do find the animation art form we are raised with in North America affecting our frame of reference. As we are conditioned to enjoy Chuck Jones-style slapstick or Scooby-Doo stupidity, I have often felt there are many levels to anime films that the North American viewer fails to appreciate.

As a Halo neophyte, I found the order of the shorts and the information provided to be more than adequate to understand the stories. However, I should caution that this is from the perspective of an experienced anime viewer – I am used to not having everything explained in detail to me. For someone who has not watched anime, or is unfamiliar with Halo, they may find some of the shorts challenging to enjoy, as they’re too distracted trying to understand what they are about. For this segment of the population, an advance visit to the Special Features before watching the shorts is advised.

I can thankfully report that this Blu-ray covers the anime waterfront – from linear and traditional (Origins, Part I and II), to incredibly stylistic and emotionally powerful (The Duel), to heavy and self-reflective (Homecoming), to mecha (Prototype), to action (The Babysitter), and to humor (Odd One Out). Even the viewer who is inexperienced with anime should find something to like here. The only short that seemed really out of place on the Blu-ray was the CGI-rendered “The Package”, which was more like Star Wars I through III, and less like traditional anime.

A very powerful theme that runs through the best anime is that of redemption – that a flawed character is eventually redeemed through making amends, self-sacrifice, a redemptive act, self-awareness, or choosing not to engage in an act. Of the eight shorts, redemption was at the fore in four, and was considered in two others. This gave the Blu-ray a credibility and weight far superior to what it should have from the source material.

Overall, this disc was very well done. If asked to pick favourites, “Odd One Out” appeared at a great time on the disc, adding a needed levity after some heavier segments. “The Babysitter”, “Homecoming”, and “Prototype” were also equally well done, and fit very well into a traditional anime mold. However, special praise is reserved for “The Duel”, a short that is stylistically unlike anything I’ve seen previously.

In “The Duel”, each scene looked like a shifting watercolor painted by a master like Renoir: sharp enough to suggest the scene, diffuse enough to allow your mind to add the details, yet having one fine detail at all times (like eyes) that jars and focuses the viewer. It has to be seen to be understood; my words do not do it justice. On top of this visceral beauty, the story dealt with strong concepts such as honor, power, loyalty, belief, murder, and revenge, very impressive in a short this length.

All in all, this was a very entertaining disc. Although the Spartans (of which Master Chief is one) and their war are what tie this movie together, the variety of settings, character perspectives, and anime styles are what make the disc such a treat.

Video 

As can be expected from any animated picture, the transfer was incredibly clean and sharp. Colors popped off the screen, yet tones were not lost, especially important when the color itself was being used to convey emotion. This is especially noted at the beginning of “Prototype” (when tones are used to set a somber mood) and when the Spartan returns home in the middle of “Homecoming” (the bright clear sky and fountain convey joy in a way words cannot).

It is difficult to nit-pick this Blu-ray, as the video is superb and smooth, with no artifacting, black crush, or noise to be seen. The only challenge is that with such different art styles and directorial visions, there would have been some compromise in color balancing the disk. This shows up in a few of the paler shorts, mainly “Origins I” and “The Babysitter”.

Although this is not a reference disk (like Wall-E), it is very, very close, and looks superb.

Audio 

As mentioned in the Video section, there can be a challenge when bringing together eight different shorts, yet getting them sonically balanced. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of this Blu-ray did a surprisingly admirable job of doing so.

Dynamic levels were exceptionally good (considering the variety of anime presented), and dialog came through crisp and clear. Combat scenes had thump and power, shell casings landed all around the viewer, and surround channels were used regularly and appropriately. For DD 5.1, it was one of the best I’ve heard, and better than some True HD mixes.

My only complaint is the presence and mixing of the score. Much of the music is beautifully composed, and adds to the mood and atmosphere of the disc. However, there is too much of a good thing at times – the score can occasionally be invasive through the rear channels in some segments, and there is simply too much of it.

One of the things I appreciate about anime is that there does not always need to be a constant cacophony of dialog, music, and action noises. Some of the best scenes in may favourite anime are where there is silent and contemplative reflection (anathema to the Hollywood studio). Think of the trolley scene in Spirited Away or the train station scene with Shinji and Misato near the end of episode four of Neon Genesis Evangelion – there is a beauty to these scenes that North American studios would mangle.

Special Features 

It is a special disk which contains shorts that are so memorable, you’d rather watch them a few times more before reviewing the special features. But, the features must be reviewed. Such is my duty as your humble reviewer.

As a non-Halo fan, I did not find the commentaries really that interesting, and I’m confident enthusiasts will get more out of these than I did. Although discussions of the styles of the different directors were good, it was simply not enough to keep me interested.

For the same reasons, I did not find the “Gaming Evolved” featurette all that interesting either. Presented in 1080i, at least its presentation and run time was good, and would be a walk down memory lane for the itchy-fingered masses.

“The Story so Far” was an interesting featurette, and would be a good starting place for the Halo uninitiated to start. It explains a lot of the back stories (again in 1080i), and would be perfect for the person who needs to know everything about what they are watching. Again, I do not have issues with the partial-plot nature of anime, and found I enjoyed the shorts better by knowing less. However, this was a very good offering, and I could see how it would be appreciated by others.

To me, the cherry on the sundae was the almost hour-long “Making of” featurette which actually dissects each one of the shorts. This is one of those great “behind the scenes” features that allow you to understand the craft better. Recorded in 1080i, this is fully worth the time invested.

I was glad to see that Warner Brothers went the quality route with their featurettes on this Blu-ray. Although not all were to my tastes, my score for these reflects more the overall value that others (especially the neophyte) will likely get from this package.

Final Thoughts

Although apprehensive before viewing the movie, I was actually rewarded with a nicely crafted “variety pack” of anime. Through emotive storytelling and beautiful video/audio presentation, this disc surprised me with the depth, comprehensibility, and emotion of its stories. Even though the material was a bit uneven, there was much more good than bad on this disc. And when it was good, it was really good.

I would fully recommend this movie to those who appreciate anime, and to those who appreciate animation as an art form. Even those who aren’t anime or Halo fans are presented with quality special features that would allow them to fully enjoy the shorts.

In my experience, it is rare to be able to sample such a great variety of anime on one disk, especially one with such a high quality presentation. Highly recommended.

Film

I was surprised to see that this film was two hours long.  It’s not common for a cartoon film to have such a lengthy runtime.  In addition, with the CGI it has, it leads one to believe The Sky Crawlers took quite a long time to make.  Normally, this is where I introduce the characters, but there’s one small problem.  I don’t know how to spell their names and the credits were in Japanese.  In addition, this movie does so little to establish character development that you will find yourself not caring one way or the other about these kids.

Yes, they are in fact kids, known as Kildren, that don’t grow up in a physical sense.  They reach an appearance of a teenager and can live forever, free from the grasp of death’s natural causes.  As such, they are recruited to serve as pilots in a corporate air battle.  You won’t find any warring governments here.  This is a blue-collar battle of white-collar interests.  Rostock versus Lautern.  Those are the warring factions, battling for air supremacy over a fictional Europe with prop planes.  Gee guys, where I come from, corporations just drop their prices to rule the day.

The immediate goal of these Rostock pilots seems to be the demise of the “Teacher.”  This is a somewhat unidentified adult who is apparently unstoppable in the air who racks up kill after kill.  More scenes of the “Teacher” in action would have been so much more welcomed over sleep-inducing dialogue.  The CGI of the planes and the dogfight animation is absolutely spectacular.  This is far better than anything Pixar has every brought to the big screen.  You will find yourself wondering if some of the scenes are actual or just incredibly superb computer animation.  The traditional ink animation is standard here and is really nothing to write home about, but it won’t offer any grimaces either.

My biggest complaint is the overabundance of dramatic pauses in this film.  The first thing that came to mind was the old Talk Soup show on the E! channel, specifically its original host, Greg Kinnear.  He would have these hilarious but silent expressions of disbelief.  He retained the key of timing in doing so.  In The Sky Crawlers, there is no sense of expressive timing.  This film is absolutely infested with these breaks in dialogue where a character will be staring directly at the viewer or off into space.  It is ridiculously annoying and shatters the quality of any possible story.  Perhaps if more time was spent on content flow, a more solid delivery could have been established.  Instead, we’ve got teenage top guns pointing pistols at one another hoping for death or sex, which ever is more readily available at the moment.

Video

Coming to us in a magnificent 1080p, 1.78:1 aspect ratio with an AVC encode, The Sky Crawlers truly shines when the film takes to the air.  The colors remain consistently solid throughout the movie’s delivery, but the CGI is the Webster Dictionary definition of ‘perfect.’  I cannot brag enough about how positively satisfying these scenes look.  True, the ink animation has zero grain and no flaws just like its computer-aided counterpart.  However, it certainly loses its spotlight to the realism of the fighter planes.  I will say the two methods gel quite well when you will find one style of animation sharing a scene with the other (i.e. the hand-drawn pilot in his CGI cockpit).  With the exception of the Final Fantasy movie, I have never seen computer animation look so incredibly jaw-dropping.

Audio

If someone asked me to provide them with the finest example of surround sound from a Blu-ray disc, I would have them listen to this film.  There was no audible detail spared when this film was assembled.  I take my hat off to the folks behind this one because you will hear every mechanical aspect of a door knob being turned, released and clicking into place as well as the characters’ shifting weight on a creaky, hardwood floor.  While the dialogue is delivered from the front, the approach of off-screen characters can be heard as their footsteps originate from the rear channels with every gravel-crunching step.

The air battles are just adrenalizing as your subwoofer repeatedly thumps from the rapid fire of the wing-mounted guns.  While laser cannons can look cool on screen, there is just something that old black-powder technology can offer on surround sound that hot plasma can’t.  If you don’t feel like you are part of the action when watching this, please check your pulse and have a phone near by.  The well-versed usage of all speakers and the subwoofer will make you want to throw this disc in again just to hear another air battle.

Special Features

There are four selectable items under The Sky Crawlers extras, not including the BD Live feature, all of which are presented in 1080i.

• Previews – Blu-ray Disc in High Definition!, Dragon Wars, The Da Vinci Code Extended Cut, Passengers, Close Encounters of the Third Kind 30^th Anniversary Edition.
• Animation Research for The Sky Crawlers – This segment follows director Mamoru Oshii and his camera crew around Poland as they get ideas for the cityscape of their film.  While it may not sound all that exciting, it was actually quite intriguing and I found it more entertaining than the movie itself (30:52).
• The Sound Design and Animation of The Sky Crawlers – While this bit features more dialogue with Mamoru Oshii, you’ll also find interviews with the film’s animators and their visit to Skywalker Ranch for some sound implementation in the film (32:16).
• Sky’s the Limit: An Interview with Director Mamoru Oshii – A one-on-one discussion with the director (15:18).

Final Thoughts

There was so much potential for this film.  Unfortunately, its greatest sequence lies in the very beginning before the title credits even roll.  It’s not that I just want action on the screen.  Of course I want a story, but this film lacked both overall and the story is paramount to a film’s delivery.  The only good I can pull out of this film is eclipsed by the slow-moving, often-empty interaction between characters.  What a pity that such a brilliant use of sight and sound is lost on the anemic dialogue.  I switched around the audio to see if that would help.  At first I had the English delivery, which I then switched to Japanese delivery with English subtitles.  From this I discovered that no matter how little of a story there is, it is still universally empty in any language.

As a kid, I always hoped for more attention for my favorite superheroes. Yeah, we had the MEGO action figures, Underoos, and a few cartoons and made for TV movies of questionable quality, but that’s not close to what is available to fans today. With new toys, clothes, and big-budget movies hitting us rapidly, depending on one’s perspective, it is either a very good time to be a comic book fan, or a very bad time. What I mean to say is that with more mainstream attention being paid to our heroes, our expectations are not always met. For every Batman Begins, there is a Spidey 3 (OK, I did enjoy it, but you know where I’m coming from). I can understand that a live action movie has to appeal to a broad audience, and tinkering is often needed (I didn’t say always). On the other hand, if Marvel and DC are expanding into direct-to-DVD animated features, it seems this would be the place to cater to the comic fanboys. While previous entries from Marvel, such as the Ultimates and Iron Man features and DC’s Superman Doomsday have been hit-or-miss, I’m happy to report that Doctor Strange may be the best entry yet.

The good Doctor Strange is probably the most obscure character to get his own movie so far (unless you include a failed TV/movie pilot in the 70s based on the character), but I think that’s an advantage. There are less expectations on a character who is less established in the minds of the masses. I must admit that I am not a longtime fan of Doctor Strange, but this movie has peaked my interest.

Based on the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor Stephen Strange (voice of Bryce Johnson) is a world renowned neurosurgeon. Thing is, he’s also an arrogant bastard. He’s the stereotypical doctor with a god-complex. He also has some untapped magical abilities which fate will lead him to explore.

After a serious car accident, Strange no longer has the fine motor skills in his hands that he needs to continue being a super-surgeon. He scours the world seeking someone who may give him back the full use of his hands. During this time, Strange becomes penniless and homeless. He is approached by a man named Wong who has been following him and told if he travels to Tibet, there is a man who can help him there. Really, this is just a set up to help Strange learn the mystical arts.

From here, the film adds a unique Eastern flair as Strange develops his powers. During his training he discovers fellow mystic Mordo (Kevin Michael Richardson) has partnered with the demon Dormammu to open a gateway in order to free him into the world (because you know, demons, that’s what they do). To make matters worse, our villains are using children to create the gateway. Having lost his own sister, Doctor Strange and the other mystics must defeat Mordo and Dormammu.

Similar to the Ultimates releases, Lionsgate has given us Doctor Strangeon Blu-ray Disc. It’s a nice overall presentation, but far from perfect. Read on…

Video

Presented via AVC/1080p encode, much of the world of Doctor Strange looks very good. Colors are bright and vibrant as one would expect from an animated comic book. Lines are generally crisp, however the high-def presentation does expose some faults there. As with previous Marvel animated entries, the animation is fairly poor. The use of CGI mixed with traditional animation is mostly lackluster, and banding is prevalent throughout the film. Despite these faults, I’d still choose it over standard definition just for the nice pop of the colors.

Audio

With the Ultimate Avengers, we got 7.1 uncompressed PCM. Here, we get DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1. Early reports by those lucky enough to be able to fully decode DTS-HD MA have been extremely positive, so I look forward to being able to put this track to the test in the future. For now, I’m listening to a downmixed DTS 5.1 track. There is also a Dolby Digital-EX 5.1 track. They seemed fairly comparable to me, and I had no issues with either track. Hopefully the DTS-HD MA track will be at least as good as what could have been included as an uncompressed PCM track.

Extra Features

Not much here, but it least it’s presented in 1080i. There is a collection of CGI pieces collected from various Marvel based video games, which are interesting for anyone who hasn’t played the games (me, I’ve seen most of them before). The most worthwhile feature is The Origins of Doctor Strange, a brief overview of the character by Stan Lee and others. A First Look at Avengers Reborn is a preview of the next animated film to come. Personally, I’m not too sure about that one. I think the Young Avengers would have made a much better film than these “Teen Avengers”. Lastly is some Doctor Strange concept art.

Overall

Despite a few qualms I had with the presentation, I enjoyed this film. If Marvel can keep up the momentum building with each release, hopefully we can some really good stuff in the future. OK, Marvel, how bout Moon Knight next? I’m serious! Forget Avengers Reborn…