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Appleseed never had a hope in hell of
transferring Masamune Shirow's political tale of paranoia and paradise
to the screen intact, but what we get is an entertaining, if lightweight
story that manages to capture a glimpse of the utopian future he created.
The dubbing, for the most part, is average. When you read the manga
first you always attach your own mental soundtrack, and I thought
a few of the voices were miscast. Briareos, for example, sounds a
bit *too* gruff for my liking, but it doesn't detract from the experience
of the film. The hapless young policeman whom the story revolves around
*does* detract from the experience, sounding like a whining teenager
(very much like Shinji from EVA actually).
The action sequences are short and sweet, but the adrenalin won't
be pumping with this one. The emphasis is very much on the story,
which is ultimately what spoils it - the story isn't interesting enough
to survive on its own, and the action sequences don't carry enough
oomph to make you watch it repeatedly.
So it's distinctly average. If you want disturbing vision of the future
with tons of action, go for Cyber City. If you want a talky political
thriller, I suppose you should look at Patlabor or Ghost in the Shell
(the latter being nicely action oriented too.) But in all honesty
I can't see any reason to splash your hard earned cash on it, unless
you get the Alita/Appleseed double feature currently doing its final
rounds...
Extras on the DVD are the usual. English dubbing with 5.1 support,
also the option to watch in the original Japanese with English subtitles,
scene selections, the usual stuff that is expected on DVDs nowadays.
The extra that will come as a surprise is a commentary track that
lets you listen to the converstation of Jonathan Clements (co-author
of the Anime Encyclopaedia) and Larissa Murray (voice of Dunan) about
the film. Which isn't something you would expect and a nice extra.
Overall, if you enjoyed the film and don't own the VHS of it, then
the DVD is worth getting. The extras in it are hardly worth shouting
about. The photo gallery is a bit iffy with the stills from the film
being very fuzzy and the Manga trailers consist of one trailer.
But the fact that you can listen to the film in its original Japanese
and the extra commentary track make this a DVD worth getting, if you
already got everything else.
6/10 - Entertaining, but only once or twice
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Check out the superbly dark and atmospheric Cyber City Oedo 808. Produced
by Madhouse (who worked on the Animatrix) its stylishly directed,
beuatifully designed and foul of language ^_^