Escaflowne: The Movie (2002)

Memorable, crazy movie

It is a performances centric movie

I'll tell you why so serious

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

"Escaflowne: The Movie" is an average anime film. The animation was quite good, and the music, made by the great composer Yoko Kanno it's incredible, but the plot is just average. It changes a lot from the excellent TV-series, turning the story into a typical fantasy:Van it's more immature than in the TV series and also has a more aggressive (Without any apparent reason) personality. Hitomi became in this movie a more depressive character and Allen don't have any romantic interested on her, and now Allen looks like Sephirot. This movie don't have so much romance and drama as the TV- series, focusing in the action instead. The result it's not necessarily bad, but the TV series is much better. However, in the good side, you don't need to watch the series first to understand this movie: Both are completely different productions without different values.

I must admit I haven't seen the series, so I'll comment on this as a stand-alone production.I understand that the characters are nicely developed in the anime series, but you shouldn't base a film on that assumption. The characters looked very interesting, but apart from Lord Van, Hitomi and to some extent Folken the characters are presented but not introduced. You have some gist of what they are about and a feeling that maybe if you watched the series you could connect between with the secondary characters.Unfortunately the storyline itself is also rushed and the Hitomi/Volken/Van relationship has been totally blown and borders on being ridiculous. the emotions being thrown between these characters are unbelievable, even corny, and the jumpy script gives it no justice. Basically it felt like it wanted to be more intelligent than it actually was.On the plus side is great animation and some very interesting scenes full of exquisite ideas.

You know what makes a good story? A good plot. You know what Escaflowne the movie is missing? Any semblance of a plot. Now, I saw the movie before I saw the series, and thought it was half-way alright--at the time. I remember thinking the first time I watched it "I can't believe I paid money for this." If you want something that has a PLOT and CHARACTER GROWTH and that MAKES SENSE, watch the SERIES--that's good. The movie--eh, not so. Some really cool fight scenes, an epic soundtrack from Yoko Kanno, and good animation are its only good attributes in my opinion. Wouldn't recommend the movie. Watch the series.

Several things bothered me while watching this film. One of the first thing i noticed was the animation - the faces on the characters were horridly drawn, making it hard for facial expressions to appear believable. The animation in itself was fine, however the way the people were drawn was distracting. Secondly, the plot was disorganized and scattered; making the film hard to follow for even fans of the Escaflowne TV series. The closing doesn't redeem much of the films' weak points - I wouldn't recommend this for those new to Escaflowne or those who are fans. It would be disappointing either way.