Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993)

As Good As It Gets

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

"Japanese cartoons are for kids"...This is yet another movie to show to people who wrongfully believe that!A movie like "Ghost in The Shell" and the series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" have proven to contain more plot in the screenplay, and even afterthought in the mind of the audience, than most Hollywood-movies I know of. "Patlabor 2" is definitely another addition to my list of movies I would say disproves the first sentence in this comment.As other commenters have noted, "Patlabor 2" resembles a Tom Clancy political thriller. The storytelling was so good that it got my heart racing in some scenes, and that is saying a lot from my point of view (Trust me on that one - I've seen "The Others" and similar movies, without moving a muscle when the rest of the theatre screamed).If the story was tightened here, and the plot was elaborated there, "Patlabor 2" could be made into a Hollywood-movie as a frame-by-frame copy! I really mean that - There is always room for improvement, but in my opinion there are only very minor blemishes to the flow of the movie. I enjoyed every second, although some other commenters found the "slow parts" boring or irrelevant.The music (or lack thereof) is also definitely worth a mention. It's hard to describe - I just couldn't imagine it being any different for this movie. The reason I write lack of music is because there are scenes where any Hollywood-producer would have slapped on some generic classical music, but in this case there is none. For example there is a scene after a climax where you just see different parts of the cityscape, with snow falling, and there is no sound at all. THAT's movie-magic. It's part of what draws me to this strange, exotic type of movies - it's so different than what most of us are used to.Recreate the visuals using a film-camera, actors and a special-effects crew, copy+paste the music, label it "made in Hollywood" and you've got yourself a blockbuster-hit!Japanese cartoons are for kids - not. If you have a brain, and an attention-span bigger than your average action-monkey, this movie is for you.

I recently saw this film and was less than impressed. I am an anime fan, but disliked this movie. Before you tear me up for 'not getting it', or 'only liking anime for the sex and violence', let me explain that neither of those points are true. Patlabor 2 did have incredible, albeit boring visuals to compliment its deep, albeit boring story. The main character constantly waxes philosophical about war, peace, and society, usually while looking at the city or riding in a car on a periodically lit street. This all combines to create an unspectacular, overlong, story with too much talking and too little doing. This would've been better as a monologue by the Captain, and not as an attempted action movie. In that same vein, GIANT ROBOTS that only once get used! Even the one and only battle scene is slow. If I wanted philosophies on War and Peace, I'd read Tolstoy. Let the giant mechs do what they do best, beat the crap outta other robots. This movie tried to do too much and disappointed at all. To explain my subject line: I believe that those who compliment this movie would've walked out if it had been presented as a live- action film. 5/10 only for the nice visuals and what little learning anyone can glean from the philosophical police captain.

Patlabor 2's material is complex and very promising, but when all is said and done, a hell of a lot more was said than done. After watching this and getting all the numerous relationships right, I still felt noteably unsatisfied.Patlabor 2 is a very stylishly directed story of Japan in the near future, being held hostage by a terrorist who masterminds a breakdown of civil rule in retribution for the government's incompetence. At the beginning of the movie, his machinations are set in motion, and at the end, there is the lacklustre uninspired payoff. Inbetween lies the sprinkling of philosophical monologues of sporadic merit, all the while the plot somehow unfolds.I say "somehow" because I really don't know how. I guess I'll have to take the characters' words for it because, for the better part of the picture, their blatant expositions are the only way the audience finds out that something really big supposedly just happened -- talk about phoned in. For all it's stylish direction and philosophising characters, Patlabor 2 leaves the viewer with very little to digest about it's characters and universe, and as such does equally little to justify being a motion picture.2/4

The first time I heard of this japanese anime films I was very sceptic. I thought they are stupid little movies mostly contain erotic scenes. But I changed my mind after seeing this great anime, it has a more complex story than many of the Hollywood productions. Perhaps this also could be a problem, because you have to concentrate on the movie. Somethimes it is really hard to understand all the political maneuvers and the philosophic dialogues. But this movie is worth to look twice or even more times, also the animations are really great. Forgett this stupid Walt Disney style If you have seen a anime one time you will love it!It is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen so 10 points of 10