Fullmetal Alchemist - Der Film: Der Eroberer von Shamballa

This is a sequel to the 2003 anime Full Metal Alchemist but in movie form, it attempts to follow on from the events of the shows finale and perhaps answer a few unanswered questions.

Sadly truth be told it creates new ones and delivers a highly underwhelming story that utilizes the weakest points from the anime itself.

I won't break down the plot as it will cause spoilers for the anime for anybody who hasn't seen it. I will just say there are some inconsistencies, it's a pretty lame plot and it does absolutely nothing for the FMA universe.

Sure, it was nice to see the characters back and it was nice to see several get the finales the anime didn't give us but ultimately it should have been a lot better than this.

Not good, not bad, but considering it's a follow on it's sad to say I wouldn't even call this essential viewing for fans of the franchise.

The Good:

Some great social commentary

Wraps up some story arcs/characters nicely

Follows on from the anime relatively well

The Bad:

Some contradictions from the anime

Story is pretty weak

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Science that doesn't benefit people isn't science at all

FMA is a great anime (on par with Cowboy Bebop), which made the movie all that more of a letdown.. It wasn't bad; the animation is good and the story was okay, however the plot was severely lacking. After I finished watching the movie, my first impression was that someone had made an excellent movie, removed a fifth of it, and replaced it with fan service. The plot simply does not flow; there are a number of instances where plot devices are randomly introduced and just as quickly dropped (e.g. the spear of longinus), where the story progression seems horribly contrived (Ed's conversations with Fritz Lang-especially the talk about parallel worlds), and where important scenes have simply been removed without compensation (most obvious in the opening subplot-why is Ed wearing that shiny helmet?). My other major gripe is the fan service. A little fan service is OK, but this is ridiculous. All of the popular characters from the anime had cameos, regardless of whether or not they offered any significant contribution to the story. Rather, they are just dropped in for a couple of scenes, did their trademark thing, and left. This wouldn't be nearly so bad except for the fact that important scenes were probably sacrificed so old favorites could have a minute of screen time.

That said, the movie is still entertaining. A lot of people disliked the ending, and while I don't think it was amazing, I believe it was consistent with the anime. My final recommendation: if you know nothing of FMA, watch the anime (which is far superior to the movie). If you've seen all 51 episodes, the movie is definitely worth watching, if for no other reason than that it significantly progresses the story.

I absolutely love the anime series! Everything about the series was awesome. I needed something to watch so I decided to pick it up one day and I love it. Its got a great story, excellent characters, character development, and the animation is awesome. I recommend it to anyone that likes anime or if you are just looking for something to watch.

Now....when I finished the series I just had to know what happened next! So I paid 5 extra bucks on shipping and handling to get the movie faster.....it wasn't worth the 5 extra bucks...

I don't really want to ruin anything for people that haven't seen it. The story line was only okay. it seemed like it was missing something though. Like some of the characters weren't right and the relationships didn't seem right or something. I guess I expected better reunions and stuff and like some stuff seemed like it was just thrown in there. I didn't like how Al stole Eds original look either. ANd they should have had more of Mustang, Winry, and some other the other characters. i don't know. And they also used CGI in with the drawing. I personally don't like when they use the computer stuff with the normal anime. If you know what I mean. I didn't like the ending either. Its not the way I would have ended it at least. Ed and Al should have ended up in their side of the gate. And Ed should have ended up with Winry.

Its not like super terrible though. There were some good fight scenes and still the good animation(except for the CGI stuff). Edwards look is cool and he looks older.

It was disappointing I guess is the way to sum it up. The series was just so awesome that I expected so much from the movie and it was just a letdown. Not the ending I wanted :( But you should see it and form your own opinion.

The ending was disappointing in my opinion. I won't say what happens, but I was really enjoying this movie being a fan of both TV series and the manga until this movie ended. I mean, really, the ending is everything to a movie. The greatness of both anime series is almost beyond words, and it's up there on the list with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Gin Tama of top twenty anime series of all time.

So why did the ending of the movie leave me unsatisfied and somewhat depressed? Because it was unsatisfying, I wonder what the writers were thinking?

Well, I'm done complaining about the ending, now for the positive: the story is STILL good in my opinion (until the ending), and the animation is awesome and seems to improve from the first series (please note that this movie is a finale to the first animated series ONLY and is in no way associated with Brotherhood) animation. Seeing the characters grown up a bit was neat and the plot revolving around two alternate worlds is always good if it's done right (which it was, until the ending), without being too damn confusing to follow.

Now, for the basic outline of the story: Ed and an alternate world Al are now studying rocket science, since in that world alchemy doesn't exist. But then a certain 'nice' lady wants to open up the portal to Ed's original world where alchemy DOES exist to find the legendary Shangri-La, opening an opportunity for Ed to get back home.

Overall, 7/10. If it wasn't for the ending it would get another point added.

Now I won't spoil anything for anyone, only that "FMA - Conqueror of Shambala" is worth looking into. Thankfully the characters are pretty much the same. Anyway, it starts off with Ed and Al visiting this one scientist who has discovered Uranium (kinda sub-plot) and he ends up on the other side of the gate. The rest of the story picks up were the series left off; and takes place both our world and Ed's world. The overall plot was fairly good and and the director and writers did good job paying respect for the characters and the series. And the animation out does the actual show, there were some instances were they used CG (and looked bad) but that doesn't ruin the viewing qualities at all. I liked it, but don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself and be your own judge. I like said, it's worth taking a peek.^_^