Les vengeurs de l'espace

I was looking forward to watching this. I was, until I first sat for Ichikawa Kon's 1978 film 'Phoenix,' which was also an adaptation of Tezuka Osamu's manga. I found the latter film to be so very inconsistent and uneven in its approach to the material that it misused its best potential and quickly lost my favor; I continued watching only out of a sense of commitment. Still, I hoped that this 1980 variation, co-written and co-directed by Tezuka himself and given a purely animated representation, might have a chance to prove me wrong. And I'll say this much, it does very rapidly prove itself to be more smartly considered than its spiritual predecessor. Don't get me wrong, even at its most violent, grim, or dark moments it maintains the feel of a light, fun genre lark, and the scene writing, storyboarding, character designs, and animation absolutely reflect that this is geared toward young audiences for whom the more foreboding concepts on hand are apt to go unnoticed. But, say of it what one will, at least 'Phoenix 2772' adopts this tenor for its entire length - instead of irregularly trying to also be more earnest and serious - and doesn't also struggle with like issues in every aspect of the production. This picture clearly benefits from a unified, uniform vision, and on that basis alone is a step up from Ichikawa's work, and is at least half decent.

In other regards I'm firmly of the mind that this shows definite shortcomings in important ways, but nevertheless it remains strong enough to still be enjoyable on its own merits. The story isn't specifically remarkable as it trades in ideas we've seen elsewhere, but the material is ripe for cinematic and animated storytelling with its futuristic setting. A dying Earth, children raised in isolation, authoritarian government, extreme class inequality, robots, forbidden love, labor camps, innocence and virtue set against cruelty and malice, a journey into space with unique creatures and races: there's much to appreciate in the narrative, and it's duly compelling of its own accord, with interesting character ideas, and varied and flavorful scene writing. It's also true that much nuance and complexity has unquestionably been cast aside in most ways, and we're getting a simplified rendition of the saga, and a truncated one. This rendition has also been sterilized, for that light, fun-loving, family-friendly tone does the feature no favors. Where notions aren't built purely for cartoonish, childish silliness, the tale still would have been far more absorbing and satisfying had it been approached more mindfully and with more mature, adult sensibilities, more akin to the anime that would follow in subsequent years - especially after 'Akira' blew the roof off the medium.

Meanwhile, the animation of Tezuka Productions of course follows from the screenplay with which Tezuka adapts his manga alongside Sugiyama Taku. Even recognizing that some bits and bobs are just as cartoonish, childish, and silly as the writing that informs them, more than not the artists turned in fantastic work. For the most part the static backgrounds and environments are gorgeous; the more imagination that a setting required, whether a changed Earth, an extraterrestrial planet, or a spaceship, the richer they are. Many character designs are also superb, not to mention the designs for creatures and other active elements, and any effects that are employed. The question is how much detail and texture went into such facets, because there is a grand canyon of a discrepancy between the visuals that obviously received the most attention and care, and those that received the least. For as great as some parts look, other inclusions inspire a skeptical "really??" Accentuating the point, the more that any shot or scene depends on movement, the worse it looks. Uncharacteristic of the anime we know and love, including preceding examples and particularly any of years to come, there is often rough, jerky, unnatural, or even incomplete movement seen in a character speaking, walking, jumping, or climbing a ladder; a spaceship in flight, or Olga transforming; action sequences; and so on. Much of the animation really is excellent - some odds and ends are just brilliant - but the variance in quality is unfortunate.

In fairness, as the plot develops, events take a more serious turn in a natural progression. It seems evident enough where the most creative energy was devoted in 'Phoenix 2772,' and in the latter half both the storytelling and the animation are more consistent and praiseworthy as Godo ventures into space and pursues the firebird. I still hold that a treatment geared toward older audiences would have found more lasting success, and the movie would have benefited from the more advanced techniques and technology of the industry seen even just eight to ten years later. All the same, this is honestly quite entertaining, and it holds up reasonably well all things considered. Even with its weaknesses I had a good time watching, and for an earlier and less polished era of anime, there's more value in this than one may assume from the outside or at first blush. There's certainly no need to go out of your way for this, but if you do have the opportunity to watch and don't mind the inchoate and middling treatment, 'Phoenix 2772' deserves a look on a quiet day as something passively worthwhile.

Please note that I am judging from the English dub VHS, which I was lucky enough to discover in a pawn shop. Phoenix 2772 was a movie by Osamu Tezuka, inspired by his "Hi no Tori" series of comics (which were a series of short stories spanning centuries which were connected by the concept of the legendary Phoenix), which features a young man named Gadoh who, after having a run-in with the law, escapes the earth in order to capture the Phoenix, and ends up going through a trial of self-discovery.

You kind of have to understand the author and have a really open mind (and a tolerance for less-than-stellar delivery--more on that later). Osamu Tezuka was not your average manga author: He wasn't content to just tell stories of heroes and villains, but of deep characters with human personalities. His stories usually had some form of moral to them, but he didn't hamfist it or deliver it in a package, like in a Disney cartoon, but rather told sweeping, epic stories wrapped around the point he was trying to convey, but delivered in such a way where it was never shoved down your throat. Moreover, he felt stories shouldn't be limited to feel-good adventures or comedy, and thus most of his stuff had a very emotional quality to it. I personally feel Phoenix 2772 delivered on that.

Yes, the film won't immediately make sense if you go in, expecting a Disney-esquire song and dance number with a lot of feel-good moments and a "good guys always win" message. What instead needs to happen is that one needs to forget how things "should" work and instead prepare for anything. With an open mind and a little bit of thought, the story of this film makes perfect sense.

The weak point is one that's not a fault of the story or the creator, but rather of the translators: The English dub is bad. Mouths move, yet no one is talking. The voice actors sound like they're trying to sound natural, but forget that they're voice acting for an animated movie, so we have moments where mouths are moving yet no one is talking, and things like that. One flaw I particularly noticed is that the Phoenix of the title is always referred to as "272" instead of "2772," and no one could quite decide how to pronounce the main character's name (is it Godah, Gadoh, Gardoh, etc.) But... if you can overlook this and you can stand films that require you to think instead of just delivering all the answers to you on a silver platter, then this one is worth a try, even if you can only find the English dub version (which DOES seem to have been edited).

I recently viewed animated manga feature SPACE FIREBIRD 2772 based on a series of Manga comics by Osamu Tezuka, with a dubbed English language soundtrack that sounded like it was recorded in the early eighties.

The picture flows like Disney's 'Fantasia' meets Star Wars, with the innocence of Astro Boy. There are moments of real beauty where the animation on-screen marries perfectly with the booming classical soundtrack that helps to propel the action.

Particularly enjoyable is the film's opening montage showing the lead character, Godo, growing from infant to adult in a mechanized environment that trains him to eventually become a pilot - all depicted free of dialogue. A voyage through a futuristic city via hover-car, all animated in a long, 'aerial' tracking-shot also helps to elevate SPACE FIREBIRD 2772 to a more 'cinematic' animated film.

Character design, artistic design and over-all animation is above-par for a hand-drawn Manga from 1980's. A great film for Manga purists but some of the more Japan-centric themes might be trying for less adventurous viewers.

NB: One interesting note on the English-language dubbed version viewed (Australian, region 4. Madman distribution) was the possibility that CARY GRANT may have provided one of the character voices. While not noted on the DVD credits or sleeve, a voice sounding like an older Grant (the actor would have been mid-seventies had the dubbed soundtrack been recorded shortly after the Japanese release) carries the actor's distinct vocal traits.

If you like space opera and golden age sci-fi, you should watch Firebird 2772 right now. Even if you are not a fan of anime, you should watch it at least once. I'm not a fan of anime, but I never miss a good sci-fi drama.

This film can be summed up in one word: Retro. Ah the late 70s/early 80s when voice acting was bad and dubbing worse. Because of the age of this film, a subbed version is difficult to find and it isn't available at all on DVD. If you snoop about the online market places, however, you can usually find an old video rental copy of the horrendous English dub on VHS for around $10-$8.00. The painful English voice acting aside, and the rather groovy character design (bell-bottoms, big shoes and bad hair- hey it was 1979, NOBODY had good hair) the movie is actually quite enjoyable. Be aware that this film definitely falls under the category of "experimental film". It employs some unusual animation techniques for the time. Anyone familiar with Osamu Tezuka's "star system" will be amused to see whom he casts in what part. Kenichi and Sapphire take starring roles as Godo and Lena and Rock- as per usual- plays himself as the villainous but not necessarily evil minister of science. The movie centers primarily around two intertwining plot lines: the love triangle between Godo, his robot nursemaid Olga, and Rock's fiancé Lena as well as the more obvious contention between Rock and Godo over the fate of their home planet (which is rapidly deteriorating) and who will win Lena's affections. It's a long movie, a solid two hours, and begins to drag a bit right around the part where Godo and Co. must battle the Phoenix. However things get interesting again and Tezuka takes an extra 20min or so to wrap up the film with his usual "harm not the earth" message. All in all, the voice acting is forgivable due to the trippy animation, weird storyline, and back-handed Star Wars references. I give it an 8 out of 10. I'd probably like the subbed version even more.