Mars Express

Its a cyberpunk noir about a detective hired to track down a missing student from a prestigious tech university. Set in a future where humans have spread across the solar system, some people are a cyborg or synthetic or just augmented and computers are fleshy biocreatures with a single eye. Robots, synthetic humans, holograms and AI are just part of daily life. People can even upload and backup their personalities into robots when they die, sort of like digital immortality.

In this futuristic cyberpunk thriller with parts of detective noir, the rich have settled on the neighboring planet.

If youre familiar with Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell, theres not much here that will surprise you. The scifi concepts feel a bit dated like the T-1000, but the animation looks great, the action is fun and the plot is decent though nothing groundbreaking, love the aesthetics/world building.

Should have been a miniseries!

Good animation, excellent worldbuilding, interesting characters, exciting action sequences and an intriguing plot. What else could we hope for? A good ending, instead of this rushed convoluted mess, that makes the entirety of the characters actions in the movie completely inconsequential. I'm not kidding. Everything our protagonists do, every mystery they uncover, is ultimately pointless. I understand what the filmmakers where going for and perhaps it could've worked in a longer format, but less than 90 minutes wasn't enough time to properly stick the landing. I don't regret watching Mars Express, because 90% of it was awesome. But that ending is such a letdown I'll never watch it again and I can't recommend it to others.

The world building really elevated this movie. It felt like there was a tv season's worth of material compressed into a 1.5 hour movie, but it worked, and it worked wonderfully. The world world was well thought-out, everything fit together well.

It's about a private investigator and her robot partner investigating the disappearance of a college student. As we learn more about the case, we also learn about the world this story is set in. This movie is like a perfect showcase for "show, don't tell". There's very little exposition, if any.

It's one of the best sci-fi movies I've watched recently, animated or otherwise. Highly recommended.

This was a surprisingly good thriller for adults; I wasn't expecting such attention to detail and story.

The animations and backgrounds are well-made. Although they may not stand out by modern art standards, they are enhanced by carefully designed details and innovative ideas. The characters are very well written and designed - I really liked Carlos. The way the futuristic world functions is also thoughtfully constructed; there are many small details that make the movie feel very realistic.

On the other hand, everything moves quite fast, and some important characters or events are only briefly shown. 'Mars Express' needed a bit more screen time to better develop these elements.

Overall, it is a solid sci-fi film.

The movie made me feel the full spectrum of emotions. I laughed, cried a bit, was moved by the deep repercussions of the story. Could've run for 30 minutes more and I wouldn't have been mad

It's definitely a beautiful movie too. Animation is good, despite a few low-fps sequences, it still works because of the hand drawn art style and crazy backgrounds. Knowing what the crew went through, I understand the need for some simpler parts. Designs are inspired, threading perfectly between the obvious references and something really personal. Music's very good and the overall sound mixing was perfect.

For a first movie, Périn and Sarfati really put the bar extremely high, I'm really wondering what their next move/movie will be. But first, time to rewatch this one.