Fullmetal Alchemist

I was skeptical of this movie, to say the least. As a huge fan of both animes and the original manga, I doubted that Fumihiko Sori and his crew could do Hiromu Arakawa's masterpiece any kind of justice.

However, the end result is surprisingly okay. Sure, the CGI tends to be an eyesore, the acting is all over the place, and some characters aren't remotely similar to their badass manga/anime counterparts (here's lookin' at you, Riza). But on the whole, this film kind of works. The screenwriters made good choices in terms of what to adapt and how to fit it all together, and some characters (mainly Hughes, portrayed by Ryuta Sato) work really well.

Most importantly, the film has heart. I get the feeling that Fumihiko Sori and c:o genuinely cared about the adaptation, and that ain't nothin'. It's an ambitious production, though arguably an overly ambitious one.

FAR from a perfect adaptation, and nowhere near as good as the animes or manga, but it's not an insult to the original story, and not a bad way to spend two hours of your life.

I never read any of the comics or watched the Anime of "Fullmetal Alchemist", so I had no idea what I should expect from this live action rendering of the concept. I just had a little information about what it was about, so I sat down to watch it with no expectations or hopes, as I found it on Netflix.

It turns out that this movie was actually entertaining enough for what it was, although the storyline was somewhat simplistic, and there were no twists or turns along the ride.

"Fullmetal Alchemist" (aka "Hagane no renkinjutsushi") was long, painstakingly long. And they could have trimmed it down with some more intense and thorough editing, because there was a lot of stuff which wasn't really serving more than being eye-candy and filler on the screen.

The characters in the movie were adequate, although the lead role played by Ryôsuke Yamada was somewhat of a swing and a miss, because he was rigid and monotone in his performance. Yasuko Matsuyuki, playing Lust, was really perfect for the role, but it was a shame that she, as the villain, didn't have more time on the screen. Tsubasa Honda, playing Winry, was carrying a great deal of the movie, as she had to pick up where Ryôsuke Yamada came in short.

The visuals and special effects in the movie were amazing, and they carried the movie quite a long way.

An entertaining movie for sure but it was just way way too long.

It's gonna be difficult to fit the long and complicated story line to fit around 2 hours. They've all done their best and you can't deny all of the actors and actresses are so similar to the characters and they really did well in bringing those characters to live action. Of course, it's gonna be difficult for fans who have been so familiar with the manga and anime for many years to cope with no element of surprise that may be you feel it's lacking. I know the story line by hard too so there was not much surprises in the movie but seriously, I'm surely satisfied with the casts and cgi and really enjoy the fantasy became reality and no doubt have to give 8 stars.

Unlike other "live action" films, this one is faithful to the the manga/anime! The visual effects are awesome. Some cast's perfomances were a bit lame, though.

Should you watch it? Yeahh! However, if you haven't read the manga or watched the anime you may find the ending not so satisfactory.

My advice: Give the anime FMA: Brotherhood a try and all the doubts on your mind will be cleared up.

This movie is well worth the watch, Though i'd recommend watching the anime first. There could be some parts that could be improved though.