Fullmetal Alchemist - O Filme: O Conquistador de Shambala

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

Review By Kamal K

This movie is a direct continuation of where the first TV series leaves off and it's STRONGLY suggested you watch the TV series first in order to understand this movie, and to see this movie as a complete closure to it as well. A good portion charms I feel of what defines the TV series are still present, and the returning characters do have presence, but not to their fullest use in my opinion. Mustang does his thing, but I think in some way they could have still developed his character. But for general character development with Ed and Al as well as their relationship, it really does the job which I feel you have to see for yourself on how that pans out.

Yes, it does give closure, but some of the movie does have some unsolved questions. Such as it doesn't explain why Noah has the power to see somebody's life just by touching them. And outside of that, she really has no use to the story though her presence does symbolize that gypsies were scorned by the Germans just to make emphasize the history going on in Germany at that point. Another factor I didn't like was how little significance the opening becomes after that. It's supposed to be something important and you get an idea of what it's supposed to be (based on your knowledge of science and history), but after that, it really has no overall contribution of the story, nor did I felt it really established anything.

Take what I said about the TV series and times it by 2, and you perfectly get the quality of the art and animation of this movie. The moment that Ed's mechanical arm first appears, it's so detailed and rendered and yet syncs perfectly with the 2D art. The designs of the characters are simply for the sake of theatrical quality, but of course shows maturity to the features as well. Specifically, not just Ed by growing taller, but by placing his pony tail closer to the crown of his head to symbolize that he's an adult and to make him more scholarly looking. And my thoughts on the environments and action sequences still remain the same and the qualities are still there, but obviously better.

The voice acting in both English and Japanese is still a quality that I consider a standard to look up to. In addition to new characters, we got new seiyuus.

The music is just incredible. If you've already seen the first TV series, then it's a highly likely possibility you've watched this already. But if you haven't the TV series and have been meaning to watch it or currently watching it, then naturally you're going to watch this anyway. In the extras, it is revealed the original first draft was going to be between 2 to 3 hours long and I felt that a 95 minute movie was really too short to really give this installment of Fullmetal Alchemist a little too small of a conclusion.

This movie continues right where we left off from the final episode of FullMetal Alchemist. 2 years afterwards to be correct.

It's 1923 in Germany. Edward has made friends the Alphonse of the Real World, who is 19, tall, and a rocket builder. They're heading to a carnival and met up with some Gypsies. One of the gypsies is named Noah who can sense that Edward isn't from this world.

While the other Alphonse has accomplished more of his alchemy training. And is wearing the same outfit as his brother.

Little does Edward know is that the secret society that his dad's been involved with for sometime is planning an invasion in the Alchemy World.

You're unable to use alchemy in the real world so they wait for someone from the Alchemy to perform a transmutation circle that'll be a gateway between each worlds.

And when that happens it'll be a battle to the finish. The fate of both worlds are in the hands of the Elric Bros.

This movie features a lot of familiar characters from the series, including alter egos in the real world. Those who like the TV series might like this movie. It has action, suspense, and it ties up all the loose ends that were left off in the last episode.

I really liked this movie. Most people dislike it, due to the idea of the story or for containing several CG elements on hard to do animation sequences. It has the same animation and it was done by the same people who did the TV series. I think it's worth checking out for the die hard FMA fans. Those who aren't familiar with the TV series won't like it when you're not sure what is going on.

Plus the English dub does do the movie justice, thanks to Funimation people, who succeeded in bringing the TV show to the US.

I remember this movie was widely criticized back then: The fans of the original manga which disliked the plot changes of the original "Full Metal Alchemist" anime considered this movie made the ending even "worse", and those who liked the ending of the original television series considered this movie "ruined" a perfectly satisfying conclusion.

I personally liked a lot the final episodes of the original Full Metal Alchemist show, to the point I prefer it to the super-happy conclusion of "Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood", but I liked this movie too.

Maybe the fans were expecting a "Happily-ever-after" perfect type of ending with Edward reuniting with Al and Winry, but such type of resolution would feel totally out of place in comparison with the rest of the series.

My only complaint is that the antagonist was a little bit underwhelming, and the final confrontation lacked the epic feel a story of this kind should have.

But other than that, this movie does a good job adding some closure to certain loose ends frm the original television series, not "ruining" it as some fans claimed, but fullfilling it instead.

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.