Patrulha Estelar

This latest production of Reiji Matsumoto's classic series deserves high ratings for its production value especially considering its low budget of 12 million USD, which is less than a fifth of average Hollywood motion pictures.

In the year 2199 earth is under attack by planet Gamiras and is hopelessly contaminated by radiation. One day they receive a transmission from planet Iskandar with a plan for warp engine and a wave cannon. In their last hope, people of Japan uses this information to transform battleship Yamato - a world war II relic that is now exposed out of a dried up sea bed into a spaceship. They set out to Iskandar which exists in the great Magellan nebula in hopes of finding an answer to earth's problem.

I see touch of Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica in the overall looks and feel of the props, ships and the battle sequences, but it's certainly the very best special effects science fiction I've ever seen to come out of Japan. I'd say that Japanese sci-fi have finally come of age in this movie.

The final sequence of this movie is very Japanese in my opinion, and might be over melodramatic for the international audience, but the movie was made for the Japanese viewers, so I don't have any problems there.

Takuya Kimura has a habit of stretching out the ending of a word when calling out orders, and speaking dramatically which sounded odd at times, and the dead pan acting of Meisa Kuroki could have been more charming, but overall things were believable and didn't mess up the story.

Beautifully done movie with real feeling of being out there in space, with unbelievable special effects considering its budget. This is certainly the best sci-fi movie to come out of Japan, and is Toho's new masterpiece.

... should have been made by the people who made this "live-action" Space Battleship Yamato (2010) movie-- which is based on the Classic (first major "space opera"-- after Star Trek, before Star Wars) animated TV series of the same name , and much closer in style and content to Star Trek The Original TV Series... since it doesn't devolve into the teen-angst or "slo-mo" action of recent Hollywood blockbusters.

The source material is given many judicious "updates" which largely made sense to me from a story, if not production, stand-point: e.g. the talking robot "Analyzer" is now a "SIM" module which you can load into other devices and the aliens are now truly "alien" with technology and energy signatures which humans have difficulty detecting or understanding.... And the writing is smart enough to make light of the "old-schooled" stuff they keep-- like their costumes ("we're still wearing this?") and one-liners. In fact, there is so little "fan-service" or "sequel baiting" that non-fans probably won't realize that this is an adaptation of a 1970s TV animation series (using the ORIGINAL music)!

P.S. To anyone who thinks that the characters' reactions to the movie's apocalyptic story is unrealistic (taking time to make decisions, say farewells, mourn/salute the dead)-- just look at how real Japanese people deal with their earthquakes and tsunamis.

Owing to the fact that the Japanese "general movie audience" is not that much larger than the Japanese anime/manga audience, there is no faux issue of "re-imagining" the source material for a "new/larger" audience-- and the writers rise to the monumental task of "condensing" many epic, if episodic, story-arcs (which should have taken a trilogy, if not a series of 7/8 movies) into a single feature film... by focusing on the STORY! In fact, this movie is so tightly structured that the only really unexplained or implausible thing in it is probably all of the actors' great hair... and the secret lies in using sci-fi movie tropes (most of it actually originating from their source material), NOT explaining them-- since no amount of techno-babble will turn a plot device into reality.

Which is where, I believe, this movie will divide audiences into fans and non-fans of the source material (or sci-fi/anime in general)-- a downside of all this emphasis on story is, of course, a relative lack of characterization.... Though thankfully, anime stereotypes have at least one more dimension than their Hollywood counterparts and the casting is mostly SPOT-ON (you who believe skinny anime characters with fluffy hair do not exist in Japan, repent!) And some inevitably heavy narration and exposition which might have been risible were thankfully short, focused and well-delivered-- with a touch of self-awareness (*eye-rolling*) by the characters themselves. And as expected, veteran actors deliver their lines and inhabit their characters without batting an eyelid, while younger cast members are less convincing with their histrionics.

So while this might seem like a pretty generic space adventure to "general audiences"; it is and has always been intended as a treat for the fans. And this movie won me over for the simple fact that, after decades of Star Wars and Star Trek, it could still make me go "WOW..." every time an alien or a space-ship appeared, for all of 3/4 of a second-- because it's not what you have, it's how you use it!

For this is low-budget movie-making by Hollywood standards, so there is absolutely no "pimping" of expensive special effects-- which means that the only time you get to see the aliens/space-ships is when they are actually doing something ESSENTIAL to the plot. And sci-fi fans might also note that they got the relative speeds of capital-ships (bigger = slower) vs fighter-ships, missile-fire, warp-effects (almost instantaneous by comparison) RIGHT-- so there is no such rubbish as waiting for "visual confirmation" (which is meaningless in the vastness of space) or capital-ships "dodging" long-range fire (which would hit almost as soon as they are "detected").

All this means going back to the "bridge battles" of submarine/battleship warfare (this Yamato looks/works more like a submarine with a skeletal crew, than some cruise-boat or flying-city) which rely more on having good scripts/actors than special effects-- and people who don't think this can't be nerve-wrecking should see how they "set-up" the Yamato's SPLIT-SECOND "warp-maneouvers"!

The budgetary limits really start showing up near the end of the movie-- but if the money is lacking, the heart is not: the relatively simple yet distinct special effects design (transforming "2-stage" fighter-ships!) is always a pleasure to behold, even when very tight (or wide) shots are used in order to avoid rendering very expensive details. It may be just a few frames of CGI, but the "impact" will leave you re-playing it in your mind...

The real only disappointment for me, if any, would be how the human and environmental issues (Living with irradiated earth? Leaders making up "white lies"?) ever-present in the best of Japanese anime is left in the background-- as both the challenges and solutions presented in the story are essentially alien-related. I mean, I'm ashamed to admit to one of the more touching moments for me was when "Analyzer" finally took on its robot-form (hey, it had more lines than the "red shirts")....

Well, considering the length of the original series, the movie producers have done well cramming it all into a 2-hour long film.

There are a few flaws in the movie I thought needed a bit more work on.

1. There is little feelings of romance between Kodai Susumu and Mori Yuki. It just felt flat. This, I attributed, to the target audience of the original animated series.

2. The melodrama at the end, on the bridge, was very Japanese..... in the 1970s. It should have been shorter and more modernized. I guess one has to be a die-hard fan not to find that scene particularly long-winded.

3. There wasn't enough battle footage of the Yamato and her enemies. This I was seriously looking forward to, but was left disappointed.

4. I wish Mr Kimura would shed a few tears, that would have made his performance more believable.

That said, there were quite a few good points about the movie, 1. Realistic space-fighter maneuvers. The big turnarounds of spaceships and fighters in American sci-fi is just plain BS. The only other sci-fi that got it right was Babylon 5.

2. Up until the bridge scene right at the very end, I was actually not aware of the time passing.

3. This movie have some of the better Japanese actors in recent years. Overall, their performances are well delivered and their friendships believable.

4. Swearing and vulgarities are non-existent in the entirety of the movie (or none that I am aware of). This is a rarity these days, especially with all the filth coming out of American and European films.

5. The graphics and SFX are quite good. They are quite realistic. I have no problem with much of it except for those SFX sounds the lasers and beams made.... sound very arcade-like and very 70s.

This movie is worth the ticket you paid for.

I have to say that i think one of the best things to take away from this movie also seems to be one of the things which nobody considers.

I'm not familiar with the original series or comic so i can not attest to its being good or bad in that sense. What i am familiar with is the historical significance of the battleship Yamato and the symbolism and slight role it played in WWII for the Japanese People. Japan had one of the most powerful navies (and arguably the most powerful)in the world at the beginning of hostilities in the Pacific theatre of WWII. By the 6th of April 1945 when the Yamato left port for the last time, the Japanese navy had been ravaged, they had lost most of their carriers and cruisers with only about 10% of its original naval forces remaining. The Yamato and a few escorts were to attempt to attack the now Allied occupied Okinawa in a near-futile attempt to deal a blow to the US fleet. She was destroyed en-route to the battle by relentless air attack by the US and never got to use her 9 46cm batteries, the largest in existence at the time. This story is about hope, honour, and the tenacity of the Japanese people as a whole. Of course it was corny, they raised the hulk of the ship out of the ground! And besides bearing a resemblance in spirit its clearly not the actual ship, its about 5 times as large. The acting was perfectly appropriate for the type of story this was and despite a few drawn out scenes i was still very entertained. Sure, some of the CGI at the end was, to quote another review, "dodgy", but for the most part actually pretty good. But, thats not what this movie is about.

Its about the symbolism of a desperate mission which only a Japanese navy would have taken, its about remembering history, and its about transferring it to a modern setting of hope prevailing in a time of despair. Enjoy the CGI, enjoy the space battles, don't worry about the inconsistencies with weapons and apparent inept "Gamillas" forces towards the end (maybe new recruits?),and instead enjoy the heroes and unmistakable, "fight to the last man" mentality and Japanese spirit which comes through in every scene.

In all honesty, I cannot say a lot of good things about this movie. It seems to be a mashup of a few Sci Fi films from the past decade or so, directed in the style of Michael Bay.

Seriously I was half expecting to see Bruce Willis reprise his role or Kodai's last line to be "We Win, Gracie"

It was as if they had planned to do a great movie, Saw the stunning success of Star Treks' reboot and thought "yeah the Yamato franchise is tired as hell,. let's kick it in the guts and see what reworking we can do"

The best analogy is ST but Kirk being replaced by Kirk's Dad and the USS Kelvin at the end and thats it.

there were some original bits but more likely as not cribbed from a few hits. I don't mind reverse stealing of film ideas tho..

It's the execution I found so annoying with this film.Wanting. The acting was on a level best found with year nine drama students, the dialogue was overly melodramatic at best and while the CG was great its attempt at Galactica Style character discovery and analysis fell down horrifically flat. Seeming forced and contrived.

The worst part is I KNOW it could have been a paradigm better than what it was. Ought to have gotten Ron Moore to rework the script and storyline. They did take some JJ Abrams directly in as much using Real ship settings for some parts like the hangar decks. It may even be salvageable, if re edited. At around 120 minutes it was Overlong without being special because of its length. It could be made that bit punchier if sped up, and hopefully a better film. BSG had loads of talking and not a lot of Battle CG and it was widely regarded as one of the best TV shows of the decade,.. not just a good sci fi show but a great regular show in and of itself.

The SBY reboot i think needs a reboot