Escaflowne : Une fille sur Gaïa

Escaflowne the Movie while visually stunning and aided by an enchanting musical score just seems to fall short of being as epic as it could have been. With a running time of 98 min. events and character development seem rushed and unfulfilled. We never really get to know the characters and even though many viewers will have already seen the TV series that's still no excuse for the lack of content. Hitomi seems to shift from a depressed school girl on the verge of suicide to a strong supportive heroine without much coaxing or personal experience. The full legend of the Escaflowne and Wing Goddess as well as the mythology of Gaia are also never fleshed out for us. The final confrentation between the two brothers is a far cry from what could have been. And the ending leaves something to be desired as well, not as fairy tale as some might have wanted. However inspite of these problems I still enjoyed Escaflowne the Movie. It is a feast for the eyes and ears, and as a theatrical adaption it has no problem standing on its own. Definitly recomended ^_^

I have to say as far as the animation goes the movie was well done, great art work, but the plot itself was poorly thought off. The movie might resemble the series with the characters and the setting but the plot itself was not the same. So if you guys are expecting to be like the series, is not, I found it to be a waste of time, and for those who think that the movie was good, it was just a knockoff of the series just to make money of you.

I'm a casual anime fan, someone who doesn't know the intricate plots and history of the genre as much as I supposedly should. I think that's a good thing.

So often I watch anime that's been hailed as the best thing since sliced bread, and compared to other more mainstream (read: non-anime) features, IMO it doesn't even come close. I think fans of sub-genres tend to be blind to real critique of their favorite subjects, because they need to justify their excessive interest in it.

That being said, you still need to compare like-genre films to one another - at least to some degree, and I think in this case Escaflowne does a great job standing up to its competitors.

Someone had previously mentioned that the faces in this feature were rather badly drawn, and I tend to agree - it's odd, because the quality of the rest of the scenes/ scenery, is relatively good. The plot in this film, as in most anime is VERY disconnected, with whole chunks missing at parts. Rewinding certainly helps when watching this. However, as with most good anime, even if there is some plot missing, the end message is fairly clear. The score is amazing. It's rare you hear this kind of music in "regular" movies, much less an animated feature.

In general, I would recommend watching this on DVD, as you will want to rewind at some points, and try to understand certain elements, and/or watch the fast scenes a few more times.

For those who have seen the Escaflowne television series know that it was a beautifully complex shoujou anime with plenty of action, adventure, and romance.

The movie, however, is a completely different animal. Most viewers try to compare the television series to the movie, and thus usually disregard the movie as trash, as it is not a faithful retelling of the series. So, if you haven't seen this movie yet, but have seen the series, remember they are two completely different creatures, each wonderful and unique.

The most noticeable change is in the character design. Nobuteru Yuuki (who also did the designs for Chrono Cross, X, and Record of Lodess War) slightly altered the character's distinctive looks from the TV series. They now closely resemble the characters from Chrono Cross (the similarity between Millerna and Kid is the most obvious). The plot was also trimmed of the intricate subplots to fit into a decent running time, and thus some of the characters from the series do not appear. The biggest change is the inclusion of more action and violence, so we're talking flying body parts and lots of blood spraying. This was done to attract more males to the fanbase as the TV series had a fanbase that was 80% female.

Other things, however, haven't changed. Yoko Kanno and her partner Hajime Mizoguchi return with an excellent score of blended nationalities to give it a truly unique sound that makes it seem as if we are really listening to the music from another world.

Overall, the movie is an excellent example of anime at its best. Between the quality of the animation and overall production, this movie is a must see for anyone who loves any form of animation.

The first thing that struck me about this film was the detailed animation and vividness of the colors. The TV series was known for it's quality animation, and the movie is far better. The story, however, is completely different from the TV series. If you watch this movie, don't compare it to the series, since it's a different story that uses the same characters. The story is fairly dark, but compelling. For action fans, you will find a lot of that in this movie, but romance fans may walk away disappointed. Overall, not great, but a good movie. 6 of 10.