Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

The series from which this spawned, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny were know for having their soppy love moments, but at the forefront was always a serious story and themes of power, politics and regular people getting caught between corrupt leaders waging senseless wars. There were moments of levity and love but the tone was always mature. The love stories were related to the plot.

Gundam Seed Freedom replaces the mature tone for some teenage love drama, and it's ridiculous. Officers fighting over which boy should love who, soldiers acting like kids in high school, all while waging a nuclear war which is incinerating thousands of innocents. It's just laughable.

On the plus side, it is nice to see the characters again, and in beautiful HD animation, despite the fact that the characters don't really act like the same characters from the series. They even throw in a few gooner shots for the pervs. It really is the animation that saves this movie.

Don't even get me started on the English dub. I never understand when a studio takes all the time to produce something from an existing IP but can't even get the pronunciation of the names right. Who is Lacoose?! Fire EaglestelOOnz! Kira YaMOto. Come on. Say the names of everything the same way they were originally pronounced to maintain continuity. They got it even worse than that Last Airbender live action movie did.

Worth watching for the animation. It's also decent nostalgia for those who loved the series, and it's not absolutely terrible. It's dumb but it's not bad. That's the best fans can hope for in this dark era of cinema.