Escaflowne The Movie - A Girl In Gaea

[Asarta]

I watched Escaflowne the film, stupidly quite soon after the series which is  a really good anime storyline characters and artwork and the musicial score outstanding. my friend brought the film round tonight and i will say before i begin the artwork and music score where quality that where the praise ends.
never have i seen such a bad plot to a film after seeing the series, for one all of characters where there, but did nothing apart from sit in the background all of the realationships between them well none existence apart from the hitomi and van, with that she changes from this emo kid that wants to kill herself to caring loving girl, execuse me did i miss somthing in the film or did she figure this out off set ^^. Folken as the main bad guy /sigh mean come on ahh poor guy dosnt become king so goes physco kills everyone. wtf was up with Escaflowne its self, looked wrong saw it for about 10 mins in the whole film. stop venting anger now but who could you make such a good looking film as desirable as hemroids.

ps sorry if i pissed off anyone who actally liked that film storyline wise anyways

[iindigo]

I totally agree. While the art and music for the movie were both good, the story sucked. Bad.

The series, in comparison, while not having the best art (though it was decent) and decent music, had a great story and good pacing throughout the entire run. It's a shame they didn't do better on the movie.

[Asarta]

classic example of spending far too much money on the art and forsaking the storyline and screenplay side.

[Havoc10K]

l pretty much forgot about what it was about, but when l saw the title gaea l remembered, l think you should watch the movie before the series, and then the series, cuz the movie doesn't make much sense l'm affraid, the movie is good, but you need to see the series AFTER the movie. tough the movie was after the series l know. :] 2 bits from me, cuz l watched series after the movie l was pretty much satisfied ;]

[dbml]

I watched the movie before the series as well. I'm glad I did, as I think I enjoyed the movie more because of it. The series was pretty bland to me though

[Asarta]

Wish watched the film first, kinda see what you mean with bland, personally i enjoyed it but each to there own maybe coz of the music that reminded me of final fantasy

[vicious796]

classic example of spending far too much money on the art and forsaking the storyline and screenplay side.

I think it's more of an example of people trying to one-up what is a "classic" anime. They didn't want to just retell the story in 2 hours, they wanted to remake it and they made some wrong turns.

[joeystrummer]

Its damn difficult to watch the movie after the series and try to enjoy the movie for its own sake. There are some gems here, like, as others have mentioned, the music and the art.

Though it isn't nearly as defined as the series', the world of A Girl in Gaea intrigues me; I found myself desperately wanting to know more about it and to explore it. For example, I don't remember anthropomorphic animals featuring as heavily into the series; they were present, but there wasn't much indication of their place in the world aside from what we're shown through the stories of Folken's two cat-girl cronies. But beastmen played a significant role in the movie, and it left me hungry for more information.

I also liked black-hat villain Folken. I liked the more ambiguous Folken from the series as well, but movie Folken found a place among some of my favourite villains. The conflicts of his character spring from very real places: quarrels over succession are classic and well documented and envy is something everyone struggles with. I did not like Dornkirk in the series, and setting up Folken in his place as the main villain really endeared it to me.

The characterization of some of the other characters is also better than I think others will give it credit for. I agree entirely that many faces seem to be in the movie for a cameo only, such as Milerna and Allen; again, their brief appearances left me wanting to know more about them and what their stories were. Hitomi and Van receive more attention and are richer for it. I can't argue with the point made initially that Hitomi's growth seems to come out of no where; but at the same time, the Hitomi we see through the first half of the movie is a character that many people can sympathize with, even in her extraordinary surroundings. We don't necessarily see the source of her conflict, but I think the writers are relying on us to see that this is a teenage girl who is disillusioned with life; its up to you to decide if that's enough.

Now, I've stood over this river and panned a few flecks of gold from the mud. The movie was a disappointment following such a great series, there's no question. But I took a few good things from it, and if I went and watched it again (its been several years) I am sure I could list a few more.

[Asarta]

You make very good points about the film, yeah it was not defined as the seriers but 2 hours maybe not quite as easy, yes its does leave quite a few questions about Gaea and Hitomi like films to leave you to think about what you have seen, but dosnt mean the viewier should have to make wild assumations of plots and shaping of character.

And yes maybe folken wasnt that bad a bad guy because people can realate to envy but again dosnt say why van was to be king instead of folken , this just part of my logic saying that he should have been king older, wiser ect but preordained that van is king why again is left in my mind.
Ok just to add wasnt the emo part of hitomi that pissed me off more to the fact was again why did she want to kill herself and she felt soo alone did she not have parents did she not have friends, means yes that not allways helps in depressions i know speak from experience, not wanting to kill myself but there allways a reason and i can realate to hitomi in the fact thought i was alone after my gf for 4 years left frends family ect didnt matter, but my point is just leaves the viewer to make assumtions again and yes you would be quite spun out to say the least in a new world.

[ray1301]

I don't think I ever watched the movie but I did watch the series, hard to rewatch a condensed version of something you already seen before. On a plus side the music for the series was great and was done by Yoko Kanno (also did GITS music too which I liked), wonder if she did the movie's music too.

[Asarta]

I don't think I ever watched the movie but I did watch the series, hard to rewatch a condensed version of something you already seen before. On a plus side the music for the series was great and was done by Yoko Kanno (also did GITS music too which I liked), wonder if she did the movie's music too.

Yeah she did do the music to the film and again the music was great 

[joeystrummer]

Everything you've brought up Asarta is a valid point; I think the best way to sum it up is that the movie promises us so much that is just never delivered. Erecting a new Gaea and giving the characters we knew entirely different stories leaves us with many more questions than answers, and ultimately disappoints us. There was a good idea here, but it died trying to be born.

[Asarta]

Everything you've brought up Asarta is a valid point; I think the best way to sum it up is that the movie promises us so much that is just never delivered. Erecting a new Gaea and giving the characters we knew entirely different stories leaves us with many more questions than answers, and ultimately disappoints us. There was a good idea here, but it died trying to be born.

Exactly

[bakkagirl]

Actually, I watched the movie first. I rented it from BlockBuster. After I watched the movie which sucked BIG time!  I put off watching the series. When I finally watched the series I could have kicked myself in the butt. I love the series.  It is one of my favorites. I can watch it all the time.