Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 88
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 36
The story isn't the greatest, but there's an abundance of sci-fi eye candy to compensate.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 12
The story isn't the greatest, but there's an abundance of sci-fi eye candy to compensate.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 14,447
Katsuhiro Otomo, director of the groundbreaking anime feature Akira (1988), returns with this visually striking fusion of the past and the future. It's the Industrial Age in England, reimagined, and various and sundry inventors and scientists are arriving in Britain to hawk their products while capitalism rears its ugly head. A gadget-happy British lad named Ray (voice of Anna Paquin) receives a mysterious package from his grandfather Lloyd Steam (Patrick Stewart) -- a tiny ball that turns out
PG-13, 2 hr. 6 min.
Drama, Animation, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Mar 18, 2005 Wide
Jul 26, 2005
$0.3M
Sony Pictures Entertainment
All Critics (97) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (36) | DVD (19)
It's a sensationally designed piece of work.
Its problem is not a lack of things to look at. There's plenty of them, and they're all cool. It's just that, in this world of clanking, hissing machines, even the people seem like robots.
The movie never transcended its elaborate production work to achieve an independent reality. It's simply pictures of what never happened.
Steamboy, ultimately, shares deep-seated themes with the futuristic Akira. Both offer cautionary tales about scientific responsibility and the evils of war. And both look pretty cool, too.
Steamboy is breathtakingly detailed and ambitious beyond anything I have ever seen in the realm of animation. But the chase goes on much too long, and Ray and Scarlett are never still long enough to develop any inner resonance or romantic rapport.
Despite its wild dreams, it becomes just another rusty piece of animated machinery, going through the motions somewhat mechanically.
Animated film is too violent for younger kids.
The film's extended debates on the ethics of science, government and personal responsibility would recommend it to critics of a medium that too often panders to audiences.
Visually impressive, but I thought it was never going to end.
It may be one of the most expensive anime features ever, but there isn't a wealth of entertainment on offer in Steamboy.
This is as close to the great Speed Racer hero of my generation that this generation has come up with so far.
This being a "Collector's Gift Set", it's not only the DVD that has some good extras...
In the movies, action doesn't necessarily equal a reaction.
Not at all what I was expecting, but enjoyable none the less. A bit long in my opinion, but lots of cool concepts and visuals.
May 8, 2009Super Reviewer
This Japanese computer-generated anime is cool, starts out as a nice Jule Verne-style adventure, but the story is too complicated and talky to maintain momentum. Animation of the machines is smooth and graceful, but the characters are stiff and charmless.
May 13, 2007
Super Reviewer
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