Steamboy/Memories [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Two acclaimed features from visionary anime director Katsuhiro Otomo are paired up in this special DVD twin-pack. Both Steamboy and Memories have been transferred to disc in letterboxed format at their original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and are also enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors. The audio for both films has been mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1; Memories is in Japanese, with optional subtitles in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, while Steamboy features audio tracks in Japanese, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as optional subtitles in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Bonus materials on the Memories disc include a short documentary on the making of the film, interviews with Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto, and Tensai Okamura, three additional short films from Otomo, and coming attractions trailers. Bonus materials on Steamboy include an interview with Otomo, a short documentary on creating the international soundtracks for the movie, production artwork, postcards, sketches, animation drawings, manga stories, and more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English, Spanish, French
• Features:
  • • Re-Voicing Steamboy
    • Interview with Katsuhiro Otomo
    • Multi-screen landscape study featurette
    • The adventure continues (end credits without text)
    • Production drawings
    • Animation onion skins
    • Includes exclusive Otomo illustration postcard
    • Interviews with Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto and Tensai Okamura

AWARDS

• Toronto International Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2004

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura

• Producer:

  Hideyuki Tomioka, Shinji Komori, Shigeru Watanabe

• Screenwriter:

  Katsuhiro Otomo, Sadayuki Murai, Satoshi Kon

• Cinematographer:

  Mitsuhiro Sato

• Composer (Music Score):

  Steve Jablonsky

• Songwriter:

  Hiroyuki Nagashima, Takkyu Ishino, Miyake Jun, Yoko Kanno

• Editor:

  Takeshi Seyama

• Art Director:

  Shinji Kimura, Katsuhiro Otomo, Yuji Ikehata, Mitsuo Koseki, Tatsuya Kushida, Akira Yamakawa, Nizou Yamakawa

• Associate Producer:

  Yoshihiro Ueno, Eiiji Sashida, Tetsuo Gensho, Wataru Tanaka, Taro Morishima, Satoshi Higashi, Kazuhiko Seta, Takehisa Kawamata, Setsuko Azuma

• Executive Producer:

  Shigeru Watanabe, Masao Takiyama, Kazuya Hamana, Takehiko Chino, Ryohei Tsunoda, Tsutomu Takano, Kenji Uchida, Hiroo Murakami, Katsuhiro Otomo

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Keichi Momose, Sadayoshi Fujino

• Animator:

  Toshiyuki Inoue, Hirotsugu Kawasaki, Morifumi Naka, Takaaki Yamashita, Yasuhiro Seo, Atsushi Okuda, Atsushi Aono, Hiroyuki Horiuchi, Masaki Yamada, Naoyuki Onda, Hiroyuki Aoyama, Toru Yoshida, Tsutomu Suzuki, Kunihiro Abe, Koichi Arai, Satoru Nakamura, Yuji Mukoyama, Shinya Takahashi, Kazuto Nakazawa, Masahiro Sekino, Hisashi Eguchi, Koichi Hashimoto, Hidenori Matsubara, Koji Watanabe, Tetsuya Nishio, Hidetsugu Ito, Yasuhiro Aoki, Katsutoshi Tsunoda, Kazuyoshi Yaginuma, Takao Maki, Tatsumori Imoto, Hirofumi Masuda, Takahiro Tanaka, Tadashi Matsuzaki, Susio Ishizaki, Soichiro Matsuda, Takehiro Noda, Kou Yoshinari, Yukihiro Iwata, Masahiko Kubo, Nobutaka Ito, Shigeki Sunada, Mitsuru Ishihara, Takayuki Gorai, Manabu Nakatake, Takashi Hyodo, Takashi Uchida, Masahiro Shimanuki, Shinobu Tagashira, Chuji Nakajima, Tomohiro Takayama, Hironori Sawada, Shigeto Tsuji, Nobuaki Nagano, Mitsuru Obunai, Makoto Yamada, Hitoshi Ueda, Ikuro Kuwana, Koichi Hatsumi, Sawako Yamamoto, Yuji Shigekuni, Kazunari Kume, Hideki Araki, Kazuhiro Soeta, Toshiya Washida, Kensuke Ishikawa, Yukie Sakou, Yutaka Kamogawa, Tsunenaka Nozaki, Kunio Katsuki, Hitomo Tsuruta, Yoko Sato, Eiji Komatsu, Eiji Abiko, Yasushi Ohara, Atsuko Otani, Katsumi Ikeda, Hideki Kakita, Masahiko Itojima, Motonobu Hori, Yuko Sobu, Ryuji Shiromae, Yuichi Takiguchi, Tsutomu Awada, Atsushi Irie, Katsumi Matsuda, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Masaaki Endo, Yasushi Muraki, Syuichi Kaneko, Takashi Hashimoto, Tatsuya Tomaru, Akira Takada

• Production Manager:

  Isao Minegishi, Yasumasa Tsuchiya

• Conception:

  Katsuhiro Otomo

• Voice Director:

  Rick Zieff

• Music Producer:

  Keichi Momose

• Re-Recording Mixer:

  Mark Harris

• Music Producer:

  Alan Meyerson

• Conductor:

  Blake Neely

• Re-Recording Mixer:

  Melissa Hofmann, Eddie Bydalek, J. Stanley Johnston, Craig Mann

• Technical Director:

  Shinichi Matsumi

• Animation Director:

  Shinji Takagi

• Post Production Coordinator:

  Yuko Shimura

• Technical Director:

  Kohei Endo

• Re-Recording Mixer:

  Jon Langford, Phil Lee

REVIEW:

• It's easy to see why Steamboy, the long-awaited film by Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo, took over ten years to come to fruition. The movie is positively bursting with words, images, opinions, characters, and sweeping gestures -- elements that in their overabundance, all detract from each other. Steamboy takes a science fiction look at the birth of the steam age, heavy-handedly casting this revolutionary source of power in the light of today's conflict over nuclear energy. This controversy within the story ignites endless debate between its characters over the true purpose of science, often depicting the polarization with too much bluster to ring true. While it may be a drawback for the film's subtext to hit like a bag of hammers, there is little fault to find with its dauntless art direction. The movie is stylistically epic, sparing no expense with frame upon frame of ornately detailed imagery that frequently overshadows the film's high-minded commentary. Steamboy's aforementioned themes about scientific ethics generate a lot of dialogue, and it appears that Otomo tries to balance all this talk with lengthy action sequences. Unfortunately, more often than not this dichotomy of flashy movement vs. talky exposition has a herky-jerky, stop-start effect, leaving audiences alternately bored and over-stimulated. It's a shame, because Otomo remains an articulate filmmaker. Many of his narrative choices are clever and skillful, such as his use the pubescent character Ray to illustrate not just youthful idealism, but the inevitability of change. Sadly, even Ray's eloquence is swallowed up by Otomo's huge cinematic appetite, as the less than compelling secondary characters in Steamboy tend to steal focus. Ray's only peer, a little girl named Scarlett, is possibly the most gratingly irritating character to ever appear in an anime feature film, while his grandfather spends most of the movie wandering shirtless through the dark corridors of a power plant, raving in a Scottish accent and just begging to be made into a Saturday Night Live character. Perhaps Steamboy would be less of a disappointment if its creator wasn't considered by many to be one of the most important names in anime. Regardless, it's a film that reflects ambition more than achievement. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi