Indeed, as the title suggests, this movie surprised all its viewers with huge changes in the original plot, setting it apart from the original, and making it arguably, even better. Since I don't know of many things I could possibly say that haven't already been said about this fantastic Movie, I'll give the basics: The animation is, as expected, amazing. Very polished, vibrant and beautiful. The characters are believable. People can argue about the Main Characters "Whining" and 'Emo-ness" all they want, but I think that the ones who dislike him for that might as well say that they are disliking him because, instead of being the generic Anime Macho Bada**, Shinji is realistic. The other characters are fantastic too, and likable. Even Asuka, despite her attitude. Its a shame that she... well you'll see if you watch. The dubbing, though there are quite a few dub haters out there, as very... VERY good. A huge improvement over the original (But in all honestly I prefer the originals. Its just because of the Nostalgia factor though...) And of course, the endings gigantic Cliff Hanger is killer, and made me squeal for 3.33 to come out already. And I'm sure that 3.33 will be no less if not more amazing than this.

I watched Evangelion as a teenager and liked many aspects of it. However the series was very weak and repetitive in the middle and clearly suffered production difficulties near the end. The movies didn't do much for me after the initial epic-scope aesthetics of End of Evangelion had worn off. Now more than 10 years later I'm pretty happy that things have been reordered and re-rendered to make the series into what it should really have been in the first place.I don't like the fact than Anno Hideaki has been able to milk the somewhat unfinished series for so much cash and so many editions (not to mention pachinko machines) so far, but taking 1.0 and 2.0 as stand-alone works (and ignoring their pretentious titles) is pretty satisfying.Story 8/10 Good: much more than a rehash of the series. The story is fleshed out in some of the most necessary places and feels so much tighter and more concentrated than anything that has come before. Some awesome new snippets of what is to come later in the series add some satisfying excitement.However, there is still an element of "here comes the next baddie" which gets a little tiresome. It is dealt with much more effectively here than the series, but it's still predictable. Nevertheless, despite giving the impression of being about to enter the full-on "monster of the week" barrage, it never really does, which is a blessed relief. The interactions of the characters are becoming more believable, and individual personalities are being better exposed and explained.But, and it's a necessary but, what's the deal with the fan-service? Come on, man. Take yourself seriously, won't you? Animation 9/10 Well, it teetered between absolutely superb and a little disappointing. The budget was clearly insanely high. Action sequences are fantastically detailed and choreographed for the main part, although suffer from gratuitous flailing of limbs and ridiculous acrobats which unfortunately dumb it down a little. Backgrounds are simply amazing. The detail and range is incredible. The failings lie in the characters. Sometimes character faces and expressions look out of place by their simplicity. The broad pen pines and over-simple shading are a bit of a let-down.Sound 7.5/10 Not particularly amazing. Again we see the technique of using a mixture of classical and children's music for depth and vulnerability. I'm surprised at some of the choices though. For example, one of the children's songs used is very popular in Japan and often used in elementary schools. The manner in which it is normally used makes its appearance in the film almost comical; which can't have been the intention. Not really knowing many Japanese people who care that much about anime I haven't been able to ask what they though, but it seemed a bit silly to me.The Japanese people speaking English throughout the film are incredibly embarrassing. What a huge mis-calculation. How hard is it to train people to say a small number of lines in a natural way? Characters 8.5 Although some of the characters (particularly Asuka) seem to have become even less likable, for the most part the big-hitters have only improved. Although there is little time left for the minor-characters to develop or even really be involved, the well-developed personalities of the leads take somewhat new directions in their relations to one another. The relationship between teen-sap Shinji and his father has a more satisfying and somewhat relatable edge to it now, and Rei's annoyingly hyperbolic meekness has been flatted out to something more forgiving. All in all, satisfying.And the new lead, Mari, is much better than (at least I) predicted. She has a very interesting relationship with herself, and pain. I am definitely looking forward to her future development.Eva designs seem to have changed slightly around the waist which was a curious choice, and doesn't add much to their attractiveness. In contrast, the Angels have been changed for the better. The old, sometimes Ultraman-ish designs were sometimes a little... Ultraman-ish. The reduced number and better designs have helped things along well.Overall 8.5/10 Overall satisfying. For me the film didn't quite have the intensity ascribed to it by others, and the ending I thought actually lacked a little emotional attachment. I also thought that the amazing animation and choreography discussed above wasn't nearly as good near the end as it was earlier in the feature. But despite this, as a whole this movie blows the series out of the water. So much which was unsatisfactory is now shiny and new. Whether or not I would feel this way about the film without having seen the rest of the franchise is anyone's guess, but I really enjoyed it. Good work, keep it up.

The first Rebuild Of Evangelion gave audiences and fans just about the first 6 episodes of the original series with some small differences but showed promise and pointed to the fact that Anno might be heading to a different direction with the Rebuild series than his original Anime show.You Can (Not) Advance does take the series into a completely new direction and actually changes situations that fans of the original series are familiar with for the better and actually drops the angsty over-philosophical dribble that hurt his original engaging creation. Characters develop new relationships and interact differently from the show. The three EVA pilots from the original series get some great development here and differ a lot from NGE in a very good way. New characters are introduced, stakes are raised and the film has a lot of build up which boils down to one hell of a climax.The film has a more intense tone this time around and is very fast paced. The action is incredibly engaging and the film is the first in a while that has gotten my heart beating like crazy during the intense action on-screen. The film does give you breathing space with lighthearted interactions between characters and humor and thus makes it less heavy overall than NGE and EOE even though it certainly is more gruesome and still has it's moments of pure nightmare fuel.The Score of Evangelion is at it's best in this film and truly delivers. It varies from beautifully orchestrated racing score to sweet and engaging J-pop and Anno sure makes the out-of-place songs fit as well as he did in the show and EOE. The entire experience watching this addition to the series is unforgettable and gives me much hope for even more improvement in the next two installments.Overall the film is a vast improvement for the series and hints at better things to come with it's significant changes and has raised the stakes for the Evangelion universe. Anno seems to have gotten over his depression completely and bloomed into a true crafter of worlds and emotionally charged storytelling.

Let me start by saying that I consider the original Evangelion show as one of the best animes ever made. One thing in particular made it special: the characters.Back then we got to spend a great deal of time with Shinji a teenager with a huge responsibility on his shoulders who does not carry it easily like an action hero stereotype but is rather deeply hurt by it and by his relationship with his father. I look at the Shinji in this movie and yes, he does seem a bit shy and... but wait! there's a big action sequence coming up! Damn does the new angel design look cool! Oh yes, where were we? The characters... well in the original series there was that totally weird blue haired girl the likes of which we'd never seen in another anime before. Rei was such an enigma, you had to guess if she was even human or not. Thankfully this is fixed now and yes, she is a bit strange... but wait! Big action sequence coming through! 10 minutes of gorgeous explosions and punches! Yay, this is amazing!! So back to Rei.. now she is cooking for a party. Isn't this lovely, that's more how a young girl should behave. Not like that Asuka who is now in an aggressive mood. Always. In the original show she used to be a lot more likable, maybe because we could see a more childish side of her. Now she's this annoying genius who feels lonely and... But wait another super-cool fight is starting after this 38th panty shot! Wow it's our new character! She's great and she's... umm...she's like...well... i don't really know, but she kicks ass!! This rebuild of Evangelion is so cool!!! Yeah...