This movie had really beautiful animation in parts, but the plot is severely lacking, and character development is almost non-existent. I thought the fist forty five minutes showed potential, but it just went down hill. There was no attachment to the characters or their world. I found myself wishing the villain would win because they gave no better alternative. The forest and the druids were portrayed as cultish dictators who could drain the water from the towns at will. And for the humans who left there small patch of land, the forest attacked them. Why not bomb it and pick up the pieces afterwards? If you want to watch a somewhat similar story showing the tensions between industrialization and nature done right,watch Nausicaa Valley of the Wind made by Hayao Miyazaki.

This is a film with much promise but unfortunately does not quite live up to its excellent premise. Directed by Keiichi Sugiyama, Origin is his first feature film. The story revolves around young Agito a local to the post-apocalyptic town where the film is set and a girl, Toola, who is awoken from a cryo pod. Toola is seduced by a fellow survivor and is sent on a mission to try make things the way they were, Agito meanwhile tries to convince Toola that his way of life is a good one, and stops the plan.There are two very promising elements in this film, the first is the showing of 'smart phone/tab' style technology which has become so integral to those from the pasts day-to-day life, the device is shown to activate all manner of objects, used as a map, and a phone. The real world relevance is obvious and with society moving in a direction whereby our smart phones and tabs are used so frequently and for such a wide variety of things that there future vision of similar devices doesn't seem far-fetched. What is even more interesting is that the device is not the cause of the disaster which ended civilization, where most science-fiction is quick to blame humanities increasing obsession with this form of technology this film leaves those concerns out, which is very refreshing. The second and most interesting element is the cause for the end of civilization, an accident when terraforming the moon. Terraforming has long been a staple of science-fiction, but in this film the terraforming backfires, destroying the moon in one of the most beautifully animated sequences, and launching intelligent plant life at the earth. It is very refreshing to see the staple of the genre backfire, unfortunately this aspect is not explored strongly enough.Origin for all its promise just doesn't reach its potential, heavily mining from Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 classic, Naussica, to the point of near plagiarism. At least Sugiyama borrowed from the best. The characters are also problematic, with each of them very one-dimensional in nature. The closing scene is also ridiculous, unfortunately the use of a walking volcano, that is a previously rooted volcano sprouting metal legs and moving toward the town, was ill advised and perhaps ruined a perfectly good film.Overall the film deserves credit for trying to deal with a very interesting subject, and its animation is stunning, the score is beautiful and works exceptionally well with the style of animation, unfortunately poor character development and the aforementioned volcano incident take a good film and make it an average one.

Roughly the first 30 minutes of this movie were actually quite entertaining despite ripping Laputa and Nausicaa. We get to see a glimpse into the everyday life of a people adapted to living in the relatively difficult circumstances. Characters and the Neutral City are well introduced and the slower pace suits the movie well. The rest of the movie however is an absolute disaster. Badly written, uninteresting, clichéd and just plain stupid. We get absolutely dull villains, a walking volcano, useless crying heroine and magic forest superhero powers. Even the pretty visuals of the first half of the movie seem to evaporate towards the end.As pointed out in the other reviews: If you have seen Nausicaa then don't bother with Origin. Nausicaa did everything better. And even if you haven't don't bother with Origin, watch Nausicaa instead.

Well, the movie began with a great start. The art is AMAZING! Absolutely breathtaking CGI mixed with beautiful cell animation. The opening sequence alone is worth seeing the movie for, and the music that plays over it is riveting.The classic struggle of Man Vs Nature is displayed very well with the crumbling town, the militaristic city, and the dangerous forest. "Modern" humanity as we know it is represented by a man and a girl who have each reawakened to this distorted future where man is at war with nature.However, the good stuff basically ends there. In short, this movie is great visually, but it doesn't have much of a plot. If you're watching this and expecting something like Hayao Miyazaki than think again.*SPOILERS* The first have of the movie is great, but the second half is terrible. Basically, this guy chases this girl for a while and screams her name a few times. Then he realizes that everyone can be at peace by just changing their perspective and guess what? Everyone else agrees with him and they all become better people. Sure, there's a bit of originality throughout the whole thing, but that doesn't change the fact that the ending is incredibly lacking. Everyone just kind of changes their perspectives, but no one really changes.Oh, and the characters that are supposed to be driving the action of the whole thing just fall flat. Romance? Heck no. Friendship? Well, I'll admit that I wouldn't make a deal with the forest twins and chase after just anyone, but would it have been so horrible for GONZO to throw in a few bonding scenes? Just stating that you like the guy does NOT mean you've developed a deep lasting bond. *SPOILER END* Conclusion: If you're looking for a movie with a complex and engrossing plot, look somewhere else. However, if you're looking for a movie with great visuals and a... well a story to tell, then you'll probably enjoy this one. I personally loved the art enough to buy it, and the story isn't so bad that it can't be swallowed. So give it a chance, but don't expect too much out of it.