If anything, the story of Berserk needs to be expanded upon, not shortened. Basically, they are taking a 10-hour long show, improving the visuals, and reducing to the story to 3-4 hours. I'm curious who thought this would be a good idea. Many pivotal moments that occurred during the series were completely glossed over in this movie, and in many cases, left out entirely. What was great about the show was the emphasis on the story and character development. How can you develop the characters when you're cramming everything into such a short amount of time? Sure, the re-imagined action sequences and animation are great to look at, but that was only ever a small part of what made the series so good. Berserk being my favorite (if not, second favorite) anime of all time, this was doomed to fail for me. This first part is entertaining, sure, but doesn't do justice to the original series. It's just not possible. That being said, it might be a decent watch if you're a first time viewer of Berserk, but for true fans of the show, I don't see how this could be acceptable. They should have just redone the entire series and gave it a proper ending. Or, continued the show from where the original left off. I'm certain either of these options would please fans more, rather than giving them cheapened, hyped-up movies. I'll watch the rest of the movies just to see how they turn out, but I suspect I'll be disappointed with the rest. I can only give the first part a biased 5 out of 10.

After several months of anticipation I just got to watch Berserk - The Golden Age Arc Chapter I - The Egg of the King, and as a fan of both the Manga Comic and the animated TV series, I was not the least disappointed. This movie kicks ass! I was perhaps most amazed of the battles, which come off as extremely vivid and original.Many will compare this movie to the animated series, and yes, some things have changed, as this format is much more time-limited. The exclusion of some scenes and moments to the benefit of other, might make the movie feel as a summary of the series. The much loved musical themes of the series have also been changed, something I expected, yet hoped would stay the same as I really liked them. On the other hand, we get to see Guts and Griffith swinging their swords in a much more vivid graphical universe, which I think the story deserves! As the above mentioned mainly comes down to a matter of taste, the main problem with this movie is that it doesn't focus as much on character development as the original comic and animated series did. This will create some moments which new viewers couldn't possibly make full sense of. However, for any passionate Berserk-fan, this should not be a deal-breaker, as it is still a great movie, true to the original story.

I liked very much the original "Berserk" anime series, so when this movie was announced, I wasn't sure about what to expect.However, I have to say that I'm pretty satisfied with what I saw, which keep all the good elements from the story, being a more ambitious adaptation of the comic created by Kentaro Miura, with all the possibilities that modern animation could offer.The battle scenes from this movie are quite impressive and pretty well done, at first I had my doubts of use of CGI animation, but the final result was pretty well done. The designs were good too, even when I liked more the art from the first anime series, this does still have the essence of the source material, something that made this a more than worth-watching experience.I now have high expectations about the sequels, and I hope that now the entire "Berserk" story get an animated adaptation.

So I watched the first new Berserk movie subtitled last night, and on the whole I was impressed with not only the visual similarities to the manga, but also the overall flow and feel of the movie. I have read every chapter of Berserk manga so far and it is my favorite series ever. Action /fighting scenes are very well done, and really does a great job in immersing you into the story. And of course, plenty of violence. I enjoyed how the writers incorporated many plot points from the manga that were missing from the '97 anime series, including the whole 'Gatts being raped as a kid thing', and from the looks of the intro for the movie, which features characters from later on in the manga, the writers don't seem to be taking out too much of the original story. And now for the bad parts about this movie. The CGI effects, which are ubiquitous throughout this film, seem extremely inconsistent. Some scenes it's great and looks really well done, and some scenes look like a bad Playstation 1 game cutscene. It's really strange and kind of ruins the movie a little bit. Also, I felt character developed was hashed out and streamlined, I thought that viewers who were new to the series wouldn't quite grasp the relationship between Gutts, Griffith, and the rest of the band of the hawk. Ancillary characters in the manga such as Pippin, Judeau, Rickert, even Corkus had little to no lines in the movie. I feel as though this doesn't allow you to become fully invested in the characters and their lives. Overall, this one is definitely worth the watch, but it will leave you craving the second and third movies, and just made me want to watch the anime series over again.