I am a big fan of Mamoru's work. He has a specific style in which many aspects of the story are not explained. Here we have Final Fantasy like computer graphics with live actors and one Basset hound running around. Very unique vehicles, ships and armor design. Quite good action/battle scenes. But plot is hard to understand and should have more detail, it is hard to follow since you are dropped in the middle of entire culture clash with just scraps of information to go on.I enjoyed it since it was like watching newer Final Fantasy movies, some scenes reminded me of Avalon (also Mamoru's work). And give it 7 out of 10 especially because of amazing graphics and fights scenes. Dialog could use improvement.

I stumbled upon this movie during bad weather stuck inside home and I enjoyed the acting and the great FX. It seems like the Japanese are able to lend a much more pronounced artistic effect with their FX styles. However, I was very disappointed with the three endings. The first ending which used a childlike 'China doll' to represent evil forces seems like a cop-out to me. The second ending with mechanical snakes was just weird. In both cases - it was like the film maker had run out of ideas OR budget with which to end the film. Maybe I missed something of meaning hidden in that imagery. And the 'third' later ending showing another follow-up war was confusing. Was it a hint at a sequel? To my way of thinking, I felt that the movie's actors and viewers deserved a better ending.

This movie is stale. Before I watched it I had a moderate expectations. Trailer looked OK, director made couple of good animes in the past, so I thought - this movie will be fun. Man, was I wrong. I watched half of the movie and then I decided to make this review so I would save you hour and a half of your life. Story is obviously recycled from milions of similar mangas and animes that were created up until now. The sound is borrowed from Final Fantasy VII game, especially in dialogs. They use this filter that looks like you're watching movie with green RayBan's. Movie depends on dialogs to move on the story and not on action (slow story developing) and combat scenes are... not good. Animations in the movie are mediocre and ... I will say no more. Enjoy if you can!

It hurts so much that I didn't like this film. It was disappointing from start to finish, but from distinct reasons.First of all there was the visual effect applied everywhere, something like a glow with an extra color saturation. It made everything feel cheap and fake. Then there was the script, which started getting more and more holes, with the characters doing what they needed to do to further the script, regardless of continuity. And then, after all this, the ending is revealed to be no ending at all, just an abrupt cliffhanger that hopes to lead to a continuation. Add to it the pseudo-religious parables and you get a cheap looking film that makes less sense than The Matrix.I so wanted to see Oshii making it out there in the live action area. I so wanted Durand to finally show his potential as a main character in a powerful film. Yet, besides the nice world design and the always fascinating music of Kenji Kawai, this film was a failure.