Movie Review: Steam Boy

I watched "Steam Boy" [back in April 2006]. It's supposedly anime by one of Japan's biggest names in that field. Having seen it I kind of doubt that it's real anime.

First of all, the characters didn't look like they were inspired by black velvet paintings of mexican kids. I could excuse that by saying that the characters were English and American instead of Japanese so their eyes are smaller. It's best if you don't think about that statement too much.

Second, the story made complete sense. No animals were slowly turning into a mass of worms. No strange ending that makes it appear that the hero was trying to destroy the world. Nothing that really makes the viewer say "what the fuck was that?"

Third, none of the kids were throwing decks of cards at people.

Fourth, the animation has advanced beyond 3 frames per second. This doesn't really count because they've apparently had this full speed animation technology for 4 or 5 years now and have started using it in many of their cartoons.

Fifth, the english translation meshed up with the mouth movements reasonably well.

So having established that Steam Boy isn't anime I can safely recommend it.