Customer Reviews

Patlabor WXIII - The Movie

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

True, it is a slow-pace movie. However, that aspect is major part of the story. In this movie, action is not the genre. So if you assume this is another mech action flick, it will disappoint you so badly and make you say it aint worth to buying or even watching. Because unlike other 2 movies and TV episodes, camera focuses on two detectives not 2nd team of labor department to lead.

Pro:
1. Beautiful and stuning visual
2. Nice study of biology
3. Detail background of both surroundings and characters
4. Great story line
Con:
1. No memorable music score
2. Mixed genre to may confuse most American audiences
3. Less action than any other

I waould say this is another master piece from Patlabor saga, and give it 5 stars without any question.
This review is based on theatrical release.

This movie is quite different from the previous two Patlabor films, which featured thick plots and excellent characterization against a backdrop of just-in-the-future Tokyo, where giant robots (known as "labors") do most of the work. In Patlabor 3, however, the giant robots are all but forgotten and the primary story is that of a police investigation which takes an extremely dark turn.

The familiar characters, the Mobile Police team, make only a quick appearance in this movie, and their Special Vehicles patrol labors don't really seem to have much to do even then. Most of the film centers around two detectives investigating why certain labors are being attacked near the shores of Tokyo. Just as their search seems to be leading nowhere, they make a dark discovery in the bowels of a building which opens everything up, and suddenly anything seems possible. I have to say, I started to watch this movie expecting something similar to the other two Patlabor movies, and I was quite surprised at the turns it took away from that angle -- surprised in a good way.

The odd thing is that, despite this, Patlabor 3 still feels like a Patlabor movie. The slow, mood-setting shots of industrial Tokyo, the strikingly beautiful animation, the skillful creation of suspense, and the soft musical score all hearken back to the other two films. There's not a lot of connection in the story, but there's still a great deal of connection in how the story is told.

And, taken on its own merits, it's an excellent movie. Lots of twists and turns lead you through a complex sequence of events to what turns out to be a very personal, even moving ending. The denouement of the film lacks the epic, world-shaking quality of the other two movies, but opts instead to leave the viewer thoughtful and sad, as the last few discoveries play against a tragic scene of destruction and death. It left me quiet and introspective as the credits rolled.

This is not the same Patlabor story that I've seen before, and it's definitely not quite what I was expecting. But it's still a fine anime movie, and well worth watching.

Like other reviewers, I agree that this anime is only marginally Patlabor, but that is not to say that it is not intriguing. A typical concept about the evils of genetic engineering is given a spin. A mother's love for her dead daughter leads to the creation of a horrifying genetically engineered creature, with the added angst of a young police detective who is attracted to the woman but has to finally confront the unavoidable fact that his object of attraction is responsible for a scourge of death and horror.
Design wise, this film can take its place with some of the best of modern anime. Camera angles, movements once again, make one forget that this is animation. One of my hallmarks of good anime is that the story, design, animation and music draws one into the STORY. Those of you who like me, love the Special Vehicles Group, might be disappointed that they dont make an appearance until the climax, but give this anime a chance. One more note, the music score can take its place with the first two films, some really beautiful cues are simply heartbreaking make this another winner. As I only have the import DVD, i cannot say who does this score, but its sounds mighty like Mr Kawai, who also did the first two films score. If you are the cautious type, by all means, rent this before buying.

This edition to the Patlabor saga adds a well-crafted, visually striking, and throught-provoking look at two detective's case on a biogenetically constructed monster who is on the loose and is destroying submarines and airplanes left and right. The movie is very slow-paced, and will leave some viewers shaking their heads at the lack of action and violence, however it must be noted that this edition of the Patlabor saga is not for the hardcore fan of nonstop action which previous episodes may have accustomed them to seeing. The action, though not nonexistant, is sparse and often short in its duration. However, to fully appreciate the beauty of this masterpiece one must break out of the need to have action and look at the deeper aspects of the movie.

The psychological problems that a mother of a recently deceased daughter and husband endures propels her to use some of child's cancer cells in order to "revive" her daughter into the form of a monster capable of regenerating its body parts. One of the lead detectives investigating the monster's rampage has trouble believing this paradox at first, but soon realizes that her isolation has pushed her to the brink of insanity towards the end of the movie. This, in turn, leads to the cataclysmic ending in which we see some startling revelations as well as the final confrontation between the monster and the police who're trying to stop it.

Throughout its entirety, the movie is extremely realistic. I was pleased to see that the characters actually resemble Japanese people with a darker skin tone rather than a bleach white color. The fact that the movie most completely revolves around the investigation makes it a little boring, however this only adds to its climax and can fully be appreciated and recognized as a mature anime. In sum, this edition to the Patlabor saga ultimately has to be the finest of them all. The caliber of its animation and the way in which the director was able to keep the storyline realistic while using a bit of fiction with the monster really helped to deveop a top-notch plot. For those looking for a great anime minus the forced humor via sexual puns and overly exaggerated emotions, then by all means check this out.

Ok, first off, let me stress that I LIKED THIS MOVIE! I found it to be enjoyable in a B-movie style, but I would have liked more character development(then again, I love as much of this as I can get) and overall length. I'm a big Production I.G. fan, so I was anxious to see how this one would turn out. I rushed out to buy this DVD and found it to be pretty annoying for two reasons:

1)The animation "runs"(or glitches, it is a weird error) quite a few times during the movie. This isn't something it is supposed to do, it is a messup in the coding as far as I know, and I've never had another high quality anime do this(non-high quality being some hong kong knock-offs I mistakenly ordered).

2) The Japanese 5.1 audio track isn't synched with the video, so you have every sound happening about 1-2 seconds after the motion occurs on screen.

These may seem like small things to gripe about, but I've come to expect better anime treatment from Pioneer, and I was hoping for better transfer quality on a 52$ set.

I checked it through 2 different DVD players, and both problems occured in both players.

If it weren't for these technical flaws, i would have scored it as a 4 or maybe even 5, but they really bummed me out. The extras are cool, if you're an I.G. or Patlabor fan, they are something you can really dig. My biggest problem was that although I love cool extras, I buy a DVD for the movie above all. When the transfer is so flawed that it noticeably distracts me from the movie, I get ticked. :(

I had initially been dissuaded from purchasing this movie because of the poor reviews. However, this movie can be excellent, depending on your perspective. The animation in the movie was spectactular. The attention to detail was surprisingly better than Patlabor the Movie 2(my overall favorite of the trio). There were tons of transition scenes(car rides and walks through the city) that make the film more 3-dimensional. There was a scene where the detectives are interviewing a deaf woman and she signs her answers. I was impressed the animators decided to add this bit of detail. I give the animation itself a 5+. I think this one actually raised the bar higher for Japanese animation. The music is also very PatLabor 2-like.

I also like the fact that this movie is more character and less mecha driven. The pace is a lot slower(very few action scenes) than the first two Patlabor movies so each interaction between the characters is significant. There is an underlying tension initially between the two detectives that adds another aspect to the overall story.

Where the movie falls on its face(besides being only loosely related to the PatLabor franchise) is where it goes over very familiar ground. If you have seen the Fly, Species or any of the genetic-experiment-gone-wrong movies from anime, then the story in this one will have nothing to offer you. It is unfortunate that the writing on this flick could not keep up with the dazzling animation. I think if you put the whole monster story into the background, then this film becomes a lot more enjoyable. I would have preferred to have seen a straight-ahead classic detective story instead of a retread of tired themes.

Overall I give the storyline a 2. I wish Amazon would allow people to rate the cinematography/animation separately from the story itself. My final rating in no way should detract from the detail worked that went into making this a gorgeous flick. I'm into high-end animation so I enjoy having this one in my collection.

Finally, if you get the DVD set with the Mini-Pato featurette then you are in for a treat. The featurette is about 35 minutes long and is very clever. It was refreshing to see another example of how the folk at Production I.G. are pushing animation boundaries.

Though I didn`t receive my order from amazon (out of stock)I had already enjoyed this movie in a previous ocasion.

After spending a year and a half living in Japan I`m convinced the japanese character has, as a matter of fact, very little to do with mutant monsters and people sporting giant mechanical armours.

Patlabour The Movie, unusually, choses to spend very little time displaying mutant monsters wreaking utter destruction, even though the plot does involve monsters and squads of mechanical heroes.
From the looks of the main characters (tanned skin color, slanted eyes) to their personality and interactions Patlabour seems to look for a more realistic update of the Japanese character that the typical monster movie has being selling us.
While the pace is somewhat slow and the action scenes tend to be very un-heroic, scenes such as an elderly couple feeding their pet fish, or the two main characters having a very civilized altercation inside a typical Tokyo middle aged bachelor`s apartment, or the same characters slurping icecreams in a Tokyo suburb brings a surprising closeness to the average japanese person day to day.
Don`t expect much excitement from this movie. Instead, enjoy it as a window into the life of contemporary Japan.

Ok, this is not about that this one has nothing to do with the Patlabor Series or the two Movies. This is about a story, that is so worn out and thin, even or especially in the Anime genre, that is disguised as a visual Police movie. While the movie avoids being a action/horror b-movie, it's a c-grade police movie instead. The thin story is disguised by the visual narrative stolen from the original Patlabor movies. Where in those the slow narrative unfolding had a meaning and sense, WXIII just makes an empty gesture.
It COULD have been an acceptable Action/Horror b-movie with this worn out genetic-mutation theme but as it is, it's merely worth the time watching it one time and then go ahead.

For years, "Akira" was the Gold Standard, the movie that you showed to your non-anime fans to turn them into true believers. With "Patlabor WXIII: The Movie", "Akira" is dethroned.
This movie, is, without a doubt the new feature movie anime that all others will be measured against.
It's a movie that takes it's time, in a poetic way, to tell the story of two detectives who are trying to solve a series of brutal murders. Like the best episode of "Homicide: LOTS" or "NYPD Blue" the story gradually unfolds involving bioengineering, death of loved ones due to cancer, a tragic failed attempt at romance by the younger detective, and the realization of age and decay by the older.
Each frame is breathtakingly beautiful, the music is hypnotic and the director makes full use of the Surround Sound 5.1 in the effects.
The Special Forces Unit 2, our regular stable of Patlabor characters are a small but important part at the end of the movie, but their absence is not important. What is important is the story and how it unfolds.
This is the movie to rent, then own, to show others what anime is all about.

As an American Anime fan I backed into the Patlabor series meaning I bought the first two movies before I had seen any of the OVA series at all and well I loved the films. I have been periodically picking up the original 2 series as they come out on DVD and when I heard a third movie was on it's way out I was ecstatic. Well, once it was available I picked it up and watched it immdeiately. Now here's what I have to say. This IS A GOOD MOVIE! Compared to most Anime I found this story to be very standard but the characters and animation were strong enough to make it interesting. Following in the lines with the Second Patlabor film the story moves at a very slow pace with many musical interludes focusing on the lives of the main characters accompanied by no dialouge. The animation is beautiful and is probably the best in any of the Patlabor series. The two main characters are well done with the main detective a carryover charater from the second film. Detective Hata is a new character and is the true main character. What was dissappointing about this film is it really isn't a Patlabor film. Aside from the main detective being a carryover character Section 2 characters barely have a role and for the most part don't even appear until the end of the film. Captain Goah has 3 lines I believe and even less for any others. In fact the patlabors are nto even seen until the end and onlty for perhaps 5 minutes. Following in line with the original two films the film is pure story and slow plot development for about 2 hours and then culminates in a decisive battle. So don't expect an action packed shoot-em-up here. For the basic DVD which I purchased the extra features are pretty lacking aside from some trailers and previews there isn't much else worth while. I thought the image quality and audio was very well done on this DVD. So if your a fan of the Patlabor movie series especially the 2nd you will enjoy this film just don't expect to see much of the Patlabors since this story barely concerns them.