Customer Reviews

Slayers: The Motion Picture [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every reviewer is subject to certain embarrassing moments when they are solemnly reading or watching and suddenly a voice goes of in their heads that says "Yo!! This is funny!" I have spent so much time lately with the heavier anime films that it took me more than a few minutes to realize that 'Slayers' is a pure and joyous romp, full of sly and not so sly innuendoes, exaggerated action, and villains that are ridiculous rather than sublime. After puzzling over the dour messages of Akira or Evangelion this confection put together by Kazuo Yamazaki, based on the original work of Hazime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi, is the perfect heart's ease.

Lina Inverse is a mage endowed with considerable power, who is less fortunate elsewhere (I would not mention this if it were not for the fact that it is the film's longest running joke). Playing Cordelia to Lina's Willow is Nahga, another mage, but one whose blandishments are distracting. Nahga also has a bad habit of casting spells that create magical seafood salad. These two young ladies are off to Mipross Island to frolic in the hot springs and enjoy the scenery.

Of course, all is not as wonderful as it seems. Lina is bothered by an old man who keeps interfering in her dreams, Nahga discovers the natural hot springs are fakes, and the two must conquer a string of 'toughest guys on the island.' Lina proves easily that she is really the island's toughest guy. Or, she almost does, at least until they run into Michigan J. Joyrock, a frog who also happens to be the toughest demon on the island. Now the two women and Rowdy the Sage are locked in a deadly fight with an impervious demon who has an irritating habit of going 'bwahaha.' Their only hope is to reroute the river of time itself.

For a light-hearted farce with some burlesque dialogue, the film is very enjoyable. The plot never gets monotonous, the acting in both the English and Japanese versions is excellent, and the artwork is surprisingly good. The film may be silly, but it isn't trashy. By all means, track it down, and watch it a few times. Sometimes you just don't want to have to think.

This was the very first Slayers DVD I ever bought, and I wasn't disappointed, it was funny and had lots of action, even a little drama and romance. I'm not going to bother and try and explain the characters, since practically every other review does that, so all I have to say is that if you are a fan of any of these attributes in an anime, pick it up, you won't be sorry. There was only one small gripe I had, but it was small, while listening to the Japanese language with English subtitles, on scene 2 when Lina is talking to a bandit she tied up, the subtitle sort of appears and disappears in a split nanosecond before it is even able to be read, the only way I was able to read it was by pausing and going frame by frame to catch the subtitle, same thing goes with the Spanish subtitle. But enough about the con/negative; this movie has lots of pros/positives, the Japanese and English voices are all good. Lina and Naga from both languages have voices that suit them both, the time travel plot is interesting, the villian is ugly and evil, the comments about Lina being short startured, feather-brained, and small breasted crack me up, and Naga is well...very grown up in all the right places! Buy this DVD, buy it, buy it, BUY IT!!!!!

As with most TV to movie features, Slayers the Motion Picture deviates significantly from the original TV series. The movie is a side story, of a younger Lina traveling with her friend and rival, Naga the Serpent. Through serendipitous events, the two end up vacationing on Mipross Island, a mysterious tourist spot famous for its hot springs. Here the two are beseeched to undertake a quest, to set right a wrong committed in the islands past, leading to the cliché high stakes conflict. Would it really be a movie without it? Despite the movie conventions, the comedy is outstanding and makes this a really enjoyable film. The stream of increasingly more powerful opponents succeed as memorable comic villains. The addition of Naga creates a quality, two-man comedy act. Though fans may be disappointed with the exclusion of the characters from the TV show, I think the humor works well, and fans will enjoy copious jabs at Lina's inadequacy complex. The DVD is not without it's merits. The menu is appealing and clear. The extras include a small cell gallery; music-video trailers for the movie and OAVs; and character-bios for the movie cast. The audio seems to be Dolby Digital 2 channel both English and Japanese. The dub, while not bad, just can't hold a candle to the Japanese dialog, especially Megumi Hayashibara's wonderful performance. The video seems too dark and may prompt you to adjust your monitor settings. My big gripe about the subtitle is the translation of magical spells from things like the phonetic "Dil-Brando" to the descriptive "Explosion Array". While understandable for the dub, the subtitle should have used a more literal interpretation. I really enjoyed this film but it may not be for everyone. As far as the DVD goes, I have to give it a three for the number of small gripes above, but I highly recommend watching this entertaining film.

3 stars might be a little harsh. 3.5 stars would be an accurate review from my view point. As with all the better anime series this has great art and design. Lina Inverse, sassy teenage ulta sorceress in an alternate fantasy universe, roams the land looking for adventure and finds more then enough. She quickly gets entangled with her greatest fan the skimpy clad, buxom Nahga the serpent; a bimbo sorceress with an annoying laugh and a vacation plan that begins the adventure rolling. The duo quickly get involved in an epic adventure of comical D&D action with strange superpowered magicians, sorcerers and demons. This adventure fleshes out an intriguing world from the docks, to cheesy nightclubs, spas, castles, dungeon hideaways and eventually into TIME TRAVEL! Ha! The violence is comedic, not gorey or disturbing in anyway. The characters are very charming and the ending is good. Great for guys, girls, kids....the whole family. Slight sexual reference involved to keep the dad's interested. My negatives are that the storytelling gets slightly confusing, the story structure is a little off kilter and the shot composition or choices are middle of the road, but not a bad anime when all is said and done. Made me buy the two OVA tapes 'Dragon Slave' and 'Explosion Array' which were even better then the movie.

You won't regret this purchase.

I first saw this at Blockbuster and sence it was anime, I rented it. Even if you haven't seen Slayers you will love this humorus, action flic. This is what first made me a Slayers fan.

As always the red headed and firery tempered Lina Inverse is getting herself and her rather 'obscure' partner Naga in trouble. When Lina 'broke' the leg of a pick pocketer the guys gang up on her, and use Naga was their weapon. When Lina talks a limited amount of commen sence into Naga, they kick the living daylights out of the crooks. Then while foreging through their stuff, Naga finds two discound tickets to the Island of Miprhos. Miprhos is well known for it's hot srings and that is what gains Lina and Naga's attention. But soon they learn of a devious plan going on in the Island of Miprhos.

A demon named Joyrock (who is an awsome demon at that) has been ranpaging the Island for centuries. When he attacks an Elven village, Joyrock is challenged by Rowdy, a young human who loves the elves. Rowdy carries with him, The Sword of Light, yet when he challenges Joyrock it fails. So Rowdy must wait for centuris waiting for the aid of Lina Inverse, and her dim-witted partner Naga.

I absolutly refuse to give away the ending, but it is very different. I loved it. Also the ending theme song, Midnight Blue by Magumi Hasashibara is awsome.

All in all you get almost everything in a quality anime film, humor, action, demons, and stupid side kicks. I have watched this over and over and over, and each time I enjoy it. The money is well worth it

For someone who has never seen anything to do with the Slayers and then seeing this movie is pretty weird, i wasn't expecting an extremly funny anime about a young sorceress who saves a island with the hopes of bigger breasts! All in all it's great, funny, but not something that you would watch in front of your mom. This is because of the previews for animes with cutey honey (if you've ever seen this then you know what i mean.) Also Nagha's laugh is so annoying! Buy this, but don't watch with the old folks.

This was the first Slayers movie I saw and now I'm buying the whole collection. VERY funny movie easy to understand. If you buy this and like it I gaurantee You will like the whole series.

It is great... Naga is a roit... Lina is so cute!!! Great example of quality comedy anime...

I'd have to say that this is probably my favotite movie, all time, period. Even if you've never seen The Slayers, you are quickly pulled into the world of Lina Inverse. The animation is wonderfull, the characters clever, the story classic, and the total experiance un-equalled

Slayers the Motion Picture, the first of the Slayers movies, is quite good. Though ADV couldn't get Ortiz to play the part of Lina in the English version, the new Lina is quite good. The only thing that keeps me from giving a five star rating is ADV's rewriting, that is, the renaming of a spell name that was already in English in the original Japanese and inserting references to other work that was not originally present. The subtitled version has many of the same problems, though does a little better.

But, this is only worth one star off. The rest of the movie, the quality of the dub acting, and the humor make up for shortcomings in the translation, assuming that Naga doesn't scare you off.