Customer Reviews

Steamboy - Director's Cut (DVD Gift Set)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Background:

Steamboy is the first movie directed by a giant from Japanese anime Katsuhiro Otomo since his ground breaking movie Akira from 16 years ago. Unlike most anime fans I saw Steamboy before seeing its more famous partner. If you are expecting another Akira you will be disappointed since Steamboy is a 180 degree opposite in ambiance although both movies explore similar themes. Instead of Akira's dsytopic nihilistic Neo-Toyko Otomo re-creates a romantic optimistic Victorian England. Steamboy has the feel of a more mainstream Hollywood style action/adventure movie. Steamboy presents a fascinating intersection of history and sci-fi as its backdrop. The DVD is the director's cut with your choice of having the dialogue in English, Japanese and various Romance languages. Also, one can have subtitles in English, and the other languages.

Non-spoiler Plot:

Steamboy takes place in Victorian England in 1866. Although Otomo rewrites history by throwing in many elements not yet existing in 1866 but are from that overall period including Tower Bridge and battleships not built till the last decade of the 19th century. The movie is centered on the ownership of a Steam Ball which can generate the power equivalent to a small nuclear reactor. The movie, as typical in many Japanese anime and fantasy movies, centers on the issue of what is the proper use of this new breakthrough technology. This conflict is represented as an intergenerational conflict within the Steam family. The elder Steam, Lloyd (voiced by Patrick Stewart) has become deranged seeing his invention being put to what he sees as evil uses, his son Eddie (voiced by Alfred Molina), who is half man/machine, in a Nietzschian view sees the Steam Ball as a showcase of the power of science for science sake to push humankind to new heights. Eddie's 13 year old son Ray (voiced by Anna Paquin) is caught in the middle trying to save his father and grandfather and London from the consequences of their invention. A nefarious corporation, the O'Hara Foundation wants the Steam Ball, and the British are interested in acquiring it too sending Robert Stephenson, a tribute to the namesake who with his father invented the railway locomotive and built the first rail line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830, to gain control of the Steam Ball for the sake of national security.

The movie spends the first part in Manchester and the surrounding countryside, including a panorama showing to borrow Dickens "satanic mills" dominating the city spewing black smoke into the air. The movie shifts to London centered on a park on the bank of the Thames. Otomo accurately animates the atmospheric effects of London's fog and smog. The park is home to the Crystal Palace, magnificently recreated in this anime movie, housing the Great Exhibition and the O'Hara Foundation Pavilion, using the design of Royal Albert Hall. [In history, the Crystal Palace, one of the great architectural achievements of the Victorian era, was built in 1851 to house the Great Exhibition of that year. The Great Exhibition in what might be considered the first World's Fair organized by Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert the Exhibition invited all the nations of the world to showcase the technologies and applications that came about from the Industrial Revolution.] The O'Hara Foundation sponsors the research of Eddie and Lloyd Steam that resulted in the invention of the Steam Ball. As we learn in the film the O'Hara Foundation has darker purposes for attending the Great Exposition besides showcasing the latest benevolent inventions. The titular representative of the O'Hara foundation is Scarlett O'Hara (voiced by anime regular Kari Wahlgren), around the same age as Ray, who is the sole heir to the O'Hara fortune. We immediately get the idea the Scarlett is a spoiled brat who complains about the smell and soot of London and enjoys bossing around the head of marketing for the O'Hara Corporation Archibald Simon. (PETA members might not like what she does to her poor Chihuahua Columbus). Although Scarlett is the one character who undergoes the most change as she sees the consequences of the her family's firm inventions. The movie is filled with action and adventure including chase scenes, and battle that breaks out at the area around the Crystal Palace where Otomo introduces many of the "futuristic" elements of the movie, and the reveling of Eddie's vision of science in the Steam Castle (Steam Tower in the english subtitles).

Analysis:

The main strength of this film is the gorgeous combination of traditional hand drawn 2-D and 3-D CGI animation. From what I have read, Otomo and his creative design team spent time on England, visiting London, Manchester and York, and studying steam locomotives and machinery from the Victorian era to beautifully recapture Victorian England, the motifs of that era, and the mechanical designs of the machinery down to the last rivet. For example, the Royal Navy ships in the movie are accurate recreations of real warships from the Victorian era. This research paid off in the stunning detail of the movie. You are starring at the screen just to soak up the details of the machinery Otomo created. I enjoyed how the movie used real historic events and places, mentioned above, as the backdrop for the movie. They showed great imagination in designing the "futuristic" elements which retains a 19th century appearance and mechanical design. Unlike other Japanese anime with their convoluted plot lines this is a straight forward action/adventure movie. The movie is dominated by browns and has a sepia tone to it. There are some wonderful animation effects including how lenses distort images, from what I understand this is a very difficult effect, to scenes with tons of falling confetti, to a scene where glass is shattered and on each chard you see an imprinted moving image from an earlier scene.

There is not much character development in this movie except for perhaps Scarlett. Most of the characters are representations of the different uses of science and technology. Eddie is the personification of science for science sake without any moral/ethical considerations. Lloyd takes the opposite view that science must be looked at in terms of the moral/ethical impact and science should be restricted if it leads to a "bad" outcome. Ray is caught in the middle conflicted about what he should do and shows concern for both his father and grandfather. His actions and decisions are based on what he learns about the motives of the characters and his underlying desire to save his father and grandfather. Robert Stephenson sees science as being used for national security reasons. Scarlett espouses the economic rationale for scientific advancement. Although the characters are not quite so black and white. Eddie is perhaps misguided but he is not evil personified. When one sees Lloyd's vision of the uses of science for frivolity you might find yourself believing his view is just as extreme as Eddie's but in the opposite direction. Scarlett has the obvious rich girl spoiled brat attitude but Otomo shows underlying this façade is a sensitive, and intelligent girl. Otomo has these characters espouse their beliefs explicitly in their dialogue which often become monologues and lectures.

Otomo uses the several characters to present different philosophies on the use of science but leaves it up to the viewer to make their own decision. The plot could used some improvement and the action can get a bit overwhelming at times. The machinery tends to overwhelm the story Otomo is trying to tell.

I very much enjoyed the classical soundtrack by Steven Jablonsky. He developed wonderful themes for Ray and Scarlett and utilizes them throughout the movie.

Overall, Steamboy should appeal to a both anime fans and a more conventional audience. This movie is far superior to Hollywood's recent attempt at Steampunk with Will Smith's Wild Wild West and Sean Connery's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.Time magazines Richard Corliss listed Steamboy, along with Akira, as one of the top 5 anime movies available on DVD. A side benefit of this movie is the educational opportunities this movie provides in further explorations of the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.

The movie is rated PG-13 for the action. The PG-13 is more to the PG side than R side. There is one scene with blood but there is no objectionable language or suggestive sexual scenes.

DVD Features: The transfer to DVD is excellent with great sound and picture quality. The aspect ratio was 1.85:1 so the transfer does not take full advantage of widescreen TVs, the wide screen version of Star Wars has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The DVD features are pretty bland. There is no director's commentary which is understandable give the language barrier. There is a 5 minute interview with director Katsuhiro Otomo. There is a 15 minute featurette about the challenges of re-dubbing the movie in English with Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, and Patrick Stewart. The 20 minute multi-screen landscape study splits the screen three ways. First there are scenes from the movie mixed with real life shots of London. 15 minutes of this featurette are interviews with the creative team discussing how they made the movie. The ending montage shows the images from the end credits of the English dubbed theatrical release without the text. Although this ending was a condensed version of the director's cut ending, which is the ending for the movie on this DVD. The production drawings are still shots of paintings used to develop ideas in the movie, some of which are pretty interesting. The animation onion skins shows the process by which five scenes are built combining hand drawn and CGI techniques although there is no dialogue explaining the process.

In Steamboy, Director Otomo turns his attention to the Steampunk genre, and the result is a gripping Victorian era techno-thriller. The macguffin of the plot is a ball that is supposedly able to store steam at enormous pressure and density. It doesn't make much sense, but it manages to drive a plot with a lot of action, engaging steam-puffing war machines, and some moderately sophisticated debate about the uses of science and technology.

The characters are engaging, although hero Ray is the usual somewhat generic plucky adolescent. The spoiled adolescent aristocrat Scarlett is considerably more interesting, as are Ray's father and grandfather, who personify conflicting ideas about the uses of technology.

The animation is, of course, wonderful, as expected from the director of Akira. The film is full of strikingly original action scenes, which are both well conceived and well executed. Destruction abounds. Reputedly, the film used quite a bit of computer graphics, but it is extraordinarily well integrated. The hand-drawn characters do not have the "pasted in" look that has characterized most previous attempts to combine hand drawn and computer generated art, and I was hard put to tell where the traditional animation ended and the computer animation began.

The DVD includes both the original Japanese version (with English subtitles available) as well as an English dubbed version. The English dubbing is extremely well done, with top notch talent including Anna Paquin (Rogue from the XMen movies) as the adolescent boy hero, Patrick Stewart as his grandfather, and Alfred Molina as his father. The English dubbing was overseen by Otomo himself, and is arguably better suited to the story than the original Japanese, as it is set in Victorian England. There are, however, a few moments where the words do not quite mesh with the mouth movements--which is a bit of a testament to the quality of the animation; in most animated films, you can't tell what language the characters are supposed to be speaking, anyway.

Although this is an animated film, it is not a kid's movie, and some parents will probably find some scenes inappropriate for small children. There is a lot of violence and destruction, at least as much as in a typical theatrical action thriller, but relatively little gore or overt killing--less than in Akira. There is, however, a moment when young Scarlett comes face-to-face with a dead soldier. It is an important and necessary scene, but might be troubling to some children.

Taken on its own, this is a dazzling film. Fans comparing various anime might find reason to cavil, but I probably like it for reasons others don't. It doesn't mix and match CGI effects or use up its bag of tricks. It's not given to constantly shifting camera angles merely because computerized cameras can do that, which still seems a novelty to live action producers. It stays largely to its color palette, the dark, forbidding tones of a Dicknesian Victorian England. By comparison I found the preview for Final Fantasy VII, which some fans probably consider state of the art, extremely boring.

Steamboy plays like a filmed book, very deftly showing more than it tells. When there is speaking, it rarely clears things up, but merely adds more red herrings to the story. The film obviously owes a lot to Sherlock Holmes, as well as the earlier mechanical (as opposed to later electronic) ingenuity of The Wild Wild West TV show. But it draws subtly from these inspirations. Steamboy ends as it has to, in the epic fashion of Jules Verne and all Victorian and Edwardian visionary novels. One scene is also quite similar to the visually arresting opening of Chesterton's 1905 novel, The Ball and The Cross, although the story line is entirely different. I expect that except for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the future visions of this era are largely unexplored as film territory. The ending also suggests that a sequel, or even a series could follow. But instead it does something else: depict the "continuing adventure" in poignant scenes behind the closing credits. Choosing one of the extra features runs this imaginative portrayl without the credits.

The main characters are all inventors, and all in the same lineage. The father and grandfather's long- winded speeches about Science are hard to take seriously, but the same optimistic view of a rosy future exists in numerous Victorian era books. The show also revolves around the London Exhibition and the famous Crystal Palace, then the showplace of British and world progress. But what else is the film? A parable? A puzzle? An exploration? Does the use of steam for military purposes echo other sorts of energy harnessed for destruction, as foreshadowed in the aeroplane sequences during the credits? Is the economic thralldom in which Britain was held in the nineteenth century meant to resonate in our own? If the denouement seems predictable and the ending somewhat forced, the issues that puzzle the characters nevertheless remain "live" questions in this visually spectacular and intriguing film.

After directing "Akira" in 1988, Katsuhiro Ôtomo avoided making another feature length anime for years. In 1991 he did a live action film, the horror-comedy "Warudo apaatoment hora" and then in 1995 he did the "Cannon Fodder" segment for "Memories." He wrote the scripts for Hiroyuki Kitakubo's "Rôjin Z" in 1991 and adopted Osamu Tezuka's manga for Rintaro's "Metoroporisu" in 2001. But it was not until 2004 that Ôtomo helmed "Steamboy" and left himself open to the inevitable comparisons of this two-hour anime with the classics in the field in which he had a major hand.

On the one hand "Steamboy" is as visually stunning as you would expect, albeit in a decidedly different way from "Akira" and "Metroporisu." This time around Ôtomo is not telling a futuristic story, but one set in 1866 in the London of Victorian England, which mandates sepia toned colors rather than working with a palate of bright neon colors. That alone justifies a different look to "Steamboy," and the chief attraction for this anime are the hand-drawn animation, enhanced by computers, of the massive machines of gears and pistons. But there is another interesting consequences to the setting of "Steamboy," which is that for the first time with a Japanese anime I am recommending that you listen to the English audio track rather than the Japanese. Since the characters are actually English, then for once it makes sense to go this route. Besides, we are talking Patrick Stewart as grandfather Dr. Lloyd Steam, Alfred Molina as his son Dr. Eddie Steam, and Anna Panquin as James Ray Steam, who is the film's title figure.

The key idea behind "Steamboy" is to recast the Industrial Revolution of the 19th-century with steam now holding a power and promise akin to atomic energy after World War II, although I guess scientifically the power is more like a jet engine (but the implications for transforming the world strike me as being more in the realm of the idealized future represented by atomic power). Ray Steam is a boy inventor who comes into possession of "steam ball," and then finds himself in a struggle between his father, who has become part-machine and power mad, and his grandfather, who turns into a wild-eyed Cassandra of gloom and doom. The evil Dr. Steam is building an army with steam-powered tanks, mechanical armor suits, and even steam jet packs for aerial assaults. If Ôtomo did not read Jules Verne at some point in his life I would be really surprised, because "Steamboy" owes as much to Verne's writing as it does to James Bond spy films and Tom Swfit adventures.

However, the story is just not up to the grandeur of the animation, which involves not only the captivating combination of hand-drawn animation and computers, but also some great camera movement. If this were a live-action film we would be talking about the impressive cinematography, especially since Ôtomo seems to make a point of going for angles you are unlikely to get in the real world. So there is more than just the retro look of "Steamboy" to recommend when it comes to the visuals of this 2004 film. But Ôtomo does not explore the steam technology as much as I would have liked, so that a promising idea becomes rather conventional and the substance behind the style ends up being disappointing. Even the big debate behind the power play is childishly simplistic, so we are not dealing with a potent allegory either. Besides, I was waiting for there to be more of a payoff to the character of Scarlett O'Hara (Kari Wahlgren). Then again, it is entirely possible that Ôtomo is never going to top "Akira" (what has James Cameron really done since "Titanic"?) and even with its faults "Steamboy" is certainly worth watching.

Steamboy is a really cool anime. I mean, it's not as good as Akira but it still manages to entertain it's viewer.
Heres the review......

Story/Characters: When I first saw Steamboy, in theaters, I had alot of mixed felings on the story and it's characters, and I was dissapointed a little. But now that I watch the movie on dvd, I realize on what an entertaining movie Steamboy really is. For one thing I don't know why the english production team decided to shorten the movie so much for the theaters, I think alot of the scenes they cut out were important. For example in the begining of the film they cut out the scene in which Ray Steam,the main protagonist, saves a bunch people in the factory he was working in by preventing an explosion by using his knowledge of machinery. This scene was important, it showed that Ray was very well rounded in the field of machinery, because later in the film you see Ray had built a very complicated moterized vehicle that actually worked.. without this scence it's like....." How could a thirteen year old boy build something like that?" Also, about the plot, it's never boring it always keeps the viewer entertained to a certain degree, and it's not bogged down by unessesary politics or subplots. The characters are also good. There not exactly complex but there likable all the same. A character dosn't have too be complex to be good. Even some of Miyazaki san's older films don't have complex characters but that dosn't mean there bad characters...to me if a character is likeable it's a good character. Score:8.5 out of 10.

Art/Animation: Wow, wow wow wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The animation in this film is absolutely stunning. It's incerdiably well drawn and it moves fluidly. I believe the whole film was comprised of about 180,000 cells. I also loved the colors used in this movie. Otomo used very dim greyish tones for the film... which I thought was great. It really reflected the place and time in which Steamboy took place during. The CG used is also excellent. Score:10 out of 10

Voice acting/Music: The voice acting in this film is truly excellent. All the actors do a great job with their roles and overacting is never present. Also I would recomend watching this movie dubbed, only because since Steamboy takes place in England. It would be sort of awkward to watch the characters speaking japanese when there supposed to be in England. The musical score is also fantastic... it fit perfectly for the movie. Score: 9.5 out of 10

Conclusion: In conclusion I really liked Steamboy. Like I said, it's not a masterpiece like Akira, but it's very entertaining and has some incredible animation. So if you haven't seen it yet then what are you waiting for, go check it out.. you wont be sorry.

Overall I would give the film a 9.2 out of 10.

Steamboy is the latest entry into the Steampunk subgenre, speculative fiction that presents an alternate historical setting of the Victorian era in which modern technological advances were invented earlier in history through the assistance of steam-era technology. Early fiction like Jules Vernes' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's novel, The Difference Engine and Alan Moore's popular comic book, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book are perhaps some of the best known examples of this subgenre. Gibson's Cyberpunk fiction had a profound influence on one of director Katsuhiro Otomo's previous anime movies, Akira, one of the greatest animated films ever made. Steamboy sees him influenced by Gibson's fiction again as he wrestles with some of the same themes, such as man vs. technology that he explored in Akira while maintaining the same level of quality animation.

Otomo's film explores the differing views of science. Ray's grandfather believes that only the fruits of advances in science should be available to the educated and the privileged while his father believes it should be shared with everyone as he says at one point, "Science exists as a power to be used in reality." He believes it should be used to improve all of humanity, not just a small portion of it.

Watching this movie only reinforces how bad The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie is compared to its original source material and the Steampunk genre in general. Steamboy is the real deal-a wonderfully nostalgic look at a bygone era mixed with a parable about the destructive nature of technology if put in the wrong hands and how it affects the relationship between a son and his father.

"Re-Voicing Steamboy" takes a look at the Hollywood types who voiced the characters for the North American release. Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart talk briefly about the film and their appreciation for Otomo with Stewart speaking the most eloquently about the time period that Steamboy is set in.

"Interview with Katsuhiro Otomo." he started working on the project ten years ago with actual production on the film itself starting seven years ago. Otomo found that doing a period film was a bigger challenge and more time-consuming than a futuristic one like Akira.

"Multi-Screen Landscape Study" is an interesting featurette on the set design and look of the film but conveyed via three split-screens that show clips from the movie, vintage newsreel footage of London and footage of the film's creators talking about their movie.

"The Adventure Continues" allows you to watch the artwork on display during the end credits sequence without the text obscuring it.

"Animation Onion Skins" allows you to watch several sequences in various stages of development, from rough pencil sketches to computer modeling to the final product. This gives some insight into how much work went into this movie.

Finally, there are "Production Drawings," a montage of artwork for the film's setting that allows you to marvel once again at the attention to detail.

It's a common law that only gets broken rarely: the more anticipated something is, the less likely chance it'll meet or exceed expectations. A new cd by a band you love might not be that great. The follow-up to a director's past masterpiece falls below expectations. Steamboy is one of those kind of films where there's an obvious enthusiasm and passion involved, it's just not what it should've been.

We're in the mid 1800's right smack in the middle of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Steam is the big thing so when Ray Steam(very lazy name) gets his hands on an odd "Steam ball", he soon becomes a target for the O'Hara Foundation. They want to harness the power of the ball for their own needs(which obviously don't benefit anyone) so Ray has to keep the ball away from people who would want to use it.

One thing that made Akira enjoyable was that the story just seemed to unfold without any hiccups(even if you couldn't understand it). Steamboy's pacing is incredibly off since it feels so SLLOOOWWW. So much happened yet I was only 40 minutes in. It doesn't help that there's not much to the story either. The moral of the story it seems is that technology for personal use is bad while technology benefiting everyone is good. Granted you could say it's something else but the film is so black and white that you'd have to say it like that. Many technology we use we actually use on our own or for our own needs.

The characters aren't really that interesting either and don't go through much change. Ray is your typical hero that saves the day when he doesn't exactly possess the skills to do so, it's more through luck. There's Scarlett, your very typical spoiled brat who wants things her way and for us to answer everything or criticize when we don't know it. Usually in films they learn their lesson but here, she's still bossy and spoiled. The only one that really goes through any amount of change is our "villain" but he has a big change of heart incredibly quickly you're like "gee that was fast".

Now all those negatives and some positives? Of course and it's the animation. Using 3D, the animation looks very stylized and fluid without being a bit obvious. A lot of 2D/3D mixtures tend to be very noticeable to distinguish the 2 but here it's almost flawless. I say almost because certain characters in early scenes almost looked pasted onto the background.

Now I didn't watch the english dub but it's probably good since it has reliable Patrick Stewart and Alfred Molina and Anna Paquin...playing a boy. Yes, Rogue from X-Men is playing a teenage boy. She even mentions in the special features that the ADR people had to tell her to say things more lower register. Why they didn't just get a young guy actor or an older one with good range to do it is beyond me.

Is it a great film? No. Terrible film? No. In the middle? Most definately. If you're an anime fan, you should check it out but since this is a highly anticipated project from the man who brought you Akira, you'll probably find it won't live up to your expectations.

A movie that starts slow but good and builds to a massive scope of action and imagination, "Steamboy" is yet another example of how vast the field of anime has become. Set in a London of 1866 just like the one in history books and set on the metaphorical eve of events that will change human history and cause the world to diverge from 'our' future. Most of the movie's main characters are members of the Steam family (fourteenish-Ray Steam is the title character), and the father and grandfather of the family, away for years working in America, have discovered a method of harnessing steam power to far greater yields than anything ever seen in 'our' world. This new technology puts the two against each other and starts the ball rolling toward the 1866 London Industrial Fair, and a sudden turning point in the world's history that occurs in a few hours of a single day. Much of the movie is spent trying to decide which side one, as the viewer, wants to be on, what the true motivations of the various characters really are, and who is telling the truth about what. As with the rest of the movie, this angle of uncertainty is very well done. A tour-de-force of visual imagery and epic ideas, masterfully animated, this one in my opinion far outdoes director Katsuhiro Otomo's previous full-length anime "Akira". One thing of special note: you'll want to stay for the full end credits and watch the background's changing stills-imagery for astonishing glimpses of the future world of "Steamboy", far more than enough to make a powerful case for a sequel as soon as possible.

I really enjoyed this movie and I really can't add much that hasn't been covered in other positive reviews. I found the movie to be entertaining and technically well done. The animation and audio quality of the movie are pretty good. I thought the music score was outstanding. Perhaps more than any other animated film I have ever seen this movie feels like a live action film and not an animated film. Some may see that as a problem. I personally do not. This is the kind of movie I could show to people not familiar with anime without feeling embarassed. The movie does have its problems. The story is perhaps average and there is little character development. Don't expect this movie to be Akira II or Son of Akira. This movie is more like the Rocketeer than anything. This movie does have a message (or messages). This is a "message" movie about the nature of technology and its use (or possible misuse). Messages are subtle though. Otomo doesn't feel the need in this movie beat you over the head with his point. I personally like it that way.

I should mention that both the subtitled and english dubbed versions run the same length (126 minutes). There are no cuts to the dubbed version. That of course has been a worry to some since the theatrical dubbed version had a number of big cuts to its running time. You do not have to worry about that with the R1 DVDs. BTW, I found the dub to be pretty good.

I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to anime, which means I can't compare Steamboy to Katsuhiro Otomo's legendary Akira. I can, however, say that I enjoyed Otomo's contribution to the film Memories more than I did Steamboy. Both share the same kind of heavily industrial world of the past, cast in sepia-like tones reflecting an atmosphere of gloom. That was more than okay for Memories' "Cannon Fodder," but the world of Steamboy eventually grew tiresome to me. The animation of this film is excellent, but it consisted of far too many scenes of exploding machinery, to the detriment of character development and storyline. Frankly, I just didn't care about this plot all that much.

You've got a young, inventive boy who finds himself in the middle of a conflict over the nature of science. It's an argument that will erupt in loud, frightening chaos over the city of London. The boy's name is Ray Steam, and steam is definitely the key word in all of this. Ray receives a parcel from his grandfather containing an ultra-powerful "steamball," and almost at once he's forced to honor his grandfather's request to keep it out of the hands of "the Foundation." His father, however, or at least a somewhat mechanized version of him, happens to be in cahoots with the Foundation, and he begins to win his son over to his own version of science. He has used the vast power of steam to take his own father's vision of a Steam Castle and turn it into a well-armed weapon, complete with steam-powered flyers, subs, and mechanized fighters. The grandfather, looking much the worse for wear, shows up to try and sabotage his evil son's efforts, and he confronts Ray with his own peaceful vision of science. Fortunately for the audience, there's a spoiled little rich girl (by the name of Scarlett O'Hara - I kid you not) to add some life to all this philosophizing and artificiality. The whole thing soon breaks down into a not-so-small war over London. If you like explosions and scenes of utter destruction in your anime, you'll definitely want to check out Steamboy. That's about all you'll find in the second half of the film.

To me, Steamboy is a case of style over substance. None of the characters are as fully developed as I would have liked, and the whole story never manages to take on very much depth. Motion pictures, even anime, cannot live on cinematography alone if they want to be truly successful. With its underdeveloped storyline, Steamboy just didn't prove satisfying to me.