Escaflowne: The Movie is an adaption of the 1996 anime, that doesn’t actually adapt the anime. It’s hardly fair to even consider it an adaption. There’s no effort made to condense the anime’s 26 episode story in a single 95 minute film. The characters, world and basic setup were tossed together, strained and poured into a brand new mold. What resulted it a whole new story that stands on its own.
Escaflowne: the movie changes the style, tone and themes from the source material. Vision of Escaflowne focused on romantic relations, friendships, political bonds and family ties in a character driven story. The anime’s major theme is war and its impact on people. None of this can be said of the film. Coming in with expectations from the show is pointless. Escaflowne: the Movie is its own beast. It demands to be taken as its own story from the very first scene.
The film opens with Van, who has a new tribal warrior aesthetic, attacking a Black Dragon empire warship. The fight is extremely violent. Blood bathes the screen. The fight has the same weight to each movement that was present in the anime, but there’s little emotional impact to the violence. This is a pure action scene. A well animated action scene, but one intended to thrill from start to finish. There’s nothing here that asks the audience to question the violence the characters are engaged in.
Hitomi once again finds herself transported to Gaia, and joins Van as he battles against The Black Dragon Clan. Van is one dimensional. He fights for revenge, but with Hitomi’s help he comes to see the good in the world and fights to save it. There’s a character arc for him, but its standard anti-hero stuff. He’s not a good guy, but he’s the hero that will save the world anyway.
Hitomi doesn’t fare much better than Van. She begins the film in crisis, suffering from depression and teetering on the edge of suicide. Rather than being portrayed as sympathetic as in the anime, film Hitomi’s psychological issues are easily dismissed. The story doesn’t spend enough time on them to feel like more than window dressing. Making matters worse, is Hitomi doesn’t have much else to a character beyond her depression.
Van’s brother Folken leads the clan in his goal to destroy the world using the power of Escaflowne. His motivation is typical of anime villains, he wants to bring an end to people’s sorrow. The world is too sick to cure, so the only answer is to destroy it. Only in death is there peace. There’s no depth to Folken, what you see is what you get. He’s a cool villain. An image of evil the audience can easily hate, and that’s all.
The plot is standard good versus evil. The characters are shallow and follow genre conventions. There’s nothing in Escaflowne: the movie that you haven’t seen before a million times. The anime offered a refreshing character driven fantasy story. The movie provides a straightforward action experience. It’s dark and violent, but ends on a happy note with the heroes victorious.
I’ve read plenty of reviews that refer to the movie as a more adult take on Escaflowne’s story, but I feel the opposite is true. The movie is more violent, but how it handles the violence is far less nuanced. Vision of Escaflowne requires the audience to think about the action happening, and how it impact the world and its people. The film wants you to sit back and enjoy the carnage. From that perspective, it certainly succeeds in its goal.
The animation throughout Escaflowne: the Movie is brilliant. Studio Bones created a beautiful film. Their work on Cowboy Bebop the Movie and Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa is equally stunning. If you’re a fan of animation, check this film out. You will not be disappointed in the least. The fights are by far the highlight of the film. Combat flows beautifully, with the weight of each attack felt on a physical level.
You could print hundreds of frames from the movie and hang them on the wall. Light and darkness maximize contrast, which helps the small bursts of intense color pop. The colour and lighting is absolutely spot on. The fight scenes are especially well lit. The climatic final battle between mechas is stunning. There’s an incredible amount of talent and craft that went into Escaflowne: the movie.
Designs have changed for a number of the main and secondary characters. Van has the new tribal look. Allan is a dark knight. Millerna ditches her pink princess dress, for a JRPG styled rebel fighter outfit and brown hair. Folken remains a gothic figure, but is now inspired by Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. Some character designs remain untouched. Hitomi and Merle are the two that most closely resemble their anime designs. On this level the changes are fine, and fit the new version of Gaia in the movie. Visually the whole thing is spectacular.
The soundtrack is equally accomplished. It’s much more bombastic than the anime. Strong beats accompany the action scenes, bolstering that sense of excitement the movie is going for. For the most part the movie stands apart from the anime with its music, but when the main theme from the anime kicks in during the finale it was the perfect callback. It wouldn’t be Escaflowne without strings kicking up and a choir chanting “esca-flow-ne, esca-flow-ne.”
Great as the main theme is, I have to give best song of the film to the hauntingly beautiful Sora. Far lighter in style than the rest of the soundtrack, Sora mixes hope and sorrow through vocals and instrumentals. Composer Yoko Kanno creates more emotion from her single 5-minute composition than the rest of the film manages in the other 90 minutes.
Despite being unoriginal, Escaflowne: the movie is fun. The action scenes are well choreographed and animated wonderfully. The characters are familiar, but their archetypes are executed well enough to be engaging. The plot is basic, but that works for an action film. Editing is fast paced so no scenes wear out their welcome. This is a tightly constructed 95 minute action film.
Going into Escaflowne: the movie I expected something that reflected the themes of the anime. What I got was the exact opposite. There’s almost nothing of interest here as a character piece. Go in with that expectation and you’ll be disappointed. If you keep an open mind and watch it as an action movie, you’ll have a decent time. It’s far from the best action anime I’ve watched, but it’s not bad either. If you love action anime and want to see some cool mecha battles, you’ll have a solid time.