This film reminded me of astroboy (not sure why). It is a very good film. I watched it at home on my desktop computer. The animation is not bad, but the ending is quite sad. It made me cry, and at that point I hated the film because of the ending. Now, I feel that a film that can make you show emotions is a good film.

I found this film to be extremely disappointing. I'm not entirely sure where to begin...the "Astroboy" influence is obvious in the style of the characters, but if you're hoping for something even remotely comparable to "Akira," you may as well perish the thought. For those film buffs who have seen the 1927 silent film, comparing this feature to that one would be like comparing a full-length illustrated novel to a 10-page short story. The only real similarity that I noticed was in the appearance of the "Ziggurat" tower in the center of the city. The problem is, as my friend whom I was watching it with so accurately put it, it's as though someone were holding that novel to your face and just flipping rapidly through all the pages.

The characters are all extremely cute in their design and look like something out of Mega Man or Sonic: The Hedgehog. Even those characters who are meant to be evil or extremely hard-core have bubbly features and pretty, feminine eyes. At least for me, this makes it hard to take them seriously, and it comes across as something appealing to children. Considering that the quality of animation is fantastic, I wouldn't normally have much of a problem with that idea, except that this movie contains some blood and swearing, so I doubt it's meant for the kids.

Before I go any farther, let me just say: "Metropolis" has some of the most beautiful background art and 3D / 2D blending I have ever seen. It truly is a wondrous sight. But having said that, let's cut to the chase. The story is a hodgepodge of undeveloped characters, failed emotional scenes, and transitions that should never be used in a film at all, much less to the extent that they are used here, such as the whole "shrinking circle" cut. I understand that the idea was to portray a kind of 1930's atmosphere within a sci-fi wonderland, using those old-style (cough-CLICHE-cough) transitions and ragtime jazz music, but really, come on. Really? Come on. Did I mention that the music is terrible and anti-climactic? I should mention that.

Oh, what else. Numerous characters were hurriedly introduced, very briefly involved in the story, and then promptly martyred as though we were supposed to feel like they were important. Without going into specifics: A certain high-tension, pre-climax moment in the movie, which was already struggling, was utterly splattered when a couple of characters walked slowly in from the side and said, "Say now, what is this? What is going on here?" and one of the main characters proceeded to explain the situation to them, introduce himself and where he came from, and then fall down because...oh, yeah, almost forgot...he had just been SHOT.

The robots are meant to be cute but come across as nothing more than annoying...although Tima was more interesting. Her apparently metaphorical radio was totally nonsensical, however, and had a significance that was lost on me. At one point in the story Tima comes across a boy that my friend and I quickly and without any doubt decided was the character Rock with a slightly different outfit. Then, later in the movie, he abruptly pulled off a prosthetic face to reveal his true identity: Rock, the character you already thought he was!!! What?! Give me a break!!

Here's a new character, and another new character. They team up with a third character, and go to Level 2 of the tower. They find a bad guy who shoots and kills one of them and they go to Level 3. Did I say kill? Just kidding! Now they're on Level 4. Some stuff blows up and they fall through the floor into an underground river that leads to an incinerator but get out somehow. Character you thought was dead is now at the top of the tower talking to the guy who just blew stuff up on Level 4 but is now at the top of the tower with a new bad guy character that has no relevance to anything and dies at the end of the movie which is the next time you even see him at all. Meanwhile, lead bad guy uses giant secret gun on roof of tower that nobody seems to notice to fire a beam at the sun that creates ionic radiation which somehow takes INSTANT effect by making all robots except the ones involved in the story go temporarily crazy and ignite a violent retaliation from the humans, etc. etc....and that's all in the span of about eight minutes.

If they had just stripped out the edges of this movie, taken a small chunk of the story and spread it out in order to develop the characters and actually encourage the viewer to FEEL something when watching it, they really could have had something here. But as it is, I really wanted to give "Metropolis" the lowest possible star rating. I can't do it though, because like it or not the artwork is just phenomenal. So, maybe it wouldn't hurt to rent this...assuming you put it on "MUTE" and leave it playing in the background while you tend to other more interesting things in life, such as, I don't know, licking the dust off your cabinet.

I rented this film expecting the typical anime fair, stiff animation and a shoot-em-up robot/sci-fi storyline. What I got was an AMAZING film with outstanding animation and artwork and a great story to go along with it.

Everything about this movie is great. The story, the characters, the character designs, and most of all: the animation. That REALLY surprised me. I was expecting the typical 8 frames per second animation found in most anime today but instead it's a fully animated film on par with the greatest Disney films.

The jazzy musical score was great too.

Don't listen to the negative reviews. This is definantly worth buying or at least renting.

I wouldn't consider myself an anime nut. I am not really into mechas or pocket monsters, I just like good films, especially when those films offer something new. Metropolis was written by Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of Akira (possibly the best known anime, though not one of my favorites). Metropolis masterfully marries old and new. Influenced by the 1927 film of the same name and a 1949 comic book, The 2002 film Metropolis feels fresh by combining modern elements and science. Set in a futuristic city of multiple zones stacked upon each other, and supporting moving sidewalks, towering ziggurats, and robots aplenty, the film is scored with classic jazz, ragtime, and Ray Charles. It's an odd combination that works marvelously well. Traditional hand drawn character animation is combined with beautiful CG cityscapes, machinery, and helicopters. Not only are the characters hand drawn, but they have a very classic feel with childlike faces, large eyes, and simplistic features. All of these contrasts are a metaphor contributing to a mood of tension in a world were some embrace the "progress" of the civilization (robots, towers, computers), and other reject it and desire for a return to more traditional values.

But what is it about you ask? Well, its about that conflict between the tradition and progress -- between groups of citizens, the government, and within Tima, an ambitionless humanoid robot designed to rule. While Tima is discovering who she is and exploring the city, Rock the robot hunter is in hot pursuit, and not wasting any time shooting down any robots that he sees along the way. Oh and did I mention, there is a robot named Pero (named after a dog of course, now that I think about it, there is a robot named Fifi as well). The bittersweet ending has a lot going on, and is a bit confusing, but harmonious.

With a 91 fresh rating, and a huge thumbs up from James Cameron, I am going to go with the crowd and give this film a B+.

I didnt really liked this as it seemed a bit cold and distant to me. I couldnt relate to any charectors. The animation seemed abit too dark.

I haven't seen a film that looks quite like 'Metropolis' before. Or perhaps I've seen half a dozen, and they're all mixed together.

A Japanese private-eye comes to Metropolis (wherever it's meant to be) to track down a mad scientist, who it turns out is designing a super-robot for the equally mad gazillionaire 'ruler' of the city (he's not actually the ruler. Actually I'm not sure what he's supposed to be, other than very rich). Oh, and there's a revolution going on. Human workers against robots, for taking their jobs. Anyway, super-robot turns out to be super-cute teenage girl, who initially can't speak (hello, did they see early rushes of 'Chobits' or the other way around?) She befriends the young protagonist and they hang out together while garbage robots save them from a mental 14 year old who shoots everything that moves, in his unexplained desire to please his father, who happens to be the rich lunatic. Is this making sense?

Maybe I should skip the plot and go on to my overall impressions.

If the characters look sort of odd and a little old-fashioned, they, and the whole basic story are based on the 1949 manga by Osamu Tezuka (Kimba, Astro Boy) - ah, now you know where you've seen some of those character designs, right? :)

And it's a futuristic city, but the soundtrack is 1920's jazz. What's with that? Is it a tribute to Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'? Maybe, though Tezuka had never seen Lang's film (except for a photo showing the creation of the robot) when he wrote the Manga. But Tezuka was dead well before this film was made, so perhaps there is a nod to Fritz there - and that would be kind of fitting, since Fritz Lang attended the premiere of 'Prince Achmed', the first animated feature back in 1926 - the year before he made _his_ 'Metropolis'.

Err... yes, review, not essay. Sorry.

I must say that the combination of the 1920's-30's jazz, Tezuka's circa 1950 character designs, which sometimes look comical, and the futuristic setting and art design is a bit hard to get used to. So are the sudden moments of extreme violence from the hands of juvenile characters like Rock. And when you're getting used to the Bladerunner-esque look and feel of much of the thing, in comes some character with a silly-looking big nose, who you're supposed to take seriously, and you're back in Astro-Boy territory. For me I can't say this worked very well. To be honest, I think it would have worked better if they'd done away with the child characters altogether and just used adults.

I don't actually see the purpose of the juvenile characters. They don't behave like kids, and they're not treated like kids (why would the main character's uncle let him just go wandering around trying to break into an exploding factory without any apparent concern for his well-being? Why would he even bring him on a dangerous detective mission anyway?)

In a way I'm kind of sorry Tezuka's characters and story ended up in someone else's hands. I haven't read the 1949 story, but I imagine it would have avoided some of these pitfalls.

Another gripe. We all like to complain about films where the 2D and 3D jar against each other. Well in this one it's like the Titanic hitting the iceberg.

That being said, the sheer scope and grandeur of the big open-air scenes, many of which involve a lot of 3D, is really impressive. The attention to detail and setting is impressive and rather Ghibli-esque.

The characters though fail to click for me. The story is... well, a bit balmy. A giant weapon that controls the world by inducing sunspots, and needs a cute super-robot to run it? Yeah...ok. Whatever you say. If it was in the pages of 'Planet Stories' in 1949 I would probably roll along with it. Today it stretches credulity a bit.

Still, I can't shake off the fact that this movie has a certain something. I don't know what it is. But overall, I'm lukewarm on it. A few more things done better, or a few less done wrong would have given it three stars.

I think this one falls into the all too common category of 'could have been great'. I think it's worth watching, but I can't say I'm in love with it.

Metropolis will blow you away with its detail-stuffed, futuristic urban backdrops! In a world where technology is runs rampant, a megalomaniac is creating a special robot, in the form of a little girl, for his own evil ambitions.

The story progresses quite interestingly, as a sort of detective adventure, and the characters are likeable. There are some powerful scenes of graphic violence against robots, who are feared and oppressed by the human populace. Even if some of the film seems cold and uninvolving, there is at least one colossal tear-jerker moment when everything comes together.

Quibbles are a finale which I just didn't understand (What was with that weird expression on the kid's face?) an uneven pace, and really unprepossessingly drawn people. Large parts of the film seem lacking in emotion. And some aspects of this future-world just drip with deja vu.

Still, a good film and worth seeing!