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Reviews
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Tuesday, 19 May 2009 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | FUNIMATION ENTERAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 5.1 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 91 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | TV 14 | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/21/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 05/19/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | DAVEY C. JONES |
Keep the hankie close because the theatrical retelling of the TV series is as much of a tear jerker as the original show, except streamlined for more drama and a faster paced story in Air the Movie. There aren’t any other girls to complicate drifter and all around cool dude Yukito’s sudden relationship with Misuzu when he first meets her after he wanders into town. The summer festival is around the corner and he finds himself helping her out with her school project. That project just happens to be her learning more about the winged priestess Kanna. The show flips back and forth between the sad tale of the priestess’ forbidden love for her guard Ryuya, and how that ties into the present with Yukito and Misuzu’s connection. Both tales are sad events. If you were hoping for an alternate ending from the TV series that was happier, you’re gonna lose that bet. What the movie is, is a streamlined version of the TV show that intensifies the emotional impact and picks up the speed for the sake of a one-off film. Toei Animation produced the movie and they’ve done nearly everything that was anything worthwhile in anime for the last three or so decades. As pretty as the TV show was, the movie is that much more. Air’s art is what attracted me to it to start with and the movie is jaw-dropping. Everything, absolutely everything moves, whether its strands of hair, leaves in the trees, the way the sun dapples through on the road or the water and amazing and incredibly blue skies. The character designs are spot on with the TV series except for a hair color change for Ryuya which isn’t anything here or there. So it’s the people you expect to see and the way you expect the show to play out staying true to the original show while upping it with fantastic animation, managing to actually top the TV show in the feature film.
EXTRAS:
Trailers.
IN SUMMARY:
Air the Movie is a more intense and faster paced version that stays true to the original TV story. Get the hankies ready and have someone to hug when watching this tearful yet visual stunner! |
