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The Sky is Crawling with The Sky Crawlers

The Sky Crawlers

Directed by Mamoru Oshii, this movie is definitely more cerebral than the typical anime that becomes popular here in the US.  I find it hard to review movies after just one watching but I'm going to to my best.

As you can see on the cover art there to the left, Oshii is credited with bringing us Ghost in the Shell. In his works, the viewer is transported to another world like our own but different in a few key ways.  At first glance The Sky Crawlers could be taking place in one of the theaters of World War II.  The opening features a beautifully rendered dogfight between a wing and a solo planes of a nondescript make and model.  As the story progresses, the viewer is treated to unfolding layers of secrecy that both the audience and some of the characters are unaware of.

With the exception of the motherly mechanic, most of the characters are flat and undeveloped.  They have the bare necessities required to get their role in the story across.  If you want a movie with interactions between complex characters you will probably be disappointed.  That's not to say that there isn't character interaction; the relationships between the key figures in the fighter squadron is integral to the story.  The blank expressions on the box art inform us of the mood that Oshii strives to display on the screen.

Thankfully, those expressions take a back seat to the 3D renderings created for the movie.  I don't know what else to say beyond that they are wonderful.  I remember being amazed at the affordability of computer generated graphics and that they could be used on weekly television shows.

Amazing!

A direct comparison can be drawn from the Histroy Channel show Dogfights.  The planes and fights they created were well done.  Here however, in this movie, they are amazing!  A great action sequence is not complete without audio however.  Amazingly the studio went to Skywalker Studios for the sound design.  Part of the special features is a trip to Skywalker Studios where you can watch the meeting of the minds as they describe the sounds they need as they show off their silent version of the film.

At first glance, I was a little confused about the mechanical designs in the film.  It seemed that the designers were in love with push props.  Most piston and radial engine aircraft utilize a propeller that is designed to pull the plane through the air.  In those designs, the engine and propeller are placed in the front of an aircraft.  Towards the end of World War II, several designers started to experiment with different designs.  The Dornier Do 335A-07 was a German design that featured both a push and pull prop.

After some thought, it appears that the push props are all piloted by the "good guys" with the pull prop being piloted by the obvious "villain".  The Sky Crawlers is not a simple good vs. evil story but I'll leave it at that for you to think about yourselves.

If this viewing experience is indicative of anime on bluray then consider me stoked.  The picture and sound were awesome and there are a lot of enjoyable extra features.  I rate The Sky Crawlers on Bluray Super Awesome!

The Sky Crawlers [Blu-ray] at Amazon

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