Metropolis

It?s been a while since a Manga film has received wide theatrical release, it?s always good to see one on the big screen. Opening this week in Melbourne and Sydney with other states to follow is Metropolis which is based on a 1949 manga written by Osamu Tesuka and inspired by Fritz Lang?s famous silent film of the same name. Screenwriter Katsuhiro Otomo, who made the legendary Akira, and director Rintaro, of Astro Boy fame, have come up with a spectacular piece of anime, which is set in a future imagined from the past. The city looks like New York; it?s run by Duke Red, who looks a bit like C. Aubrey Smith and who has hired the notorious scientist, Dr. Laughton, to create a robot to control the city. Japanese investigator Shunsaku Ban arrives in Metropolis with his youthful sidekick Kenichi; they?ve come to expose the evil Dr. Laughton, whose latest creation is Tima, a beautiful girl who doesn?t know she?s a robot and doesn?t know how powerful she?s destined to become. This is a must for lovers of Japanese animation, and it?s good to see it presented in the original version, with sub-titles, rather than being dubbed. The characters are wild and funny, the design is impressive, and the futuristic story totally absorbing.