Friday, February 12, 2010

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2007) Review



Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good: Continues all aspects that made the original series such a hit, top notch voice acting, decent character designs, realistic human drama, high flying space combat action

The Bad: inconsitstent animation, unfinished CGI, obvious animation mistakes, clashing visual styles, rushed story, requires prior knowledge of Robotech lore.


*************Review*************
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the long awaited sequel to the Robotech franchise that started in the 80s. Its release was met with very mixed fan reaction and reviews with ratings ranging from awesome to downright terrible. Shadow Chronicle's main mistake was not being able to decide which target audience to appeal to and trying to hard to please everyone. Did it want to appeal to the long time fans of the original? Fans of japanese anime? Or maybe fans of american science fiction comic books? This movie has elements that appeal to all three but what appeals to one would put off the other.
The story takes place during the final episodes of the original TV series and then branches off into new territory halfway through the film. Going into the back story alone would require an entire essay but some expositionary flashbacks fill the audience in on the bare essentials. A miraculous source of power called "Protoculture" has been the cause of many wars between earth and various alien races seeking to harness that power. Humanity tried to take the fight to the invaders by launching a expeditionary fleet but this in turn left earth vulnerable. 
Finally the alien race known as the Invid conquered earth and enslaved the human population. In 2044, the expeditionary fleet returns to earth in a last desperate attempt to regain their homeworld. But as mankind and Invid clash in their final apocalyptic battle, a far more trechrous enemy lurks in the shadows. This new enemy, who works through deciet and sabotage, is intent not on harnessing protoculture for itself, but in eliminating all races that use it.
The "bare essentials" of the backstory leading into the movie are adequate but since this movie is intended to be "episode number 86" , one is required to sit through at least season three up to episode 85 of the original series in order to fully appreciate the story developments. Returning characters and their continued developmental arcs would only appeal to the fans of the original but new characters are thrown into the mix, each with their own well defined personalities and quirks which make them instantly likeable. 
Despite the stellar voice acting, character development feels a little rushed as the production tries to cover too much in 88 minutes. On the plus side it manages to weave in suffecient human drama, a social allegory about xenophobia plus little bits of humor here and there for variety. A longer running time would have benefited Shadow Chronicles and allowed for the charaters to grow naturally.
Another aspect in which Shadow Chronicles suffers thanks to its indisicive appeal is in the animation. The animation is a mixed bag combining 2D character art with 3D CGI backgrounds and vehicles. The characters are drawn with a mixture of american comic book proportions and japanese anime styled features. In other words, every male is a tall, buff, handsome "bishonen" and every female is lean, hot and with "assets" that would make Wonder Woman Jealous. 
Really, whether you like the art style or not can be chalked up to personal taste. The disappointing aspect comes in the animation which, barring a couple of scenes with smooth frame rate, just seem bland and uninspired. Characters move stiffly, the same few shot angles are always used, and to top it off, there are a good number of animation mistakes in full view. 
The 3D CGI animation is a whole other story. While scenes like those set on earth against a daytime sky do look good, as well as a number of shots in the first half of the movie, the quality of the CGI models deteriorates drastically. At times it almost feels like production was rushed and there was not enough time to finish the texturing on the models. 
As a first time anime Director, Tommy Yune's inexperience shows. Fight choreography of the space battles look very rigid, bland, and with little attention paid to proper compositing of foreground and background elements or framing. The mecha zip around at full speed and suddenly come to dead stop as if inertia never existed, they turn as if they were on a turntable instead of using any form of propulsion, and they move like someone playing space battles with toys. 
One could make the argument that space battles were no better back in the original anime. In the original anime, to save on budget, a still frame of a space fighter would zip across screen locked in a set pose to give the illusion of motion, enemies would disappear in gaudy balls of light and space cruisers exchange volleys of fire while making no attempts at evasive manoeuvres.
 Robotech the Shadow Chronicles continues that tradition except that now space battles involve CGI models that look more like toys than actual spacecraft. Yune directs this movie with an amateur's eye and never fully exploits the limitless potential of animation.
All in all Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles is a passable effort for a debut production. Sadly, while grabbing around in the dark, trying to decide which target audience to appeal to, the production team made the mistake of continuing now just the good aspects of Robotech, but its flaws as well. The sometimes campy dialogue, derivative music, limited animation and inconsistent production standards especially by 2007 standards all add to its detriment. On the other hand, maybe this was just their idea of keeping true to the original.


********Review End*******

Entertainment: B-
Story: A-(if you are long time fan) or C- (for new comers)
Characters: B+
Animation: C+
Art: B-
Voice work: A
Replay Value: B-
"Brains": B-

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