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Anime Film Games

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

kingsglaive-final-fantasy-poster

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV isn’t a game, but rather a CG-animated movie that acts as an intro to the world that will be depicted in the upcoming Final Fantasy XV game. My buddy James Mielke just reviewed the film for Rolling Stone (as part of its Glixel initiative, which will culminate in a proper game coverage offshoot site sometime this fall), and as you’ll read, he didn’t much care for it.

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Asterix: The Land of the Gods

As far as I know, this is the first Asterix animated film done in CG, and they did a really great job with it. The animation is definitely on par with what you expect to see from an American CG movie these days, and I thought it was a great adaptation of the original book. Really funny stuff for me, although it might help if you’re already very familiar with the series (I grew up reading those books countless times). Really hope they keep making more CG movies like this.

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Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection

This is one of the best things I’ve seen from Disney in forever. Such a fantastic collection of shorts, and it just made me realize how much I wish we got more things like this – not movies, not TV shows, but just shorts that allow for interesting bursts of creativity. Also, it makes me long for the days of 2D animation. Of all the shorts included here, the two weakest are the Tangled and Frozen ones, and the CG-animated shorts that do work the best are the ones that are made to look like traditional animation (like the absolutely fantastic “Paperman,” pictured above). It’s also a reminder that behind the giant conglomerate that is now Disney, there’s still an amazing tradition of animation that hasn’t completely disappeared. Can’t recommend this enough.

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Captain Harlock

I should start by saying that as a kid, Captain Harlock – or Albator, as I knew him in French – was my absolute favorite series. I loved that show so much, and my obsession with LEGO blocks was to constantly be building massive Arcadia-style ships, one after the other. So I was of course excited to see a CG animated version of it, and I must say, this film is stunning to look at. They really did an amazing job with the animation, and found the right balance between realism and the original look of the world and characters. In terms of the story, I honestly can’t remember if it’s similar to the series I watched as a kid (which would have been the one that aired in the early eighties), but it was fine, if not particularly special. I won’t lie, most of my enjoyment from watching this was for the visuals, and to see all of these characters in action, and the giant ship battles – although I wouldn’t have minded having a few more of those. I don’t know if it was a financial success, but I sure hope they continue to make more.