Samurai Jack - The Premiere Movie

Samurai Jack - The Premiere Movie

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DVD Reviews of Samurai Jack - The Premiere Movie

DVD Review: Stunning
Summary: 5 Stars

The imagery in this is profound in its simplicity (if that makes any sense). The scenes do not look three-dimensional at all, rather they are a series of two-dimensional layers. Don't go in expecting some highly stylized anime or CGI, and you won't be disappointed here. Think more along the lines of old Hannah-Barbera cartoons. Despite the flat looking graphics (or perhaps because of it) "Samurai Jack" seems to have more depth than almost anything else you will see. People have criticized this as sloppiness or just plain bad animation, but for me, the unique style, split screen effects, and almost total lack of outlines are what makes this cartoon so great to watch.

Second, the sound. This movie is almost an hour and a half long and there are easily 40 minutes that are totally dialog-free. Much of the first part of the movie is made up of a beautiful montage of Jack's training combined with original music appropriate to every fighting style or skill he learns. And much of the last part of the movie is a battle scene pitting Jack against a legion of robots. The middle part is the part with the dogs. At first they annoyed me. Then they annoyed me the second and third and fourth time I watched the movie. Then around the 5th time that I watched this, I got it. Somehow, even though I hated them, they grew on me. Now I really enjoy their scenes even more than other parts of the movie (sometimes).

Violence:
This movie is very violent, and I dislike how all of the violence has to be directed at robots, it just seems like a very transparent attempt at candy-coating what could be amazing fight scenes (actually, that's exactly what it is). Even the apparently organic looking reptillian aliens that Jack fights in the bar have robotic arms that can get cut off. But the violence is really only directed at robots, so I guess it's ok. Still, you may want to check it out before you decide that it's acceptable for your children to watch (I think it is, but others may disagree).

Overall rating from me:
This movie is amazing, even if you don't like anime (I hate anime). The show that this movie is from is amazing. Since you can get the show for free on TV (or downloaded illegally, but I didn't give you that idea) then you might as well check it out before buying it. I love it and everybody I know loves it, but you might not, so check out a few episodes, then buy the movie, because it is better than many of the episodes made since it.
I also want to add that the third episode (third part of this movie) is the most stunning thing I have ever seen on TV.