Well Deserved Praise

recommended

A Disappointing Continuation

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

A comet is approaching Earth; a snowy ice queen is going to turn it into her new kingdom in the name of beauty. She sends her minions to the planet below and a local scientist sees the plot unfold. He sets out to find the object without thinking about the consequences and pays the price for it. As is typical to Sailor Moon, this will be a major plot point.I want to give props to the opening that follows, because it shows the characters doing what they do best – they have a life outside of what is going on outside of the movie's adventure. This is an aspect lost on so many anime series and movies when characters get caught up in drama or world affairs; they neglect their personal lives and otherwise fail to continue their former life when all is said and done. Sailor Moon has always been a bit different because their super hero lives and normal lives are not only different, but their super hero guises help to preserve their lives as well as the life of everyone else around the planet.That said, this is the dubbed version of the Japanese movie; the plot is otherwise the same outside of a few translation differences which involve changed names, nuances for the American culture, and a few odd placed jokes. This is typical in translations and well known in the Sailor Moon fandom; it simply can't be avoided. The movie is also typical of drama that unfolds on American primetime television of the era (the movie was made around the same time) and in early 2000. All characters have ups and downs in their life and the movie plays heavily with this before the main plot kicks in.In a nutshell the snowy icequeen intends to turn the world into her own kingdom. Her minions wreak havoc in downtown Tokyo and the Sailor Scouts are there to put an end to it. In the meantime the scientist also mentioned from the beginning, has gotten caught up with Serena's cat; so the Sailor Scouts are suddenly involved in their personal lives as well. The scientist also is involved in a sideplot involving his love life and a scientist that is about to perform a mission in space; the comet towards Earth directly affects the mission. The movie plays heavily on the plot, as well as drama that unfolds as a side effect; characters have their own interactions as well.The voice acting is typical of dubbed animation; it is above average as has transpired to previous Sailor Moon dubs; this was dubbed later in the life of the series and the effects show. Returning fans after a decade will appreciate this, those just now viewing the entire series will notice the effects. The animation looks to be pulled directly from the series showing at the same time (Sailor Moon S); but unlike the syndicated series, this takes no shortcuts in animation; the same frame count for animation appears to be there, as well as the same quality throughout. Characters also seem to have more nuances in their movements, body language, gestures and facial expressions; they needless to say have lots of personality going on here. Just about every scene shown has some kind of fluid, if not choppy animation – this is still better than the actual series which often employs single frame shots with movement coming from say, only the mouth. The movie also uses lots of camera angles combined with animation movement; special effects are animated and wonderfully done in a time when computer animation was largely unheard of. The style of camera movement and animation is not typically found in any animation without some kind of special effects or animation using computer graphics. Background art is above the original series and typically graces only movies; similar in appearance to that found in a graphics novel, the play on light and undertones helps the foreground animation stand out with exceptionally clean lines. In a word; it's good animation and art for the time.Are the voices, music, and sound effects good? They are a combination of the original Japanese, with American additives transplanted with varying affects; for the most part it could have very well been the American equivalent that I grew up with had it not been delayed nearly a decade before dubbing the rest of the series.I recommend the movie for Sailor Moon fans; it will give you your fix; but for causal anime fans it may be a bit of a loose cannon. This movie fits entirely into the magical girl genre of anime with nods to more aggressive shows such as Dragonball Z; fans of either genre will want to follow suite.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/? p=6649).

The trouble with most movies derived from a TV show are they don't always stand on their own, most of the time it just feels like their branching off from their source. This film I really love because it did what I felt "Sailor Moon R the movie" didn't really do which was stand as it's own movie.Based off of a mini arc from the comic series, what really makes this film and story unique is the fact that it's not about Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon and the rest are practically second string characters. Even it's plot and the action going on really by it's nature is just a sugar coated topping. It was really focused on one unlikely character Luna. The Luna character was always just a mentor or narrative device in the series, in this story we actually get to see her become a real character.I even like the other characters two that aren't regular characters of the series. Kakura and Himako both of them are not cliché generic characters which is a fundamental problem most TV shows have, but they do feel like just that people. Himako despite not seeing her much in the movie we can see is beautiful (she could almost be Setsuna/Sailor Pluto's sister), has a sweet persona, is a person of science that believe in the facts and does have aspirations mainly of being with Kakura forever. Kakura is an astronomer whom believes and is fascinated with things that science hasn't touched upon he also has aspirations as well. I do like some of the interaction between the two you do get a sense of history along with certain things he says about her but their relationship is not on stable ground which I'll get to latter. Artimis is good despite also being in the film for very little time but you do feel for him as we see he has feeling for Luna that are beyond friendship.You really feels a strong sense of pathos for Luna because her feelings for the man Kakara are very human. Even though he talks to her about certain things that she shares the same interest unfortunately she is unable to talk back to him even though she want to, nor really have a physical presence to him as a regular human would because after all she is a cat. Like with the angels from "Wings of Desire" they can observe mortals, but can never touch or be seen.There is a parallel going on with all four of them. Kakara and Himako it's both a physical and personal distance, both of them have been apart for a long while so it's understandable why Kakara would be a little embittered but just simply in what ideologies they believe in. For Luna it's obvious she want a way to be with Kakara physically. Artimis it's to simply come out with how he feels about Luna and be more than friends.There's is a bit of a universal sensibility from one standpoint those who have a relationship with someone from a certain business that requires a lot of time or travel, or someone in the military that has to go on a tour of duty, on another standpoint it's the common dilemma of having feelings for another person but not finding the guts to express them. The common theme in all this is all about distance, how truly hard it is to be close when miles or even mere steps away. This is something I can relate to because there was a girl I had feelings for but didn't have the guts to tell her.This makes the romance all the more enduring, you not just want the right people to get together but you want them to somehow close the distance and the only way to do that is to reach out to each other, by it's nature it's really easy it only looks hard the only thing blocking them is them. And the ending really gave me a good feeling at the end which is something I don't get enough.No one is alone forever once you close the distance.Rating: 3 and a half stars

i recently got this one for christmas from my mom. thank god i told her to get it subtitled. lol. after seeing this one, it became my favorite out of the three. super s was previously my fav, but s was more touching to me. i especially loved the ending (luna) that's the only hint i'm giving out. the story was very dramatic and the sailor senshi are better than ever! if you love action and a little romance, go for it!

This is a good, solid dose of typical Sailor Moon fun, with the appearances by the Outer Senshi, the smooth animation, and the sweet plotline revolving around Luna's love for an astronomer making this especially good. Kudos to the very slick music and the directing as well. Senshi die-hards need not hesitate, and for others, this is a very good way to sample some of the brilliant Sailor Moon series. My only regret is that the manga version is streets ahead of this.