Akira (Japan 1989)

Rating: ***

A gorgeous big budget animated film about the dark side of technology and politics getting out of control. The character animation is even lip-synched in the original Japanese! The scope of the film is so broad and the characters so diverse that it's very difficult to make any sense of the whole thing. Also, the lack of any "good guys" makes it difficult to relate to or bond with any of the characters.

Streamline Pictures did a pretty good job on the dubbing for this film, but the dialog was obviously over-simplified, to the point where much of the film doesn't make sense. The subtitled version does a better job at making the movie easier to follow and understand than the dubbed version.