Comment by Magic Marmalade:
Somewhere in time and place...
...Although it's difficult to place exactly where and when.
It seems equally inspired by older older sci-fi classics, as it seems to have inspired others that came after...
...From the off, this tale of city populated mainly by robots who are eliminated when they step out of their allocated zone, gives very heavy Blade Runner vibes, as does the depiction of a grimy, beaten up, decrepit looking cityscape, albeit through some truly stunning background art, as well as use of the old-time jazz score, interspersed with a more frenetic noodly, avant-garde jazz... It even ends with a head-scratching, yet wonderfully effective use of the Ray Charles song: "I Can't Stop Loving You".
And all this seems couched in a broader context of a Fritz Lang Metropolis social commentary and world design, with the grimy futurist industrial layers and zones of social hierarchy, from the highest level, or zone, where some robots intermix with human society, before gradually going deeper underground to progressively more slave robot exclusive levels. There also seems to be a little of the old Sam Spade detective trope in there too.
On top, and indeed, even beneath this, there is a lofty human political faction battle for the rule of the city and the world, while down below, a robot uprising threatens at any moment to break out... and through all this, the adopted jealous, and zealous human son of Duke Red, head of one of the political factions, relentlessly hunts down his adoptive father's greatest creation: A Robot designed to save the world, by taking the throne of the city.
And although the world depicted is grimy looking, it is also, by turns, lurid, neon, and eye popping to look at.. I can strongly feel The Fifth Element in this regard, both in the vibrant look, but also that weird jazzy score, as well as the general eccentricity and eclecticism of the designs.
This is a really bizarre mix of earlier CGI animation, overlayed with traditional animation of a seeming mix of styles, form Tin-Tin-ish basic animation, to more Akira-Manga style, through to Ghibli.
It is not exactly pacy, more meandering and bobbing and weaving in the story telling, but it certainly is engrossing, captivating even, and you eventually fall into it's world, and immerse yourself in the mood and vibe. All of which, would have gotten a rating of about a seven from me, but for the last half hour, where it really pays off, tying all those threads together, and raising it's game to a degree where it is bordering on brilliant, worthy of the eight.
It's like a Sci-fi smoothie: Little bits of everything chucked in there, blended up, and what comes out, shouldn't really work on it's own, but does.
