Starring:JKiyoshi Kodama, Manami Konishi, Katsuo
Nakamura, Ikki Sawamura, Anne Suzuki, Susumu Terajima, Masatane Tsukayama Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
U.S.
Opening Date: March 18, 2005
Any movie by Katsuhiro Ôtomo (the director of Akira)
is to be welcomed especially when it is his first film as director in
ages.
So far the consensus on Steamboy is: not as good as Akira,
especially plot-wise, but some stunning visuals. So be sure to check this
one out on the big screen (even though its release in the U.S. would be
limited and not wide) and don’t wait for it to come out on video . . .
Rei is a young inventor living in
the U.K. in the middle of the 19th century. Shortly before the first ever
World Expo, a marvellous invention called the "Steam Ball", behind which a
menacing power is hidden, arrives at his door from his grandfather Roid in
the U.S. Meanwhile the nefarious Ohara Foundation has sent men to acquire
the Steam Ball so that they can use its power towards their own illicit
ends.
A new record for the most
expensive Japanese animated film. The film cost around $20 million to
make.
Began production in 1995 and
due to financial problems, the film was put on hiatus in 1998. Production
companies Production I.G and Sunrise got involved and brought the film
back to production. A total of eight years was spent for the making of the
film.
Steamboy (2004)
