Japanese animation (anime) - A.LI.CE
English: A.LI.CE
Vintage: 1999
Style: Sci-fi
A.LI.CE - Preview
Preview
Alice wakes up among enemy futuristic soldiers riding a futuristic ice vehicle driven by what seams to be a robot. Later, she learns that the space shuttle she was onboard suffered an accident and, somehow, she was transfered to an apocaliptic world where her very own existence is the key for mankind survival. Now, helped by one of the few locals alive, Yuan, and the robot waitress who saved her, which she names Maria, Alice must decide what to do, and how to get back to her time, on this anime that claims to be the very first full 3DCGI movie.
Pacing
The movie certainly makes a point on using 3D animation (don't get confused usual computer graphics - CGI - as some titles that predates this movie, with using fully 3D engine to create the characters and it's enviroments, as on this title), but all glory of the movie sucumbs after that, letting only, perhaps, the original voice acting as the only glimpse of quality remaining. The main focus of the anime is Alice, but everything happens so fast for the viewer to really get to understand what is going on, let alone get involved with the characters and their situation, that the continuity is hugelly compromised. Also, even granting it was the first 3DCGI, the animation lacks a lot and everything seams quite robotic.
Conclusion
The events are too fast and sometimes nonsensical, things just pop up whenever the characters need, and events happen as characters or the plot need them to happen in a very unrealistic and mechanic fashion. Because of this lack of consistency and continuity, the plot seams quite unrealistic. Also, since the plot handles time travel, lots of loopholes are present, and even if we consider it's usual to have such plot holes whenever time travel is the subject, A.LI.CE. has plenty of them to further damage the believability of the plot. Several moments are just too unrealistic to grasp. As a good point, most characters, except perhaps for Alice herself, have some nice character development and personality, but Alice is too untrue to her own character and changes her goals each 10 screentime minutes. You just don't get what is it she wants, or sometimes, where the plot is trying to go. The ending, the same way as the whole title, is a huge disapointment in terms of sequence and logic. A.LI.CE certainly is a piece to be collected if you are interested into important milestone titles, in this case, the first full 3DCGI. But if we remove this merit of the movie, it does not deserve even citation. Producers should start looking for a decent plot, and a quality director to guide it, when they want to present something new for the audience, knowing that whatever is new today will be old and common place tomorrow, and that new shine will loose sense along with it: Today we know that there is nothing really amazing on 3DCGI, it's been tryed, succeeded or failed, and we no longer care, and will judge the title based on plot, characters and development, not on it's animation - animation alone cannot hold a title from crashing upon oblivion, and that's were A.LI.CE stands.
