Metropolis (2001)

Directed by Rintaro. Starring (voices) Kei Kobayashi, Hiroaki Okada, Kōsei Tomita, Tarô Ishida, Yuka Imoto, Norio Wakamoto, Junpei Takiguchi, Masaru Ikeda, Norihiro Inoue. [PG-13]

A detective and his young nephew arrive in Metropolis, a massive futuristic city segregated between human and robot populations, to locate and arrest an organ-trafficking mad scientist that had been tasked by the power-hungry Duke Red to develop an advanced robot in the image of his deceased daughter, Tima. Exciting, eye-filling anime with a distinctive combination of animated design styles—the busy backgrounds are intricate and realistic, while the characters are rounded, plain and open—which are astonishing to look at, to absorb, to immerse oneself inside; full of clever touches and throwaway ideas and details that build the vast but contained world splendidly. The narrative nearly meets the daunting challenge of its fantastic galleries, complex without being confusing, honing in on visceral emotions like Duke Red’s adopted son’s intolerance for machines and the bond that grows between the nephew and robot Tima. Although it all predictably leads to an apocalyptic climax (set to the sublime strains of Ray Charles’ “I Can’t Stop Loving You”), it’s a better-earned and more-satisfying finale than is customary for these sorts of sci-fi fables. Adapted from a 1949 Osamu Tezuka manga (which explains why the city landscapes are so indebted to a 1940s aesthetic), itself inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent big screen opus of the same name.

91/100