Kidô keisatsu patorebâ: Gekijô-ban (1989)

Kidô keisatsu patorebâ: Gekijô-ban: Directed by Mamoru Oshii. With Toshio Furukawa, David Jarvis, Doug Erholtz, Mîna Tominaga. The screwball cops of Special Vehicles Section 2 Division 2 must investigate and stop a spree of rampaging construction robots.

“Japanese animation has become very popular in the past few years. Somehow, it also gained the notoriety for u0026quot;extremeu0026quot; sex and violence, though itu0026#39;s a misconception that all Japanese animation is about that. Yet, animation in general is viewed as a kids only fare.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI recommend anyone to watch Patlabor: the movie. It has a very mature storyline. When I mean mature, I meant well-thought out story that can leave you thinking.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the future, giant industrial utility robots called labors are used throughout Japan. Those in the law enforcement department use labors called Patlabors (patrol labors). Lately, there are reports of labors running amuck on its own. From this point we follow the heroes in a detective like story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are no nudity, violence is pretty tame compared to your half-hour dose of Mighty Morphinu0026#39; Power Rangers (a series also a byproduct of Japan, I know but Iu0026#39;m not here to discuss my distaste for the Rangers) TV show. What we have is a straight-forward mystery as the story unravels what is going on. It also explores about man and technology and how itu0026#39;s like the Tower of Babel in biblical literature.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie is based on the tv show and comic. I only got to see a few episodes of the show. The movie, like the show, do not have the robots dominating the story, thus focusing more on the human characters. Watching the movie, I almost feel like Iu0026#39;m watching a PG/PG-13 live-action movie. Akira and Ghost in the Shell also have a deep story in them, itu0026#39;s not as involving perhaps they were covered so much cinematic effects (and sex and violence?). Patlabor blew me away in that it successfully simply told an honest-to-goodness story without being covered in so much effects.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe verdict: 5 of 5 stars.”