Customer Reviews

Patlabor 1: The Movie

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

* Fans of the PATLABOR anime series know the basic scenario:
in the near future, big robotic machines known as "Labors"
are common in industrial and military roles, and to combat
crimes performed by Labors a police "Patrol Labor" group is
set up. The heroes of the series are the personnel of
"Patlabor Division 2", a self-described "gang of losers" that
manage to get things done in spite of a maverick reputation.

The PATLABOR 1 movie involves Division 2 dealing with a rash
of Labors running amok, with suspicion falling on the operating
system for the Labors. Suspiciously, the chief designer of the
OS, an E. Hoba, committed suicide under bizarre circumstances.
The devious Captain Goto of Division 2 enlists (using a
little trickery) officer Asuma Shinohara to get to the bottom
of things, and soon a frightening plot emerges ...

The PATLABOR 1 movie is a reasonably well put together piece
of work, with good (if not extraordinary) production values,

and an intelligent (if not extraordinary) script. It is certainly
better than much of the indifferent anime that gets churned
out on a regular basis by Japan's animation studios.
However, PATLABOR 1 is basically just a scaled-up PATLABOR
TV episode, and the only thing it really brings to the party
is better production values over the TV show.

If you like the PATLABOR TV series, you'll probably like this
movie. If you were lukewarm on the TV series, you might not
find the movie very stimulating. In comparison to the
follow-on and outstanding PATLABOR 2 movie, it looks more like
a creditable practice exercise for producer Mamoru Oshii,
preparing him for better work to come.

If I wanted to introduce someone to the world of quality anime, this wouldn't be the title I'd pick. There ARE better out there...

BUT this is nothing to hoist your nose at, Patlabor has style and class. It's in my library and it's going to stay there. So if you are a fan of mechs or a good detective story and demand a higher level of quality in artwork and plot than most, this is a good choice. If you are on the edge of buying this let me tip you over to the "yes" side.

this is a smart mecha tronic movie
i like azuma shinohara and noah izumi
this is a brilliant movie,even though i did not see the series
they say the 'd' word a few times but this movie is so cool!

Patlabor 1 is a masterpiece. Set in Japan into the future, the characters (Patlabor Police) go through a sytematic search of why their mechs are going bezerk. A bug in the mechs Hyper Operating System (HOS) is suspected, but the Patlabor Police run into a wall of politics trying to cover up the scandle.

This is not for kids!

This is a typical hackjob by Manga Entertainment , they have the licensed dvd release but don't buy it b/c it is damaged goods before you the consumer even view it! There are two specific parts in the beginning and towards the climax of the film that are technically show OBVIOUS damage and carelessness on the part of inspection prior to dvd duplication.

FOr those of you who already own the dvd or are renting it, test these times on your dvd and you will understand why this reviewer is highly disappointed in Manga's poor job on dvd that should've been anything to the contrary.

@ 3:12 after the attack helicopter zooms in you will see a full screen of UGLY pixellation. This crap was NOT on the VHS release by Manga. They failed to catch it and fix it.

@ 1:08:40 after Asuma says "We're going to sink the Ark", you see the mechanics prepare SV2 Labors and the carriers for armored protection and adding aquatic gear to the carrier. Here you will notice a break in sound and freezing of the frame. This too was NOT on the VHS release. Once again Manga failed to check their masters BEFORE sending them to replication.

Does anyone else feel that this is utterly unacceptable for a professionally licensed product? If I wanted damage or an otherwise less than stellar product I should've just bought the VHS copy since it will degrade with viewing.

These flaws should NOT be on any dvd. I mean come on, a dvd should be flawless! Crap, any damage prior to mastering the dvd is unacceptable. I recommend anyone who has this dvd and tests for these defects, WRITE to Manga Entertainment, maybe if enough consumer demand it they will actually check their copy. But one thing that cannot be denied Patlabor Movie 1 DVD is a damaged product, do NOT buy it until it is fixed by Manga Entertainment.

Do not buy this dvd for Patlabor the Movie 1 UNTIL the people at Manga who hold the license, get off their duffs and FIX the technical problems! As previously stated there are two glitches which include a horrible full screen pixellation and a freeze frame and break in sound and play! This is unacceptable for any dvd, especially anime where every frame is noticable. THis is a excellent story made bad by technically fixable problems, but Manga failed to do so. IF you own this already test the areas and see for yourself!

People looking for gore should turn to Ninja Scroll (my favorite movie, which I highly recommend). I think it's refreshing to see an anime that contains very little violence. It operates on detective work and technology.

The story takes place in the near future. Labors are robots that humans operate, and they're used for policing. The robots have been going berzerk; E. Hoba, the person who wrote the program for the labors, committed suicide, so it's not like anyone can turn to him. Also, it seems that Hoba was the one who created the bug in the labors anyhow.

Noah and Azuma take matters into their own hands and begin to investigate. They're basically only rookies, and it's hard for them to get approval from their superiors. It makes for quite the interesting story. I liked it a lot.

Anyone who likes anime owes it to themselves to see the Patlabor movies. The series itself is a lot of fun with it's quirky characters and off-beat approach to police drama, but the movies take this formula to a new level of poeticism. Oshii polishes his style, later institutionalized by Ghost in the Shell, with these two films. This first film concerns a new operating system for "Labor" robots that seems to have a few, less-than-accidental bugs. It is up to Division 2 to figure out what is going on before it is too late. Anyone not willing to pay attention to subtle dialog may get bored with this movie but everyone else will revel in it's beautifully presented, vaguely political drama. The disk is supposedly "digitally remastered". Maybe it is just me, but the picture seems grainy at times and even appears to harbor some color bleed and shadowing. It's a little disappointing for an otherwise visually stunning film. At least it is letterbox. The audio is Dolby 5.1 in English, stereo for the Japanese. This kind of dub is the reason fans beg for subtitles. The translation is ok, but obscures more often than it clarifies. The real trouble is the acting which just doesn't seem convincing for the characters. The best performance was probably Noa, the lead female character. At any rate, watch it subtitled for best results. Patlabor 1 the Movie deserves a disk that is as polished as the story and didn't quite get it. I give it 4 stars for the strength of the content, not package.

If you're wondering where to start in investigating anime this is a great place to start. The plot is easy to follow, and very enjoyable, especially for westerners (who are not versed in the eastern mindset or oriental paradigms), yet it doesn't compromise when it comes to the dramatic asian animation style. As to the dialog: I wish DVD producers would offer two English dubbed versions: original and PG-rated so my younger kids could watch this.

Let me start by saying that the movie itself rates a 5-star. I'm giving this 4 stars only because I am fairly annoyed at the English dubbing because it is obiously aimed more at children. This is NOT a movie which should be treated this way. If you're not fluent in Japanese (I only know barely enough Japanese to tell if a translation is WAY off), watch this one with the literal English subtitles. OK, a passing knowlege of post-WWII Japan helps a lot too, but that's true of any of the great Japanese Animes (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, etc). OK, to be fair, it's probably to keep a more PG rating since this Anime doesn't feature gratuitous sex, outfits as not-there as Jennifer Lopez's Acadamy Awards gown, or naked, bathing females with large bouncy...ehm...you get the idea.

While not quite as "deep" as Ghost in the Shell, it is still definately more of a thinking person's Anime than an animated Action/Adventure flick. As with other Anime directed by Oshii Mamoru, defitately worth buying, if only to save money on the rental fees, because this is one to watch multiple times to catch the dramatic layers you'll miss the first couple times.

If you enjoy Drama and Anime, this is a great one to get. If you are looking more for giant robots destroying each other then there a wealth of other amime with less drama and more action to suit your taste.

You know, in the days of fast cars, fast music(and fast lifespans for music), fast women, fast food, and any thing else that can be concidered fast(let me know if there is anything I have left out), sometimes, you need to slow down a bit. Starting with Shenmue, I came to the conclusion that not every thing has to be fast paced to be enjoyable. As far as movies go, Patlabor fits that bill quite nicely.

More of a crime drama/exploration film, I think the first thing that jumped out at me is the direction. Mamoru Oshii did an excellent job with not only the cinamatagraphy, but the setups as well. Needless to say, nothing felt jarring at all in the movie. Another thing that helped the tone of the movie was the soundtrack. The soundtrack was very well composed(not something I normally say about anime soundtracks. Especially with j-pop openings).

To me, the movie is kinda of an exploration of man and his machines. Man creates machine. Man becomes dependent on machine. Man, therefore becomes machine. It seems as though the antgonist in this movie saw this horrible revolation and commits suicide. Not before sending Tokyo to impending doom with his plan(not gonna share details. I have told enough).

I think one thing that would have made this movie better was if I had saw the original TV series(which I hear is pretty good). But alas, no DVD means no purchase as I am now on strict DVD only diet. But even so, the characters were, if not a little under developed, still deffentatly enjoyable. I just wish they had shared a little more background info. Oh well.

Another thing that I thought worked to its advantage, was the lack of gratuitous mech action. I myself am not big mecha fan. But when the scenes that had the mechs in them were, from my standpoint, more emphasised, made it better. Rather than mindless battles that was one of many elements that made Gundam Wing hard to watch.

Overal, good movie that is well directed and has cool storyline. Not fast paced fare but I was able to mangage. After all, Vampire Princess Miyu is one of my favorite animes. And that is pretty slow anime. Oh well, guess its not for everyone.