i haven't read any of the X manga, so i thought my opinion may be of interest to some genre fans who are thinking about renting or going to see this movie without being particular fans of X or CLAMP (i.e. like myself).
This is definitely not just wasted time and money. Several aspects of this movie are of interest to any anime fan. First, the animation work is of the highest quality, especially of the movement and of the natural effects. Animated water drops sequence approximately 10 min. into the movie is just splendid, quite unparalleled within the genre. In this respect, however, this is the highest point of the film. Well, the fight scenes are quite good as far as movement animation is concerned but no exciting visual surprises there and the action is rather bland (still i've seen worse). Scenes of destruction of Tokyo are comparatively non-impressive. As a credit to the movie, music did not annoy me, so i guess it was OK.
Where the movie takes a real dive it's the story. I found it quite easy to follow which is probably the only good consequence of the fact that the plot is as generic as can be with no attempt made at differentiating this story from the bulk. I guess that's what stuffing of a 22-book series into a 90-min film does. As it stands now it is so trivial and non-original that by the time the umpteenth of the characters you're supposed to care about dies it is hard not to laugh out loud at the movie's complete predictability and inability to engage the viewer. Actually, i think that explains all the laughter in the theater, i myself wasn't laughing, being thoroughly disappointed with the story. Just as traditionally, the big and pretentious questions are asked aloud and as usual you dismiss the answers given by the filmmakers (if any). One big plus to this movie is that such conversations are kept short and that's probably the only thing that's refreshing and stands this movie apart story-wise.
All in all, it's a good movie as the genre goes. Read the plot summary and if it doesn't sound like something you saw a thousand times already -- see it, it's the same story all over again but it's definitely one of the better versions of it (and an understandable one.) US release English dubbing is solid. 7/10. Dare to guess that the print version is better.
If you are new to the genre and just wanna see a good movie try "Ninja Scroll" or "Ghost in the Shell".
This is definitely not just wasted time and money. Several aspects of this movie are of interest to any anime fan. First, the animation work is of the highest quality, especially of the movement and of the natural effects. Animated water drops sequence approximately 10 min. into the movie is just splendid, quite unparalleled within the genre. In this respect, however, this is the highest point of the film. Well, the fight scenes are quite good as far as movement animation is concerned but no exciting visual surprises there and the action is rather bland (still i've seen worse). Scenes of destruction of Tokyo are comparatively non-impressive. As a credit to the movie, music did not annoy me, so i guess it was OK.
Where the movie takes a real dive it's the story. I found it quite easy to follow which is probably the only good consequence of the fact that the plot is as generic as can be with no attempt made at differentiating this story from the bulk. I guess that's what stuffing of a 22-book series into a 90-min film does. As it stands now it is so trivial and non-original that by the time the umpteenth of the characters you're supposed to care about dies it is hard not to laugh out loud at the movie's complete predictability and inability to engage the viewer. Actually, i think that explains all the laughter in the theater, i myself wasn't laughing, being thoroughly disappointed with the story. Just as traditionally, the big and pretentious questions are asked aloud and as usual you dismiss the answers given by the filmmakers (if any). One big plus to this movie is that such conversations are kept short and that's probably the only thing that's refreshing and stands this movie apart story-wise.
All in all, it's a good movie as the genre goes. Read the plot summary and if it doesn't sound like something you saw a thousand times already -- see it, it's the same story all over again but it's definitely one of the better versions of it (and an understandable one.) US release English dubbing is solid. 7/10. Dare to guess that the print version is better.
If you are new to the genre and just wanna see a good movie try "Ninja Scroll" or "Ghost in the Shell".