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The Sky Crawlers

Original title: Sukai kurora
  • 2008
  • PG-13
  • 2h 2m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
5.7K
YOUR RATING
The Sky Crawlers (2008)
1st trailer for this visually stunning, animated war film
Play trailer1:08
1 Video
99+ Photos
AnimationDramaSci-Fi

The Kildren, a group of eternally young fighter pilots, experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds.The Kildren, a group of eternally young fighter pilots, experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds.The Kildren, a group of eternally young fighter pilots, experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds.

  • Director
    • Mamoru Oshii
  • Writers
    • Hiroshi Mori
    • Chihiro Itô
  • Stars
    • Rinko Kikuchi
    • Ryô Kase
    • Shôsuke Tanihara
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    5.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Mamoru Oshii
    • Writers
      • Hiroshi Mori
      • Chihiro Itô
    • Stars
      • Rinko Kikuchi
      • Ryô Kase
      • Shôsuke Tanihara
    • 40User reviews
    • 54Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 5 nominations

    Videos1

    The Sky Crawlers
    Trailer 1:08
    Watch The Sky Crawlers

    Photos167

    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)
    The Sky Crawlers (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Rinko Kikuchi
    Rinko Kikuchi
    • Suito Kusanagi
    • (voice)
    Ryô Kase
    Ryô Kase
    • Yuichi Kannami
    • (Japanese version)
    • (voice)
    Shôsuke Tanihara
    Shôsuke Tanihara
    • Naofumi Tokino
    • (voice)
    Megumi Yamaguchi
    • Mizuki Kusanagi
    • (voice)
    Daisuke Hirakawa
    • Aizu Yudagawa
    • (voice)
    Takuma Takewaka
    • Uroyuki Shinoda
    • (voice)
    Mugihito
    • Kyoku Yama
    • (voice)
    Hôchû Ôtsuka
    Hôchû Ôtsuka
    • Honda
    • (voice)
    Mabuki Andô
    • Fooco
    • (voice)
    Mako Hyôdô
    Mako Hyôdô
    • Kusmi
    • (voice)
    Hiro Shimono
    Hiro Shimono
    • Pilot
    • (voice)
    Yoshinori Fujita
    • Pilot
    • (voice)
    Ayumu Hasegawa
    • Pilot
    • (voice)
    Oki Sugiyama
    • Pilot
    • (voice)
    Fumie Mizusawa
    • Call Girl
    • (voice)
    Tomomi Watanabe
    • Call Girl
    • (voice)
    Ken'ichi Mochizuki
    • Mechanic
    • (Japanese version)
    • (voice)
    Ian Moore
    • Public Figure
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Mamoru Oshii
    • Writers
      • Hiroshi Mori(story and characters)
      • Chihiro Itô(adaptation)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film's locations are based on Poland and Ireland.
    • Crazy credits
      SPOILER: After the end credits, a new pilot lands at the airbase and introduces himself to Kusanagi in her office. The scene is almost identical to the opening scene but we do not see the pilot's face.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Animation Research for the Sky Crawlers (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      Konya mo Hoshi ni dakarete...
      Performed by Ayaka

      Written by Ayaka

      Composed by Yoshihiko Nishio and Ayaka

    User reviews40

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Great story and concept, poor execution
    I found the view of wars as an instrument to remind us of what it means to be peaceful to be an interesting idea. The concept of Killdre who can't (won't?) become adults were also quite interesting, but I felt they could've done much more with this story.

    Throughout the film, the main character repeated that there were no reason to become adults, but what was the real difference between childhood and adulthood? Children and their immaturity come from inexperience. Even if their bodies never grew up, wouldn't their minds continue to grow into an adult? I wish they had explained this more because the Killdre pilots in this movie didn't behave that different compared to adult pilots. To me, it seemed like being children had no real advantages other than better reflexes and lighter weight for the planes.

    They did a fine job with the revival problems of Killdre, that they can't escape the war even through death, but I wished they focused more on the subject.

    Animation on this was quite disastrous in my opinion. In this day and age, many anime series mix 3D-CGI and traditional cel animation. This style of animation never worked for me, since the hand-drawn cel animation seems like laziness behind 3D backgrounds, especially since there were many 'frozen' frames where a character don't move for about 5 seconds. Such wide gap in animation quality within an anime movie seems unnatural, and I believe the CG technology in Japan has not reached a convincing level in anime yet. Some plane fight scenes were quite cool, but the following cel animation in the base always seemed awkward afterwards.

    Truly great animated films in recent years like "Byousoku 5cm" and reputable anime studios like Ghibli and Mad House still use computer graphics only to assist the hand-drawn special effects without using protrusive 3D-CGI in 2-dimensional background or characters. Japanese anime creators need to wait until they have enough budget and technology to match current Pixar films before using CGI in their anime films.

    I really liked the character development in this movie, but I believe this film had a lot of space for improvements.
    helpful•11
    14
    • ethSin
    • May 19, 2009

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 2, 2008 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Official sites
      • Official site (Japan)
      • Warner Bros (Japan)
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Gökyüzü Savaşçıları
    • Production companies
      • Nippon Television Network (NTV)
      • Production I.G.
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $5,845,516
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 2 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS-ES
      • Dolby Digital EX
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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