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Metropolis (Rintaro, 2001)
With quite a well known production team behind it Metropolis is one of the anime films in recent years, like Spirited Away, to have garnered a lot of international attention. Including a big fan in James Cameron. Also like Spirited Away this is much more family friendly than any of Manga's comic book animation outings, but that doesn't mean it's a film for kids. Far from it, this is a very clever film. A multi layered plot about the "perfect" city of Metropolis (perfect despite the vigilante gangs and social unrest) and one businessman's attempts to take over the world (it's not as cheesy as it sounds) with a lot of interesting subtexts about intolerence and the problems with a utopian society plays host to a variety of characters (robots and humans) who inhabit this city and whose paths interweave to the destructive and almost apocalyptic finale. It's gripping stuff and has a brilliant jazzy soundtrack which catches the mood of the grimy underworld beneath the spotless facade of the city above. Well worth watching, rendered in both CGI and traditonal Japanese character animation, Metropolis is just one example of why computer graphics can never completely replace the more traditional forms of animation.
8 out of 10