Review for Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

Introduction

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva may just be Manga Entertainment's biggest selling animation of the year. That's something that just blows me away. Then again, the last time I shelled out any serious money for a computer game, two pound coins weren't legal tender. The whole Nintendo DS, brain-training phenomenon has passed me by, which is why until this anime feature film turned up for review, I had no idea of who Professor Layton was, or the fact that his games on that handheld console have notched up a staggering seven million sales and more worldwide. It's a series of five games to date where Professor Layton and his assistant Luke go on a series of adventures, progressing by solving a variety of puzzles, richly supplemented with animated cut scenes galore. The same people who provide the animation for the games, have also created this anime feature film, and the voice cast also reprise their roles. With the kind of numbers that the Professor Layton games achieve, it's no wonder that Manga Entertainment are going all out to promote this film. I've only received the DVD check disc to review, but the film also gets a Blu-ray release on the same day. For hard core fans, there are the special editions, with a three disc set collecting the DVD and Blu-ray, and adding a third disc replete with bonus features, and the deluxe set, which features luxury packaging, all three discs, plus a 630-page book of the movie's storyboards. The latter two items are strictly limited edition as well, and it's best to get your orders in early.


Professor Layton receives a letter from a former student that intrigues him. Janice Quatlane is now an opera singer with a bizarre story. Her friend Melina Whistler died a year previously, but now has apparently returned to life as a seven-year-old girl. What's more, Melina now claims to be immortal. Professor Layton and his assistant Luke Triton head off to the Crown Petone theatre to attend the debut of the new opera from Oslo Whistler, based on the legends of the ancient kingdom of Ambrosia, but it turns out that no one is actually interested in the singing. The audience is there for immortality. And sure enough, after the opera ends, a cloaked figure appears on stage and announced the start of a game. The participants will face a series of brain twisting puzzles. Whoever succeeds in deciphering them all will win the ultimate prize of eternal life. But those who fail will forfeit their own lives.

The Disc

Professor Layton gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which gets the proper Film to PAL treatment. The image is clear and sharp throughout, and compression artefacts aren't noticeable. In terms of audio, you have the choice between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0, both in English and Japanese, with translated subtitles and a signs only track. The audio options are player locked, so if you select an English audio track, you'll get the signs, while Japanese will get the subtitles, and you can't alter this from within the film using your remote. The disc autoplays with a trailer for Professor Layton and the Lost Future, gets animated menus that segue into the feature after one loop, but for extra features, you'll have to look to that special edition three-disc set.


It's a pleasant animation, with exceedingly simple but memorable character designs, no doubt tying in with the DS games, and the necessity of designing characters to appeal on such small displays. That's balanced with some atmospheric and appealing world designs, and an impressive attention to detail. The film also excels in blending traditional 2D animation with 3D CG elements. I went with the Japanese audio, and found it to be acceptable, with a fair bit of surround presence to the proceedings. There is a distinct European tinge to the music, with some rather French sounding accordion prominent in the score. From what I sampled of the dub, it's a little Hollywood English in tone, Dick Van Dyke Cockney and neutral upper class. More important to fans of the games will be the continuity in the voice cast.

Conclusion

Naturally fans of the franchise are going to find a lot to appreciate about the first feature length spin-off from the games. Obviously it's been a major success, as another film is apparently in production. But never having played the games, never before even having heard of the characters, somehow having managed to ignore the adverts every time that they have aired, I'm just approaching this as a stand-alone anime movie, and rating it at face value. I have to take the simplistic character designs, the slightly contrived puzzles and quandaries faced by the heroes, and the references to events and characters in the games that go straight over my head, and somehow come up with a review.


Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva is really quite fun, and although it's obviously aimed at a younger demographic, there's just enough here to keep us middle-aged children entertained too. Professor Layton is sort of an upper class Indiana Jones cum Sherlock Holmes, with Luke Triton his eager Watson. There's even a Lestrade-esque policeman by turns hindering and assisting, while according to my Wiki-research, there's a Moriarty type villain in Don Paulo as well, although he only makes a cameo here.


The story is entertaining enough, with the narrative impetus coming from the legend of the lost island of Ambrosia, an eternal paradise providing the immortality maguffin, and all of the various puzzles that have to be solved by the characters as they progress on their adventure. Fortunately, at no time does the film feel like a game that you aren't allowed to play, and the puzzles either turn out to be red herrings, or dramatic races against time or peril that shift the audience a little closer to the edge of their seats. The emotional impetus comes from the Melina Whistler character arc, with a father bereft at the loss of his daughter, and willing to do anything to hold onto her. It's not entirely effective at tugging the heartstrings, but the schmaltz is layered thickly enough to provide more emotional satisfaction than I would have thought a video game adaptation would offer.


High production values and budget make this a rich and lush film experience, although the story is pretty simple and predictable. I must admit that my eyes did roll at the narrative inevitability of a giant robot. It's a cliché that just has to crop up in common denominator anime movies. But to balance that, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva also had some choice and unexpected moments of comedy, and I laughed more often than I first thought I would. If like me you are a Luddite who hasn't been near a computer or console game since the turn of the millennium, then this film will just be an enjoyable waste of 90 minutes, fun and forgettable. Of course if you actually know who Professor Layton is, and may even have played a game or two, then you'll find much more to appreciate.