Review of Full Metal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa

Introduction

Adapting a television series to the big screen is always a tricky proposition. A balance needs to be found between catering for long-term fans, as well as attracting a larger audience. How many of the characters make it into the film? How much of the back-story is relevant? How far can you go with the story and the characters in the film that won`t have committed fans spitting tacks in disgust? These are quandaries that have scuppered many a big screen adaptation, and it`s no less true for anime. Films spun-off from long running franchises like Urusei Yatsura and Ranma½ have on occasion resulted in thin plots held together by a series of character cameos. The big screen spin-off from Full Metal Alchemist therefore has a tall mountain to climb. It has to appeal to broad audiences, satisfy long-term fans and tell a good story as well. Fortunately this is Full Metal Alchemist we are talking about.

I have been raving like an idiot over this spectacular anime series for the last two years, ever since the first of its thirteen volumes was released here. Over 51 episodes, it told a gripping story with amazing characters, it was a show that just got better and better, and rarely put a foot wrong. Best of all, the movie was planned before the series ended, so the filmmakers got a chance to deliver the ending that fans of the television show deserved, while setting up the film with a minimum of back-story required.

Full Metal Alchemist took place in an alternate world in the early years of the twentieth century where alchemy was commonplace, and where alchemists could transmute matter with the aid of mystical circles to focus their will. But for young alchemists Edward and Alphonse Elric, alchemy was more than just a parlour trick. They broke the first law of alchemy, the law of Equivalent Exchange that stated that for every alchemical transaction there is a price, and that the dead could never be revived. Trying and failing to resurrect their dead mother, Ed lost his arm and his leg, while Al lost his body, his spirit sealed at the last minute into a suit of armour. The series followed them on their quest to find a way to restore themselves. At the last, Ed found a way to restore his brother, but the price was high. Al came back at the same age he was when he lost his body, losing his memories of the intervening years. Ed had to pay a higher price; he had to leave his world and his brother, and crossover into ours, a world where alchemy doesn`t exist. And that is how events stand at the start of the film, The Conqueror Of Shamballa.

The summary above describes the plot well enough so that all that I could add would be spoilers.

Video

This is wonderful, a film to PAL transfer, complete with 4% speedup. Most anime in the UK, especially television series get NTSC-PAL transfers, with a concomitant lower resolution, jerkiness and ghosting. It something you get used to, but to see a proper PAL image is heavenly, with its smooth animation and crystal sharp image.

Full Metal Alchemist finally goes widescreen and the transfer itself is largely fine, with the only problem early on during an action sequence when the image suffers from some noticeable compression, but it`s really only just a couple of frames out of the whole movie. For the animation itself, it`s much more fluid and detailed in comparison to the series. The character renditions are more robust, and the detail given to the backgrounds and settings is splendid. It doesn`t quite reach theatrical quality though, with the televisual roots occasionally visible with some hasty animation, or slightly sub par character design. But as stated in the extras, given the tight deadline the filmmakers were under, it`s a miracle that the final product looks as spectacular as it does.

Audio

A step up from the television series in that we now get a DD 5.1 Japanese track in addition to the DD 5.1 English. As usual for an anime release, you have the option of translated subtitles, or a signs only track. The dialogue is clear in both versions, the music from Michiru Oshima certainly lives up to the theatrical soundstage while remaining consistent with the television series, and the theme tunes from L`Arc en Ciel suit the film well. The English dub actors remain unchanged from the series, so if you liked that, you`ll like this too. There are also plenty of action sequences to give your surround set-up a workout.

Features

Are you annoyed by layer changes? Sometimes it feels as if I`m the only one who notices them. The Full Metal Alchemist movie has one or two depending on which version you watch. The English version has the expected one pause, but if you choose Japanese from the language select menu, then through the magic of not-so-seamless branching, the end credits change from English to Japanese, necessitating a second pause. Note to self: Next time, play the English version and change languages in the film via the remote.

The version on release in the UK now is the single-disc version, which has a few extras to appreciate. The usual anime disc features are there, the animated menus, jacket picture, dual stream credit sequence, as well as trailers for Gunslinger Girl and quite appropriately the Full Metal Alchemist series.

Specific to this release are two image gallery slideshows totalling about 3 minutes in length. One shows stills from the film, while the other features production art.

There are around 10 minutes worth of trailers for the movie, including the US trailer, the Japanese theatrical trailer and several TV trailers.

The meatiest extra is the Behind The Scenes featurette. This lasts 40 minutes and is a retrospective with director Seiji Mizushima. Made 4 months after the film`s release, it looks back at the making of process. It takes us from the original script, to the storyboards and animation, the editing and music, as well as the ADR process and the hefty deadlines that had to be met. There is much of interest here and it is well worth a watch.

US audiences got a 2-disc limited edition. The second disc offered an hour-long featurette with the Japanese voice actors, as well as three audio commentaries. UK FMA fans will have to be extra patient before they can double dip, as the Region 2 2-disc version will be released in September 2008.

Conclusion

The creators of Full Metal Alchemist had a simple choice to make, whether to cater solely for existing fans or to aim for a broader audience. In my opinion they made the right one, and this film is truly a gift to fans of the series. If like me you have followed the epic series avidly, then this film delivers on the story set up at the end of the show, with a tale which if anything is even more epic. It takes what was strongest about the series, the bonds of brotherhood between Ed and Al, and builds on that to give an emotionally satisfying couple of hours.

Something had to give however, and the complex storyline of the series, the multiple plot threads, and the several character arcs are dispensed with to focus solely on Ed and Al. This helps when it comes to broadening the audience of course, as it is easy to relate to two brothers, torn apart across dimensions, fighting to be reunited. And the film can be enjoyed at that simple level. But for those who are familiar with the characters, the back-story, and the world of Full Metal Alchemist, the film is an infinitely more rewarding experience. Instead of the random cameos of other tie-in movies, we find the supporting characters of Full Metal Alchemist in context and contributing to the storyline.

Setting the film in `our` universe was a brilliant move. The series often showed the darker parts of human nature, the desire for power, fear of difference, the desperate need to survive. By placing Ed in Germany between the wars, the allegory simply gains dimension. He`s faced with a society strikingly similar to his own, where minorities are persecuted, where the powerful seek scapegoats to gain personal power, and seek to mould the thinking of the common man. And as we know, the Nazi movement may have been the most evil, inhumane scourge in history, but it makes for great cinema. There are always rumours that Hitler was obsessed with the occult, and throwing alchemy into that mix simply spices things up. Here the Thule society is seeking power to help Hitler`s rise in depression hit Germany. Edward Elric is the key to a whole other world, full of alchemical wonders, a world that could fuel Germany`s resurgence. It`s pretty nifty how the fantastic story of Full Metal Alchemist meshes with real world events and characters.

I`m not altogether convinced by the year gap between the single disc and the Limited Edition. Perhaps the other way around would have been better, or a simultaneous release. The problem of course is that you`re selling to a limited audience, fans of the series, and it isn`t a number that`s likely to fluctuate. For Full Metal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa is just what fans are looking for in a movie. Let`s face it, you probably already own it, and I`m preaching to the choir here. If you`ve never seen Full Metal Alchemist before, you can watch this as a simple sci-fi action film, understand 10% of the story, and get enjoyment of it. But if you`ve never seen Full Metal Alchemist before, I urge you to buy the movie, and put it to one side. Then buy the series, and watch it all from the beginning, before watching the film. It`s worth every penny. Best of all, while delivering a satisfying, if unexpected conclusion, there are enough plot threads left hanging for another film. I`m going to indulge myself with a little wishful thinking now…