Fullmetal Alchemist Movie Review

MillenialsnewsNetwork Movie REVIEW:
by: Nestor T. Perez.III watched in Netflix on availability.

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST MOVIE

 It's hard not to compare a live action movie version of an anime to its original counterpart. Especially if you are a fan of a series chances are you want everything to be perfect and you want the live adaptation to be good, because who doesn't want to see their favorite series be successful all over right? Well even though that's true there are certain truths that you can't seem to deny. Like, the morning will always come, Batman always wins and Live-adaptation movie of anime or big name Manga's has a high chance of failing ( except for rurouni kenshin that movie that was freaking awesome) as an example just watch the live adaptation of attack on titan, death note (Netflix version) , Tokyo ghoul there are so many examples that it's going to be a long list if I even try to give all of them chances are that these live adaptations will be poorly received and is going to be a disaster.

Right now Netflix just released the live adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist, originally a manga authored by Hiromu Arakawa then was adapted to an anime as Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If you are interested and don't really have anytime to read all the chapters of the manga I suggest you watch the Brotherhood version because it is practically the same compared to the manga version and you will enjoy it a lot even if you don't like any anime.

Long Story short Fullmetal alchemist is about two genius alchemist brothers in a steampunk-esque and military world who are in a quest to find the philosophers stone in order to get their real bodies back where through their journey they meet friends, enemies, allies and etc. that's the best I can give you without giving out any spoilers to the story. Basically it DAMN GOOD. take my word for it.

Now regarding the Movie, The movie starts like the manga where on an effort from the brothers to resurrect their mother they embarked on a taboo which in their world is human transmutation. In the aftermath of the transmutation Alphonse then loses his body and Edward the older sibling to bring the soul of Alphonse back loses an arm and a leg.

The manga and the anime version of FMA was very successful, I know this because I am a big fan myself, yes it wasn't perfect but Hiromu Arakawa created something special here giving depths to the meaning of brotherly love, human nature both good and bad and here in this movie I hoped for the best because looking at the trailers it didn't really go with what I expect an FMA movie should look like.

The movie is directed by Fumihiko Sori I don't really know the director much but after seeing the film I think that Sori did a great job to adapt the FMA series and mangas into live action and though it was hard to condense an anime that has plenty of episodes and chapters into a two hour movie it was done fascinatingly well though with certain inconsistencies and problem to it as well.

Knowing the series of Fullmetal Alchemist and how big it was, It was clear that the scale of it had an effect towards how the director will move the story and pace it altogether. There are certain parts in the movie that are pretty confusing if you're not really into FMA or doesn't know the series well. Some breakdown of the parts of the story may have suffered from lack of consistency and Like me I know that some fans who are going to watch this Movie will be pretty disappointed not to see some of their favorite Characters, like the infamous Scar or even Fuhrer Bradley Himself the Big Badass of the series. Winry also suffered from anime logic here where compared to the manga she was a strong individual in this movie she was demoted to a stereo typical good looking lady that does nothing but to help our hero.

What is up with that hair???

Right of the bat I knew after seeing those kids ( young Alphonse and ED) in yellow wigs on the start of the movie that this movie and I was going to have problems. Much of the controversy this movie is going to receive is about ED: the older brother and one of the most important roles in the movie, played by Ryosuke Yamada a member of a pop-idol group. He did deliver but it was a hit and miss for me. For me Yamada had some problems delivering the role properly it's not his acting though I just think that he could not pull off that charismatic role that Ed has in the original anime and manga series. It's hard but at least he tried right?

The action scene were good though but you can clearly see that it relies heavily on CGI. The movements of the body, the metal and rocks flying everywhere the morphing scenes of human and monsters ( Chimeras and homunculus) though it was good it was never was mind blowing. Though Alphonse looked amazing in this movie ( i'll give points to that)

Overall Fullmetal Alchemist the movie had great things going for it, it wasn't bad but it wasn't amazing either. It's good though to just watch it with a tub of popcorn in a rainy day to kill some time, but for me it's the kind of movie that you'll forget the next day. Shame though because the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga series was very unforgettable.

Though there are plenty of problems found in this movie, you still get a sense that the director had a love for it, that he respected his source material and tried to stick with it. Some scenes were amazing ( gate of truth part) but some scenes fell flat, the good here balances the bad and in effect it was just good. It looks less of a Cinema and more like a Cosplay on a Cinema Budget. From the reduced cast of Characters to the amazing showdown against the homunculus, there are plenty of things to talk about this movie. 

Fullmetal Alchemist does not change the view of anime live adaptations falling flat but at least we get to see our favorite characters in real life.

All in all I give Fullmetal Alchemist the movie...a 6 out of 10.