SteamBoy
Went to see SteamBoy, tonight. Japanese Animation feature film about an alternate technological history where the steam aspect of the Industrial Revolution is the turning point to ridiculously advanced mechanics, and the themes of Man Vs. Technology are played out in gorgeous, epic graphics.
Well worth the price of admission, and successful in every way that the similarly themed Anime "Metropolis" was not. The characters are more real, for starters. The world they are based in is virtually identical to real history, until the tech is let loose.
"It's rather a bit of a war with Britain", a villain fatuously remarks, as his mechanical horrors converge on the Crystal Palace in 1860's London. The Great Exhibition, as it is known, was the showcase for the pinnacles of human scientific and technological achievement, as reckoned by the intelligentsia of the age.
Opposite the Crystal Palace, with it's compliment of foreign and domestic dignitaries, is the Steam Tower; the joint brain-child of Grandfather Lloyd Steam, and his son Eddy, the father of Ray (the eponymous hero). It is being shown to an assemblage of foreign military dignitaries. It's goodies are for sale and not everybody is happy about this.
The Steam Tower, built by the Steam team, with funding by a shadowy group of venture capitalists, the O'Hara foundation (which, we are told, supplied arms to both sides in the American Civil War), is a technological marvel of grand and mysterious proportions. It contains both weapons and toys, illustrating the dichotomy of the potentials of technology.
Grandfather is, at the outset, the hard driven scientific rationalist, and his son the caring soul of their work, until a devastating accident scars Eddy for life and he turns to the Dark Side, whilst Grandpa has an ethical turn of heart.
Of course, the baddies aren't the only one's with signifigant gadgets. The "good guys", led in part by the real-life Robert Stephenson -- a pioneer in the very steam drive technology the movie uses as a representation of the double edged power of science -- have considerable firepower, aimed at the Steam Tower of the "bad guys".
Amongst all of this action is the boy, Ray Steam, who is torn between his elders and must follow his heart to do what is best in very trying circumstances. There is scarcely a dull moment, as Ray is pursued by the forces of the O'Hara Foundation and as he unravels the truth about what has happened to his father.
Sometimes, the mechanical action is realized in such detail that it almost obscures the beauty and art of the scenes. However, the characters are never lost, nor is the message, the warning of intention and useage of technology. It is no surprise that this message would be found in a work of Japanese origin (however couched in Western settings and history), as the Japanese have definitely been the beneficiaries and proponents of, as well as the victims of, some of the most dehumanizing aspects of modern technology.
Altogether, a very wonderful mixture of traditional and CG animation. A story well told, and not overly sentimentalized, with a great sense of heroicism. This is creatively amplified in the images under the final credits, which seem to indicate further adventures of SteamBoy, in a world always struggling with humanity in the face of advancing technologies.