Appurushîdo 2004

Peter Debruge, Miami Herald: This long-overdue big-screen adaptation makes it hard to tell what was so revolutionary about the series. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: In the clash of 2-D and 3-D images, Appleseed emerges as the cracked-voiced, pasty-faced example of computer animation's clumsy adolescence. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The stock characters and leaden stretches of expository dialogue are welcome evidence that there's still no computer program capable of telling a decent story. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Yes, it looks good, but it doesn't come close to exploring the grand themes it has in mind, or to ascending anywhere near the landmarks of anime. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It's busy, stiff, artificial graphics are a perfect match for its busy, stiff, artificial plot. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Dazzling visually but is flattened by corny dialogue better suited to the 1936 Flash Gordon serial, a needlessly hard to follow plot and heavy-handed exposition clotted with pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Even in a cartoon this technically astounding, most of the characters appear to have sprung from the DNA of Astro Boy. Read more

David Chute, L.A. Weekly: The supposedly human face of our metal-plated robocop's partner -- the inevitable curvy female in a leather jump suit -- is an inexpressive, glossy doll mask, untouched by human hands. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The spectacle of the Appleseed anime characters performing Matrix gymnastics proves to be less than awe-inspiring. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A cross-pollination of eye-popping combat and provocative ideas. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Though Appleseed has its selling points, it's not an especially strong entry in the genre, despite the presence of so many pneumatic heroines. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Has a plot that frolics in the no-man's land between fiendish complexity and utter incomprehensibility. Read more

Maitland McDonagh, Time Out: Shut your brain down for optimal viewing pleasure. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Newbie viewers will be left twiddling their thumbs while waiting for Deunen's next bout of butt-kicking action sequences. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: For all the movie's impressive figure and facial modeling, as well as the superfluid humanoid motion, any depth is purely an illusion. Read more