Okay background first:
*I watched FMA:B for the first time recently.
*I am in love with the anime and the characters
*I am still riding that FMA:B love train and feeling the loss from it
*I usually really like and am on board with Japanese live action adaptations more than the average person does.
*I never intended to ever watch this film, but my never-seen-FMA-ever friend watched this film and told me parts of it but clearly they didn't understand or enjoy the movie at all that I was super interested to see what actually happened and how they actually made the transition from anime/manga to LA.
The Good:
*The locations are gorgeous and so amazing
*Ed's scream when he realises how the stones are made - perfect!
*Hughes actor was spot on casting
The Funny:
*The fact that Al's voice actor Atomu SHOWS up in this WITH blonde hair and interacts with Ed and Al just really messes up with continuity and logic if we ever get another movie and get to the END GAME of this story.
The Bad:
*It barely explains anything to non-FMA fans.
*The plots are changed so much
*There's such a lack of development and a lack of fleshing out the story and a lack of time spent with the characters that scene like Al and Ed's fight just doesn't have any emotional impact.
*They upped and focused on the romance with Mustang and Hawkeye too much
*Winry's actress is trash. Winry herself is trash. She was in this too much (personal preference of mine!)
*They made Tucker seem pathetic and pitiful rather than just a CRAZY mo-fo
*The casting is 99% wrong. They clearly ONLY hired these people because they're famous so the production would get a bigger budget and bigger funding etc. And they hired every 10-20+ years older than the characters are actually supposed to be.
*I LOVE KANATA HONGO but NOT as Envy. No no no no no no no not a good choice. Appearance wise; yes he fits Envy; he looks bratty, his skinny and he's somewhat short but the way he plays Envy and his voice; just no. You'd have better look getting a young actress to play Envy. Yes, I did just say actress. Especially because Envy is supposed to be GENDERFLUID!
*I really hate how heavily CGI'd Al's armour and Ed's arm and leg are. I don't understand why they didn't just build very realistic looking armour, have black cloth underneath so a stuntman/body-actor could wear it as Al and Yamada could've just wore the armour and kept every 100% realistic looking. It would've looked so much better with the CGI taken off. Japan is well-known for tokusatsu costumes and you could've easily gone 100% realistic with Al's armour and it would've looked GOOD.
*Not enough small jokes! I don't think we get enough shots with him standing next to or near other people in a wide shot and stuff for us to go 'OH HE SMOL!'.
*WHERE THE EFF IS SCAR?!?!!?! WHERE IS SCAR?!?!?!!? He's SO important in the story and you didn't bother to introduce him in the first movie?! His first few fights with Ed are AMAZING! WHY is he not here?! WHY is he not in the movie?!
*They revealed the ENTIRE soul army already?!?!?!!? That's not until like the LAST ten episodes of the anime!
In conclusion:
They should've just not bothered with this. I really think they should've left FMA as is; a manga and an anime. If they really wanted to LA-it up, they should've just gone the Stage/Theatre route... now the 2.5D Stage World would do FMA JUSTICE if they did it. Sigh... it's not good folks.
*I watched FMA:B for the first time recently.
*I am in love with the anime and the characters
*I am still riding that FMA:B love train and feeling the loss from it
*I usually really like and am on board with Japanese live action adaptations more than the average person does.
*I never intended to ever watch this film, but my never-seen-FMA-ever friend watched this film and told me parts of it but clearly they didn't understand or enjoy the movie at all that I was super interested to see what actually happened and how they actually made the transition from anime/manga to LA.
The Good:
*The locations are gorgeous and so amazing
*Ed's scream when he realises how the stones are made - perfect!
*Hughes actor was spot on casting
The Funny:
*The fact that Al's voice actor Atomu SHOWS up in this WITH blonde hair and interacts with Ed and Al just really messes up with continuity and logic if we ever get another movie and get to the END GAME of this story.
The Bad:
*It barely explains anything to non-FMA fans.
*The plots are changed so much
*There's such a lack of development and a lack of fleshing out the story and a lack of time spent with the characters that scene like Al and Ed's fight just doesn't have any emotional impact.
*They upped and focused on the romance with Mustang and Hawkeye too much
*Winry's actress is trash. Winry herself is trash. She was in this too much (personal preference of mine!)
*They made Tucker seem pathetic and pitiful rather than just a CRAZY mo-fo
*The casting is 99% wrong. They clearly ONLY hired these people because they're famous so the production would get a bigger budget and bigger funding etc. And they hired every 10-20+ years older than the characters are actually supposed to be.
*I LOVE KANATA HONGO but NOT as Envy. No no no no no no no not a good choice. Appearance wise; yes he fits Envy; he looks bratty, his skinny and he's somewhat short but the way he plays Envy and his voice; just no. You'd have better look getting a young actress to play Envy. Yes, I did just say actress. Especially because Envy is supposed to be GENDERFLUID!
*I really hate how heavily CGI'd Al's armour and Ed's arm and leg are. I don't understand why they didn't just build very realistic looking armour, have black cloth underneath so a stuntman/body-actor could wear it as Al and Yamada could've just wore the armour and kept every 100% realistic looking. It would've looked so much better with the CGI taken off. Japan is well-known for tokusatsu costumes and you could've easily gone 100% realistic with Al's armour and it would've looked GOOD.
*Not enough small jokes! I don't think we get enough shots with him standing next to or near other people in a wide shot and stuff for us to go 'OH HE SMOL!'.
*WHERE THE EFF IS SCAR?!?!!?! WHERE IS SCAR?!?!?!!? He's SO important in the story and you didn't bother to introduce him in the first movie?! His first few fights with Ed are AMAZING! WHY is he not here?! WHY is he not in the movie?!
*They revealed the ENTIRE soul army already?!?!?!!? That's not until like the LAST ten episodes of the anime!
In conclusion:
They should've just not bothered with this. I really think they should've left FMA as is; a manga and an anime. If they really wanted to LA-it up, they should've just gone the Stage/Theatre route... now the 2.5D Stage World would do FMA JUSTICE if they did it. Sigh... it's not good folks.
Was this review helpful to you?