Story: 5.0

Real quick rehash: The story follows the Elric brothers, Alchemists, as they try and get their original bodies back after trying (and failing) to bring their dead mother back to life.

But the story of FMA is so much more then that in the long scheme of things that they don’t really go very deep into in the film. Such as blind patriotism, Authoritative governments, & a discussion on whether ‘just because we can, does it mean we should?’ sentiments. The Ishvalan war is a major theme that they kind of minimized in this film. Scar isn’t present at all & some character arcs have merged into others. Leaving me confused on who is supposed be what from the original story line.

When viewing it the first time, I remember thinking how it felt like they were trying to write a book report on a book they read years ago and were having trouble remembering how it went without looking at the source material. On a second watch, I could understand the flow a little bit better, but it still falls flat in terms of how I, a fan of the series since I was 15, would have liked to seen it done.

The problems I had mostly with it, was how they decided to pace things out. Having watched the Anime and Read the Manga, I can see their viewpoint. I wished they would have stuck more to the timeline of the overall FMA instead of trying to condense so much into one. With FMA where there really is no clear “arcs” throughout the manga or Anime it just blends together and mixes like a fluid storyline, this would have been better paced out over 3 or 4 films.

I still found myself enjoying seeing characters I love brought to life in new and invented ways. The film was still an enjoyable watch and even though the storyline is kind of different in terms of how things progress and who is who, I still think it’s worth a watch. In terms of ranking, I would place it below Brotherhood and the Manga but better then the 2003 adaptation. So third overall in the series of my FMA Journey.

Acting/Casting: 9.0
I think this was really well casted in the actors they chose to play the roles. In terms of whether they should have actually casted it in terms of non-japanese actors, it was clear that this wasn’t a quote “hollywood” movie like Death Note (Thank God). This was a Japanese produced, Japanese Animated, & Japanese casted mainly for a Japanese Audience. Which clearly the backlash it got on twitter was stupid.

I remember my first time watching it took me a while to get used to the animation and Ed’s terrible hair, but the second time I realized how well casted the roles were. Though Winry can be more comical, Tsubasa Honda has very good chemistry with Ed, Ryosuke Yamada. I think for Al’s voice they should have gone with a voice actor that actual did anime and not someone who mainly appears on screen. It’s two different types of acting and I think they would have gotten more out of someone being more acting vocal wise. Dean Fujioka was great as Roy Mustang and had great chemistry with Misako Renbutus, Riza, & Ryuta Sato, Hughes.
Overall it was well acted compared to other Japanese dramas and films. Everyone was very good, fit their characters, and the style of the overall film.

I believe what a lot of people who don’t seem to like this film haven’t really watched Anime adaptions before. So some the characterization or mannerisms that I’m used to Japanese Dramas & films.

Music/Costume: 8.0
I finally decided to talk about music & Costumes, something I can actually talk about!

Music - So firstly the music throughout helped place me in the world of FMA. The little orchestra sounds helped me focus on whether they meant the scene to be more of a Joking vibe that FMA is famous for or the serious part. Just like other Japanese Dramas, this has a very lack of musical elements to it as well.

Costumes - what I have a degree in. I applaud them for trying to be true to anime/manga. They don’t take as much liberation in character design as I kind of wished they did on some aspects (Costume wise). For me what I found that made this feel low budget and almost too Cosplay like, instead of a big budget studio produced film, of the types of fabric used & wigs. These were heavy fabrics for the uniforms that gave it the almost cartoonish look rather than realistic. Some of the fabrics clashed with the real life background, making it feel slightly unnatural rather than more fluid and something you would find in this world. The wigs also threw me off with how fake they look. It’s the kind of wig level work I expect from people on a very low budget and people who have been taking care of wigs to be at conventions not films. I also think Al & Ed’s Arm and Leg shouldn’t have been animated in some instances. When Al & Ed are fighting, it makes sense, but when they are standing around talking or doing simple movements it wouldn’t have seem so out of place & unnatural. I believe the main reason it seemed out of place was how realistic everything else was in the background. (They literally shot it in Italy.)

Rewatch Value: 8.5

I’m reviewing it on a second watch. The story plotline isn’t hard to follow if you know FMA at all. It seems to keep more closely to FMA: brotherhood then the original anime (Which is a good thing). The weird little quirks that the show has for me, don’t hinder my viewing experience. It’s not that deep that it’s hard to rewatch over and over again. A solid movie I would again. Not the best anime to live action I have seen (That title will always be hold by Rurouni Kenshin), but not the words. *Cough* Death Note (2017) *Cough*

Note: After writing some of my review I found out that Warner Bros only bought the rights and didn’t really have any help in making the film. When I saw Warner Bros name attached I kind of thought this had a must higher budget and more of inter-country working film sort of like The Great Wall did with China and the US markets. That was not the case for this film. (most of this has to do with the animation & costume part)