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Your Learning Zone - Venus Wars
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List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $12.88
Your Save: $ 2.11 ( 14% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Central Park Media
Starring: Gorô Naya, Bradley Cole, Anna Alba, Bob Sessions, Denica Fairman
Directed By: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303104157
Format: Animated
ISBN: 6303104150
Label: Central Park Media
Manufacturer: Central Park Media
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Central Park Media
Release Date: 1993-11-01
Running Time: 104
Studio: Central Park Media
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A shame to waste such a good idea
Comment: And to think at one time I enjoyed this movie. It's rare for me to go back and see an anime film I only slightly enjoyed, but I found some time and decided to watch this film again so that I could write a review on it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it) I guess my standards for anime, and film in general, are higher now then they were when I first watched this film. It was fun back then, now its just wasted potential.
In the year 2079 Venus is an inhabitable planet and home to thousands of people who scratch off a living off the barren soil of their home world. Although it was supposed to be a paradise, free from the wars and violence which have plagued earth for thousands of years, Venus has taken to looking more like a post apocalyptic earth than the green paradise the people envisioned with they first settled the planet. Plants don't grow, corrupt governments rule the land, and war looms ahead for the entire planet. For amusement the citizens of the city of Io, capital of the nation of Ufrodia, preoccupy themselves with dangerous X game like sports involving mono bikes, which are BTW really, really cool.
Sound cool? Well it very well could have been EXTREMELY cool, but ruins all potential it has with an inane script which will make even the most tolerant of anime fans blush with embarrassment. There is simply no describing how awful it is on a consistent basis. Every line, every sentence, every word from either the sub or the dub, is just pathetic. Who wrote this junk? My ten year old little brother has more talent then the writers of this movie. Along with the bad writing, the characters are also pretty badly portrayed, although that could also be attributed to the script. The reluctant hero rebelling against authority, the naive blonde (I don't care how hot she it, she's just too stupid to believe), the feisty red head, the tough/wise mechanic, and all the numerous stupid bikers and overly confident military guys make up the bulk of the cliché character types to be found here.
However, this movie has one saving grace which brings it out of the bowls of obscurity and makes it something half way decent, or at least watch able; it has action, good action, and lots of it. If you can put aside the bad writing and horrendous characters (something I'm sure many of you will have no problem in doing) Venus Wars is about two hours of stuff blowing up, people getting shot, and really awesome military hardware destroying everything in sight. It's a riot, there's no mistaking it. From the moment Ishtar invades with their superior weapons and overwhelms the defenders, reminiscent of Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, until the end the action rarely lets up. The obvious WWII parodies are also there for military history buffs who like seeing old wars fought with new weapons. Venus Wars is WWII; WWII with mono bikes. Cool.
Unfortunately this movies age really shows in the animation. Although the battle scenes are pretty good overall, backgrounds and motion shots are blurry, which could just be the DVD, either way it hurts the eyes. The music was done by the amazing Joe Hisaishi, composer for such amazing scores as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The music has its moments here and there, but there isn't anywhere close to enough to justify the bold printing on the cover which says "Features music by Jo Hisaishi, composer for Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro." The music isn't anywhere near special and is kept as silent as possible for the most part.
Is this a film worth watching? Probability, for those who could care less for character development and realism. Is it worth owning though? I don't think so. Rent this one if you can, otherwise let it go.
Replay Value; low.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This movie turned me into the anime freak I am today
Comment: This is one of the first anime movies I ever watched remember when the sci-fi channel used to do those anime weeks. My dad used to let me stay up and watch them with him!!!! When I saw it was on here and not way over priced I was like oh this is definately gotta own this one!!! I've watched it I don't even know how many times already!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Boy To Man In Half an Hour
Comment: There are a lot of characters in this cartoon. So, I am expecting some sort of id-ego-superego (or what the other one called?) kinda model used in many American movies. like... One character represents the ego, another represents the id and the other represents the superego. However, this is not the case. Character development is very little. The boy is a kid and then half an hour later, he is a man... with little development at all. It is like they cut away a big piece of the cartoon right in the middle. And I think this is what this cartoon is all about: from boy to man and becomes a hero. The story does not focus much on the other characters either.
On the other hand, the animation is very good. It is one of the best looking cartoon I have seen.
So, to sum it up, if you look at this as an epic movie, it is a bad epic movie with a little bit of action. If you look at this as an action flick, it is pretty good action movie but it is very short.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This war could have happened on Neptune or Earth
Comment: This is a mixed bag for me. Its not a bad anime but it was nothing breathtaking for me either. What little it had was entertaining. To include the very cheap price I paid for it was worth it.
Venus Wars didn't have a very interesting story to me. The characters weren't very likeable to me either, regardless how developed some of them were. The saving grace was the plot. Venus is inhabited by humans. It was later invaded by humans. The invasion was very quick and decisive. It took no time for marshall law to set in. A few digruntled rebels decided to put a plan together and fight. I'm sure you can figure what happens next.
The battles consist of high speed chases and an all out war. I don't think this anime would satisfy all action junkies. The level of gore is non existent and the blood is minor. So to all you out there expecting to see exploding heads and bullet breakdancin' bodies can forget it. Yet the battles still manage to be decent. A remastered version would've defintly helped the animation. I rarely touch the animation but this is one of the few times I felt it could have been cleaned up some. At some points it just seemed overly dark and outdated to me.
This is a pretty good buy for the cheap price. If you want something straightforward and easy to follow then this is your anime.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Cool Movie
Comment: I first watched this movie on T.V. and I was in love with it. I found it better then Robotech and the cat Voltron. It has a great storyline and the action parts are awesome. If you are looking for a good story and some good anime then this is it, There is also a manga for those people who love to read the graphic novels.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Yoshikazu Yasuhiko directed this 1989 feature based on his own manga. The new frontier of Venus has degenerated into a dystopia ravaged by the civil war between Ishtar and Aphrodia. Bubbly reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capitol of Aphrodia just before it's captured by Ishtar. She falls in with a bunch of teen-agers who live for a sort of motorcycle version of Roller Derby. Daredevil rider Hiro and his friends reluctantly join the struggle to free Aphrodia from the invaders. Not surprisingly, Hiro proves an ace at piloting the mono-cyles that are the Aphrodians' secret weapon in the key battle. Venus Wars holds better than many early anime features. The American-influenced designs may annoy purists, but the characters are well developed and the battle scenes well staged, despite the limited technological resources available at the time. (Rated 13 and older: violence, profanity, alcohol use, risqué humor) --Charles Solomon
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