Lady Death The Motion Picture - Active Anime.com

• Media Source:Active Anime.com
• Reviewed By:Rommel Salandanan
• Review Date:10/07/04
• Read the original review click here

Description
Her legend begins in the 15th Century. Stripped of her innocence through her father?s betrayal, a pious young woman, Hope, is sentenced to a trial by fire. She reluctantly accepts Lucifer?s offer of life in Hell over a hideously painful death. Lucifer?s offer takes a diabolical twist as she discovers her true origins and the existing fate of her lost love and departed mother.

Review
Lady Death: The Motion Picture is an example of a good adaptation of a comic book heroine from start to finish. The movie starts by Lady Death preparing to take revenge on her father Lucifer, the Lord of Lies in Hell, then smoothly transitions back to Sweden in 1498, where it all began.

Hope, the daughter of Matthias, unaware of her father's true identity, was sentenced to death by fire. Tricked into accepting the life in Hell while her skin and flesh burns away, her descent to the fiery underworld took an entirely different approach once she discovered that the souls of her beloved Nicollo and her recently departed mother were being held by Lucifer.

Bent on killing her father to free the souls of her beloved mother and Nicollo, Hope learns to yield a sword and harness the power she has within. She trains for years under the guidance of Cremator, a person with whom she has forged an alliance. Hope is then transformed to the pale skinned warrior known as Lady Death.

When a comic character leaps from the pages of comic books to a series or feature film, it usually loses the vision of the creator because everything is toned down to a level where the movie is acceptable for all ages. I am glad to say that Lady Death: The Motion Picture does not fall into that category. The movie stayed true to the comic book thanks to the screenplay of Carl Macek (Robotech), original story from the creator of Lady Death, Brian Pulido, and the direction of Andrew Orjuela. All three did a great job of keeping the world of Lady Death as Hellish as it could be, but at the same time maintaining a balanced acceptable level.

The question now is when will the sequel make its debut.

Extras
Lady Death: The Motion Picture comes with extra features ? Animating Death, Visions of Hell, and the Director?s Commentary. The one that I enjoyed the most was ?Animating Death?. In this featurette, the Korean animation company Sunmin Image Pictures Co. LTD. crew gave their individual insights on the process of animating Lady Death to a feature film. This one is well worth the look. ?Visions of Hell? is a visual presentation on how each character evolved from its creative infancy up to the final stage which is what you will see in the feature film.

Summary
After almost three years in the making, Brian?s Pulido?s Lady Death finally arrives on DVD, although it is ironic that ADV Films, a powerhouse in the anime industry, selected a non-anime character to become their first animated feature film. Nonetheless, this decision will not burn down in Hell since the adaptation of the comic book remained true in the world of Lady Death. For minions of the Lady, this is a must-see and for the uninitiated, this adaptation is well worth the look ? highly recommended.

Posted on Thursday, October 07, 2004 (Archive on Sunday, November 07, 2004)