Lady Death The Motion Picture - DVDtoons.Com
- DVDtoons.Com
- Randall Cyrenne
- 10/05/04
- click here
Lady Death first came to? no, that line doesn?t work. I was going to say, ?came to life?, but that would be somewhat contradictory, given the nature of the character. Lady Death, you see, really is quite dead. Basically. Nevertheless, she had her first comic book appearance in Eternity?s Evil Ernie, back in 1994. Since then, creator Brian Pulido altered the character substantially as it moved between publishers (surviving the bankruptcy filings of Chaos and CrossGen before recently settling at Avatar). She went from her exploitive ?blood and boobs? days as a ?sympathetic villain? to becoming a more mature ?misunderstood antihero? (as Pulido described her in a Comicon Pulse article). At Avatar, the plan is actually to devote comics to both versions of the character. The more mainstream version, however, is the newer one, set in medieval times. It is this version that is also the star of her own animated film. Fortunately, the publishing trouble the character encountered was only a minor distraction for the animation team, and the movie saw its premiere at the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con back in July. As you are reading this review at DVDtoons, you must know that the movie has also made it to DVD.
Lady Death: The Motion Picture was produced by ADV Films, best known as the United States? largest producer/distributor of anime. Lady Death marks their first feature-length animated film. They used a first-time director, Andrew Orjuela, who had previously been a producer and art director for ADV; but they did get Carl Macek to do the script. Macek is known as the developer of Robotech, the producer of the first English-language edition of Miyazaki?s My Neighbor Totoro, and a writer on DiC?s C.O.P.S.. Along with Pulido (acting as a consultant and associate producer), they decided to place the film story in a similar context as the more recent Lady Death comics. Pulido supplied an altered origin, and the production team ran with it, while making some of their own additions here and there. The movie is cel-animated, with limited use of well-done fire and rain or similar CGI effects.
The movie opens as hordes of demons prepare to march on Lucifer in Hell, led by Lady Death. As Lady Death contemplates what is about to happen, she remembers how she got there. The viewer travels back in time to 1478 Sweden. A powerful man named Matthias is gathering townspeople--- well, stealing them, actually--- for what he describes as a war in God?s name (meant to imply the Crusades). There is growing resentment among the villagers, who doubt Matthias?s motives. There is a priest in particular who is convinced that Matthias serves darker masters, and he confronts Matthias, to no avail.
Meanwhile, pretty young Hope has snuck away from the castle of her father, Matthias. She is speaking with her love Niccolo, when Matthias comes upon them. Niccolo becomes the town?s latest victim of Matthias?s ?enlistment program?, to the horror of Hope. Later at the castle, Hope comes upon her father and views him doing something with Niccolo?s soul. There is obviously something about her dad that Hope didn?t know?
At the same time, the priest is gathering the townspeople for an assault on Matthias. Between Hope and the priest, Matthias is forced to admit his true nature--- he is Lucifer, the devil himself. Lucifer vanishes, leaving Hope to atone for his presence in the community. The priest does not believe Hope?s claims of innocence, and she is thrown into a dungeon before being brought to the stake to be burnt. While captive, she is visited by her father?s court jester, Pagan, who attempts to tempt her into accepting her place at Lucifer?s side. She refuses, but later at the stake she does succumb?
The rest of the movie follows her path through Hell, as she confronts her father and is cast away. She makes an ally out of a former weapon smith named Cremator, and embarks on a journey to find the power within her to defeat Lucifer, and to free the souls of both Niccolo and her own mother. The price of this journey is that she loses her humanity and becomes Lady Death, a pasty-skinned warrior who has the power to take on The Lord of Lies himself. When it is all over, there will be a new status quo in Hell and in the life of Lady Death.
This is pretty dark subject matter, and ADV recommends on the cover of this DVD that the movie be viewed by audiences 17 years of age and up. That sounds about right. There is some significant violence and mild gore here, such as severed heads flying about, and a good amount of bloodletting. It?s all tame compared to some extreme anime I?ve seen, but certainly far bloodier than the average American cartoon. There is also some sexual content, in the form of sexuality (and implied abuse) rather than sex itself. Finally, the storyline itself certainly suggests that this is intended for relatively mature audiences. Some teens could handle this material quite well, perhaps, but I would not personally let preteens watch it. There is not much humor to lighten things up, either. The story remains quite grim, staying true to its intent.
My tastes run somewhat lighter, normally, but I do appreciate what the creators were doing in this movie. The scenario is interesting, and their bleak and lonely vision of Hell is captivating. I cannot comment specifically on how this movie will rate with readers of the comic, as I have never read it myself; however, they should be pleased with the tone of the movie. There is never any doubt that the creators of the film tried to treat their subject with respect.
ADV should be proud of this effort. Despite a mild struggle to keep the pace up, the movie tells a fairly strong story and avoids the tangents that can so often spoil animated films. There are no extraneous characters, and the plot remains focused. The animation is not theatrical quality, but stands up as better than average for non-Disney direct-to-video fare. What the animation lacks in smooth movement, it makes up for with dynamic storytelling and poses. The backgrounds deserve particular praise, since their detail and originality do much to sell the viewer on the reality of Lady Death?s world.
Video: 10
The 16:9 anamorphic video is, in a word, perfect. As much as I tried to find fault with the picture in order to avoid having to justify a ?10? rating, I could not do it. If anyone can spot anything wrong with this picture, tell me about it in the Forum. To me, the image was rock-solid throughout the movie, and impressive in its color saturation. The designers of Lady Death should be pleased with the DVD, since it really shows off their work to its fullest advantage.
The big plus to producing a bleak version of Hell is that any color in the frame really ?pops?, making the image quite striking. This is particularly true of the numerous touches of red that permeate the film?s design (e.g. Lady Death?s cape, Pagan?s eyes, blood, and of course all of Lucifer).
Audio: 9
There are two audio tracks--- the 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, and the audio commentary. The soundtrack is as impressive as the video, offering a surprising amount of presence for a direct-to-video title. The sound design is great, with a thorough application of sound that utilizes constant but not overpowering surround effects such as wailing voices and howling winds. Sounds are uniformly crisp and often enjoyably rumbling. Again, ADV seems to be making a statement with the quality of this disc, letting it be known that they intend to offer good quality DVDs when they make original features.
English subtitles are also offered.
Bonus Material: 6
ADV went all-out to make this release as spiffy as possible. The widescreen anamorphic menus use a tasteful bit of animation (even though the subject matter remains quite horrid), and full 5.1 sound. The scene selection menus even have full-motion video in each scene frame, which I always like.
On the Director Audio Commentary, Orjuela is joined by a Senior Marketing Manager and the Executive in Charge of Production. At first, it sounded like the latter two men would serve only to keep Orjuela distracted from doing a serious commentary, but as the commentary went on they became useful in drawing observations and anecdotes from Orjuela. Orjuela provides much insight into all phases of the production, making this an informative commentary. The other two men, however? at times I wondered if this was their first time viewing the film, based on some silly questions they asked.
Visions of Hell leads to two different montages of production art, each four minutes long. Titled ?Hellscapes? and ?Minions?, this is a slickly edited look at the backgrounds and character designs.
Animating Death: The Making of Lady Death The Motion Picture (21:29) is the centerpiece of the Bonus Features. Director Orjuela speaks, along with a few senior members of the Asian production crew. They talk about their visions for the film, touch lightly on the original comic, and also ?the fine line? between making something adult or something exploitive.
Filling out the Bonus menu are Website Links and six ADV Previews.
Wrap Up
If you are tired of anthropomorphic animals and precocious kids in your cartoons, and are looking for something darker, this may be the ticket. Undoubtedly the subject matter will not appeal to all readers of this site, but for those who are open to such forms of animation, this movie is a classy effort for ADV. I thought that, all things considered, the creators showed an appropriate amount of restraint in portraying difficult material, while still not shying away from the violence that had to be shown. The animation is very professional considering the budget limitations, and the disc?s video and audio quality are excellent. Add a nice featurette on making the movie and an informative audio commentary, and you have a fine DVD. I will look forward to seeing what else ADV may be able to offer viewers in the future.
Posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 (Archive on Friday, November 05, 2004)