Robot Carnival Movie Review

A collection of eight short films from Japan's top animators, each revolving around the theme of artificial life. Many of the films are without dialogue, and most are lyrical evocations of emotion, like “Presence,” the tale of an aging inventor haunted by the android girl he created. In the improbable but beautifully animated “Cloud,” a little robot-boy trudges through a shifting cloudscape of romantic images. “Starlight Dancer” is a charming love-story featuring two girls, a futuristic amusement park, and a lovesick robot. “Deprive” is a straightforward science-fiction vignette, and “Nightmare” echoes Disney's version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as a city-dweller is pursued by mechanized monsters. “Franken's Gears” explores the Frankenstein legend with unexpected results and “A Tale of Two Robots” is a delightful satirical fantasy about a group of young people frantically battling a crazed inventor's monster robot in Eighteenth Century Japan. Those looking for straightforward action might want to look elsewhere, but there are wonderful things here.

1987 90m/C JP D: Atsuko Fukushima, Katsuhiro Otomo, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Mao Lamdo, Hidetoshi Ohmori, Kouji Morimoto, Yasuomi Umetsu, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Takashi Nakamura. VHS WTA, STP, TPV