Story Overview:

It is the year 223 of the Universal Century, and the Earth Federation is no more. Instead CONSENT, the Congress of Settlement Nations, rules over the blue planet. They are faced with a famine crisis that affects the Earth, and it’s orbiting space settlements called “Sides,” and they seem to be making limited progress trying to solve the problem. But, a team of scientists have secretly found an answer in artificial light called “Bioluminescence.” However, CONSENT doesn’t want this secret to get out, and will even resort to war to keep it from going public. Former CONSENT officer and mobile suit pilot Mark Curran is reluctantly drawn into this web of events, but with the help of the “G-Saviour,” he has the power to take on the corrupt CONSENT forces, and bring the food crisis to an end.

This movie commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the original “Mobile Suit Gundam” series. Sunrise decided to make it a live-action movie, which was originally written and presented in English. I think the idea of having real people act out a Gundam scenario is a good one. However, from what I’ve watched, I think the use of animation would have been a greater tribute to the ground-breaking series. G-Saviour in itself is a decent movie with decent actors. But being tied to the Gundam Universe, it fails in comparison with its animated counterparts. It really doesn’t feel like you’re watching a Gundam movie, but watching something on the Sci-Fi Channel. The use of computer-generated mobile suits is a nice touch, but not enough to make this a movie die-hard anime fans will enjoy.

It’s live-action, so I have to take that into account…

Visuals/Picture:

Story aside, the visual presentation of the movie is nicely done. Digital Muse did a fantastic job making mobile suits come alive on the screen. The space backgrounds and orbiting Sides, ships, etc. are also well done. People who’ve seen the movie will probably agree that the CG is the best aspect of the film, especially near the end. And because the movie is fairly recent, the DVD picture quality is very high. However, I would have really liked to have seen the movie in a wide-screen presentation, but this DVD only offers full-screen. Wide-screen would have made the viewing experience more enjoyable, but you can live without it.

Classical music for a Gundam movie…you can’t go wrong!

Music/Sound:

Savant Productions was responsible for providing some very good music for this movie. The classical pieces are appropriate for what’s happening on the screen. For example, when in battle, the music provides a good atmosphere for explosions and robot-melee. And again, being a recent movie, the sound reproduction for the DVD is superb. And being presented in Dolby 5.1, there’s really nothing bad to say about the music and sound.

You may hear yourself saying, “That’s it?!” when talking about this DVD.

DVD Features:

This DVD was produced by Bandai Entertainment (Cowboy Bebop, Pilot Candidate), and plays only on Region 1 DVD players. The front of the case features the mobile suit G-Saviour standing on what seems to be the side of a Side. On the back are six small screen captures and a background image of the G-Saviour. The insert is the same as the front cover, and just has the chapter list inside. Also included with the DVD is a small booklet called the “Bandai Anime Guide Quarterly.” This particular guide focuses on the Bandai anime release dates for the first quarter of 2002. Fold the guide out, and you’ll see a nice little “Gundam Saga” guide featuring small story outlines of specific Gundam series, as well as main character info and mobile suit pictures. It’s a pretty cool insert, and I can’t wait to see next month’s Anime Guide.

The DVD menus feature no motion menus unfortunately. The Main Menu features the same background picture found on the back of the DVD case. There are four options: Play, Scenes, Audio, and Extras. Since “Play” and “Scenes” are self-explanatory, I’ll skip those.

The Audio option lets you choose between two tracks: English or Japanese audio. As a bonus, Bandai provided the Japanese audio track (in Stereo), so you can hear what the movie is like in Japanese. However there is no subtitle option. So if you don’t know Japanese, or have a hearing problem, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. I suggest watching the movie in English first, then watch the Japanese (that is, if you can stand to watch it a second time).

The Extras menu is lackluster; offering only three options: Art Gallery, Trailers, and DVD Credits. The Art Gallery features still frames of various G-Saviour poses and conceptual drawings. There are seven pictures in all, with only three drawings. Not the best Gallery out there. Not surprisingly, there are four trailers which are all Gundam: Mobile Suit Gundam, Endless Waltz, 08th MS Team, and Stardust Memory. The DVD Credits are nothing to get excited about, but it gives credit where it’s due. It would have been nice to get a MS Encyclopedia of some type. The mobile suit designs are great, with some having a distinct look of a Zaku suit. But there is no extra explaining the specifics of any suit, not even the G-Saviour. Well, there’s no use trying to sugar coat it: the DVD extras suck.

Might want to rent it first.

Overall: 

The DVD is visually appealing, but not much else. If you’re curious to what the movie is about, then it’s worth a rent, but buying it first might be a bad move. I know that first hand. ^_^;; Oh well, it allowed me to write this review, which I hope was worth your time. G-Saviour would have been a better 20th Anniversary Commemoration if it were animated, but it was still a unique look at how Gundam would look in real-life. It’s just unfortunate that it took half the film to get to a mobile suit actually firing a weapon, not to mention how the soldiers look oddly familiar to Starship Troopers.

Zero’s Ratings:

Story: 4/10 – Please, more mobile suits, less talking.
Visuals/Picture: 9/10 – Wide-screen would have put it over the top.
Music/Sound: 10/10 – Good pieces of music appropriate for each scene.
DVD Features: 4/10 – The Extras sucked.
Overall: 5/10 – Gundam should stick to animation, and the DVD could have used some work.

“C’mon! You want a piece of me? C’mon!!”
-Mark Curran