The cyberpunk adaptation of the beloved manga is definitely a step up from many other anime adaptations we’ve seen. With names such as Christopher Waltz and Jeniffer Connely, you know that at least the cast is strong and there to support the story.
You don’t have to be familiar with the setting of Alita, although you may be left with some questions if you aren’t. The entire history of the setting isn’t explained very well.
All we know is there’s a post-apocalyptic war and people are scrambling to survive in a mostly mechanical city. Cyborgs are common and some kind of evil villain lives in a splendid city in the sky.
It’s all a bit Hollywood-esque popcorn entertainment with, to be perfectly fair, a run-of-the-mill action/love story.
That said, I’ve seen worse. I’m personally not a true Alita fan, and not that familiar with the original story, so I can’t say how true this is to the source material. My husband is, though, and he found this adaptation quite enjoyable.
While they did their best to portray a machine city, the movie can look a bit fake and HDR at times. The CGI shows just a little too much and doesn’t always mesh well with the human characters. Which is a shame, because better technology is available and would have really done the movie justice.
All in all, it’s an enjoyable cyberpunk movie. It’s nice to see a different take on the post-apocalyptic theme. If you have younger viewers you would like to introduce to the genre, Alita is a good option. The violence isn’t too graphic. It’s not blood and gore gruesome all over the place, making this a little more all-ages than most movies in the genre.
