Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Look. I understand. "Anime" isn't a cool thing to most people, not even most self-described "geeks." These days, "anime" is commonly used as shorthand for a particular type of storytelling, characterization, or visualization...and the people who do so NEVER mean it as a compliment. Maybe you're one of these people yourself. Or maybe you used to watch anime and no longer really do because you've got music, videogames, and regular movies/TV to watch instead. Maybe you used to watch stuff like Cowboy Bebop or FLCL on the Cartoon Network, but never really saw anything else that you liked as much. Maybe you end up spotting some anime that is on Netflix or Hulu, but you don't feel like watching them all the way through. Does any of that sound like you or someone you know? Then watch this movie. There's no TV show or comicbook with hundreds of episodes you have to know about first. There's nothing "Final Fantasy" or "Kingdom Hearts"-like about the story or characters. There's no harem of girls surrounding some loser guy. There are no "jokes" involving giant sweatdrops or accidentally copping a feel. This is different from all of that. Redline is visually astonishing with a soundtrack to match, but contrary to what is often said Redline's strong points aren't JUST those. This movie has great characters, each of whom is memorable in their own way. There's a lot of humor, and the film's comic timing (and restraint!) is spot-on. The story isn't shallow or even minimal. By the time everything ends, you'll know all that needs to be known about who these racers are and why they're doing what they do. I don't care about racing or cars. But I totally dig Redline. I think you will too.