| Steamboy | |
|---|---|
 Japanese theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Katsuhiro Otomo |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Katsuhiro Otomo[1] |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mitsuhiro Satô |
| Edited by | Takeshi Seyama[2] |
| Music by | Steve Jablonsky |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Toho |
Release date |
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Running time | 126 minutes[2] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥2.4 billion ($26 million) |
| Box office | $18.9 million |
Steamboy (Japanese:スチームボーイ,Hepburn:Suchīmubōi) is a 2004Japanese animatedsteampunkaction film directed and co-written byKatsuhiro Otomo, produced bySunrise, it is his second majoranime as a director, followingAkira (1988). The film was released in Japan byToho on July 17, 2004.
Steamboy was the most expensive Japanese film ever produced, with a¥2.4 billion ($26 million) production budget, having been in production for ten years and utilizing more than 180,000 drawings and 440 CG cuts.
In 1863, where analternate nineteenth century Europe has made tremendous strides in steam-powered technologies, scientist Lloyd Steam and his son, Edward "Eddy" Steam, have succeeded in discovering a pure mineral water inIceland which they believe can be harnessed as a nearly unlimited power source for steam engines. An experiment inRussian Alaska goes terribly wrong, with Eddy being engulfed in freezing gases, but results in the creation of a spherical device. Three years later, Lloyd sends the device, along with its schematics, to his grandson (and Eddy's son), James Ray Steam, who works as a maintenance boy inManchester, England, along with instructions to guard it. Members of "The O'Hara Foundation" arrive and attempt to steal the sphere, but Lloyd appears, stating that the device killed Eddy and bids Ray to flee and deliver the device toRobert Stephenson. After fleeing the O'Hara agents on his personal steam-poweredmonowheel, Ray briefly meets Stephenson on a train headed into Manchester, but Ray, along with the device, are captured by O'Hara agents in adirigible.
Ray is taken toLondon, where preparations are being made for the 1866Great Exhibition, and meets Scarlett O'Hara St Johns, the spoiled granddaughter of the Foundation's head chairman, Charles O'Hara St Johns. He also discovers Eddy, alive but severely scarred and mechanized from his injuries in Alaska, working with O'Hara on the "Steam Castle"; an elaborate facility entirely powered by three devices called "Steam Balls", one of which was the device sent to Ray. The latter is enamored both by the castle, and his father's vision of using it to enlighten mankind, and volunteers to help complete the project. He also begins developing a love/hate friendship with Scarlett, who seems to be attracted to him. Ray encounters Lloyd again, who was captured by O'Hara's henchmen, but has escaped from his cell and is attempting to sabotage the castle, revealing that the Foundation's true intentions for the exhibition is tosell weapons of war. Lloyd shows Ray a hidden armory filled with massive steam-powered war machines built by Eddy, and Ray struggles with the moral dichotomy of being a scientist — of how to contribute to the world without giving into vanity, leaving him conflicted as to whether to side with Lloyd or Edward, who themselves have become estranged.
Lloyd and Ray reach the core of the castle and remove one of the Steam Balls, but Lloyd is shot and recaptured by O'Hara, as Ray escapes with the device. The next morning, the exhibition is underway, and Ray brings the ball to Stephenson, giving him the ball and the knowledge he acquired in captivity. The British military attempts to arrest Eddy, but Eddy unleashes his steam powered weapons on the soldiers, turning the exhibition into a battlefield. When Stephenson uses the Steam Ball to enhance his own company'stanks, Ray realizes that he had no better intentions than the Foundation. Eager to show the world the castle's true power, Eddy orders it to be prematurely activated, causing the structure to rise and shed its decorative outer shell, revealing it to be a monstrous floating fortress. As theRoyal Navy and Stephenson attempt to defend London from the floating fortress, Ray steals the Steam Ball back and uses it to create a makeshift aircraft to re-board the fortress. Ray meets Eddy, Scarlett, and Lloyd in the castle's control room, where Lloyd confronts Eddy about his actions, before shooting him in a fit of rage, but Eddy falls into a cloud of steam and disappears.
With the castle steered off course, the structure has become unstable and threatens to explode over the city. As Lloyd and Ray rush to redirect the castle over theThames, Eddy, whose metal body repelled the gunshot, re-emerges from the steam and assists them, having realized his folly. Ray re-installs the stolen steam ball, and makes his way to the control room to make a final escape with Scarlett on an emergency jetpack, while Eddy and Lloyd reconcile and halt the machine over the river and escape as well. The castle detonates in a spectacular explosion, sparing the city from destruction. The ending montage reveals Ray returning home, and later becoming a global superhero using the jetpack gear from the castle; Lloyd introducing Ray to electricity and finally passing away; Eddy founding a corporate conglomerate; Scarlett maturing and becoming a famous pilot, and a war being fought withparatroopers andzeppelins.
Katsuhiro Otomo first completed a proposal ofSteamboy as anoriginal video animation of three 40-minute episodes on June 30, 1994. The pilot storyboard was completed in July of the following year.[3] The film was in production for ten years and utilized more than 180,000 drawings and 440 CG cuts.[4] It had a production budget of¥2.4 billion,[5] then equivalent to$26,000,000 (equivalent to $43,000,000 in 2024).[6] This made it the most expensive Japanese anime film up until then,[7][8] surpassing Otomo'sMetropolis (2001).[7]
The Japanese release ofSteamboy featured thevoices ofAnne Suzuki,Manami Konishi andMasane Tsukayama. TheUnited States release, held in a limited number of U.S. theaters on March 18, 2005, and expanded to additional theaters on March 25, was released in two formats: asubtitled release featured in fewercinemas, and anEnglishdubbed version cut down by 15 minutes that featured the voices ofAnna Paquin,Alfred Molina, andPatrick Stewart.
Steamboy was distributed across Japan byToho andEnglish regions bySony'sTriumph Films subsidiary. TheVHS andDVD was released in Japan on April 15, 2005, inAustralia on June 22, 2005, the USA on July 26, 2005, and theUK on March 27, 2006. Both the edited English version and the originalJapanese version were made available on DVD, with the longer version being sold as theDirector's Cut. TheUK Blu-ray/DVD combo version of the film is the original, full length version. However, it has been misprinted as the cut down version of the film. The trailer and DVD menu both make use of the song "Full Force" byJohn Powell.
Steamboy was later adapted into avideo game for thePlayStation 2 in Japan byBandai. (Development byCavia andSIMS)
Steamboy was released in Japan on July 17, 2004, alongsidePokémon: Destiny Deoxys where it was distributed byToho.[2] The film was released in the United States byTriumph Films with an English-language dub on March 18, 2005, prior to this,TriStar Pictures was going to release the movie.[2] The film was released to home video in the United States bySony Pictures Home Entertainment (via Triumph Films andDestination Films) with an English-language dub and the original Japanese version with English subtitles on July 26, 2005.[2]
In Japan, the film grossed¥1.16 billion, making it the 18th highest-grossing domestic film of 2004.[9] The film was not a box office success in the United States, where it grossed $468,867 in 2005.[10][11]
According to the reviewer KJB atIGN this could be due to the marketing methods used and the incredibly small limited release in the United States.Steamboy could have had a larger Western audience, but due to the limited release, that was not able to happen. "Steamboy is one of those few anime films that would be able to play to a wide audience in the United States. Instead, the film is getting a limited release throughSony's smaller label, skipping some cities entirely and only playing in smaller art houses in many of the cities that are getting the film."[12]
The movie received positive reviews.Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gaveSteamboy a rating of 61% based on over 90 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10, with the site's consensus "The story isn't the greatest, but there's an abundance of sci-fi eye candy to compensate."[13]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]Steamboy was the 2004 recipient of Best Animated Feature Film at theSitges - Catalan International Film Festival.[15]
Stephen Hunter ofThe Washington Post states, "the movie turns out to be one of those science-fiction pieces that is drawn from a peculiar moment in science, so the fiction has a historical sense to it.Steamboy clearly means to be a critique of Western culture: It uses issues such as industrialism, domination, mass destruction, ambition and despotism as a background to what feels like a boys' book adventure".[16] The film received overall positive reviews from reviewers.[17][18][19][12][20][21]
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