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I tend to do exhaustive research on most media before I commit to watching/reading it. Many reviews of this film gave it moderately positive scores, but many also commented that it was too long (especially in the second half) and could have been edited down to be a better film. Being the crotchety old guy that I am, I just guessed that these comments were being made by people with abbreviated attention spans. However, after watching it I found myself agreeing with those other reviewers.

I just purchased a new projector for my home theater and have been watching films that are advertised or reviewed as ... being very strong visually. Well, this film is quite spectacular visually in a Fantasia sort of way...lots of bright colors and a "circus in space" aesthetic that makes for fun eye candy. I would imagine that young children would be quite happy to just melt into this movie and not even worry that there is very little by way of story.

For me, the story...or lack thereof...is what caused me to give this only a fair rating. The only aspect of the story I connected to at all was when there was an effort to develop relationships between the young group of earthlings. The most successful example of this was between Natsuki and Amani, cousins who have a difficult yet ultimately tender "big sis little sis" relationship. The film as a whole tried so hard to be BIG and spectacular that it spread itself out too far and too thin for any individual aspect to attain importance. When things quieted down for a moment here and there to allow the characters to develop...then it had my interest. The rest was fun but in a somewhat superficial way.

This is by no means a bad film. I just feel it spread itself out too far and lost focus on anything to make me really care.

The one thing about this series that really intrigued me was the use of mobile tech devices and social networking by almost every character throughout. It makes sense to extrapolate from today's usage of these things to a future where it becomes even more a part of our everyday lives.

Not many other shows, films, books, etc. depicting our near future really use social media and portable devices to such an extent. Now when I watch a sci-fi show or movie about the future I wonder how they could leave this out.