Quantum Bemusement

Confession: I've never watched any of the FMA anime. I'm not quite sure how life passed me by and I consumed so much other anime but not this one. However, this puts me in a unique position to write a review of this non-anime movie that adapts a long-running and super popular anime series. I went into this thinking of the movie Serendipity that tried to compress the entire Firefly series by Joss Whedon into a single movie that was supposed to be everything for everybody, but failed horribly on all counts. This movie was notably better. With this FMA movie, I didn't get lost at all with the narrative, time line, or cast of characters. There was just enough depth, causing me to be extra eager to watch the full anime series. I previously worked at a company headquartered in Japan, so it was immediately obvious that the characters in this movie were not representative of the Japanese culture, but instead a culture that is befitting a far off island that has its own peculiarities. I was expecting some over the top acting to convey emotions, similar to some of the anime that I've seen, and I wasn't surprised by the overflowing tears, exuberant and misplaced smiles, and the weird, relaxed and extra cheery vibe that the general gave off. I enjoyed the movie! This is in large measure due to the fact that the movie had just enough to get my imagination going. My mind filled in much more than was on screen and I was able to picture how real people would likely act. The art is a combination of what you see, who you are, and the interaction between them. Sure, I'd like to see loads of changes in the movie. There is certainly an opportunity a decade from now to do a remake to better capture the spirit of the anime series. Although I give this movie 5 stars, I'd give the anime series twice that! There is tremendous opportunity to remake this movie into a total blockbuster. I recommend watching this movie if you've never seen FMA and then follow it up by watching the anime series. It is incredibly difficult to transform a long running series into a single movie, or this case a pair of movies (with the second one unannounced as I write this). I give the director, producer, and actors a solid A for effort. But there's definitely an A+ that's possible. For those that have watched the FMA anime, you probably should wait until the remake of this movie, because you'll likely be disappointed or throw something at your screen. The remake will happen. Just be patient.