Flight of fancy

Katsuhiro Otomo, maker of the anime classic Akira, sets his expensive follow-up in early Victorian England. The Satanic mills and billowing smoke provide a mise en scène that looks admirably authentic, totally lacking in the usual Japanese urban dystopia.

But, in spite of that, and the wonderfully drawn climax which has half of London and the Great Exhibition reduced to rubble, a confused storyline and one-dimensional characters are unsatisfactory. What often looks wonderful, and is obviously culled from authentic sketches of the time, lacks the power to engage us dramatically.

In the tale, a young Manchester boy (voiced by Anna Paquin, whose accent varies with abandon) receives a mysterious metal ball from his inventor grandfather (Patrick Stewart), which he discovers to be the key to a force of unparalleled power. A group of errant capitalists wants the steamball and it's up to the boy to determine who should reap the benefits from this miracle of 19thcentury science.

Otomo is clearly trying to illustrate the dangers for the world if the secrets of science were to fall into the wrong hands. But his film, which frequently looks tremendous, simply doesn't cut the mustard as a moral tale with any real dramatic power.

Steamboy
Cert: certPG