In 1988, Katsuhiro Ôtomo directed the dazzling sci-fi anime "Akira." Breathless, dense, and psychedelic, the twisted plot of "Akira" was matched by eye-popping animation. Almost two decades later, the film still stands as a milestone of the genre. "Steamboy," Otomo's first feature anime since "Akira," offers similarly sensational eye-candy but a much more accessible and conventional story.
Set in a Victorian world populated by bizarre steam powered machinery, "Steamboy" tells of the adventures of Ray Steam, a boy whose grandfather developed a powerful device known as a "Steam Ball." The invention powers his father's scientific fever dream, the gigantic "Steam Castle," a kind of pressurized Death Star that threatens the Great Exhibition in London.
In a nod to "Akira," "Steamboy"'s handsomely directed action kicks off with a motorcycle race, the first of many battles and races between a staggering variety of inventive steam-powered vehicles, shown in lush images of impressive clarity and detail. Amid the fracas, a family drama of ambiguous morality plays itself out: as the voices of Steam Boy's father and grandfather, Alfred Molina and Patrick Steward are clearly having a blast. Steamboy has to choose between his bare-chested, ranting grandfather (Steward) and the power-mad scientist (Molina) who gives lofty speeches about the purpose of science while he tweaks valves and peers through layers of revolving lenses.
When the Steam Castle finally begins its assault on the Great Exhibition, it resembles nothing so much as the attack of the Blue Meanies from "Yellow Submarine," and it is hard to shake associations to other classic animated films. Most frequently, Otomo borrows from his own work. The grandiose designs of the 2001 "Metropolis" (for which he wrote the screenplay) are as evident as the flying fortress from "Castle in the Sky," the moral ambiguities of "Princess Mononoke," the vertiginous action of most of Miyazaki's work, and of course the ideas of an entire subgenre of science fiction known as Steam Punk. "Steamboy" is a highly entertaining ride, but the visuals are just about the only thing that's truly fresh about it.
Like both "Akira" and "Metropolis," "Steamboy" ends in a staggering orgy of urban destruction, reprising the apocalyptic theme common in post-Hiroshima Japanese science-fiction. It matters little that this time around, Victorian London has been singled out for mayhem: things still blow up ever so beautifully, and Otomo adds a final twist when he turns the mushroom cloud into a gorgeous frozen flower, the antithesis of steam.
