DVD Review: Sky Blue

From the early ages of cinema we have had man’s struggle against the elements and even more so, against himself. We have had utopian societies springing up from technological breakthroughs or the aftermath of some unforetold holocaust or armeggeddon. Cinema has shown this in many guises that we have played spectator to, from the early classic ‘Metropolis’ to the bleak ‘Blade Runner’, the comic book antics of ‘Judge Dredd’ to the nihilistic ‘The Terminator’, the multi-dimentional ‘The Matrix’ to the battle of the future in ‘Appleseed’, and even in some ways Romero’s recent foray into his zombie mythos with ‘Land of the Dead’, and now from Korea, ‘Wonderful Days’, or to give it it’s international title and the more fittingly, ‘Sky Blue’. Korea has had a bad and unfair reputation for being a cheap contractor work horse within the animation industry, with that said, there is hardly a day go by where you do not see some of its work on television or in the cinema no matter where you reside. Whether it is the latest ‘Family Guy’ episode or a re-run of everybody’s favourite family and soap opera, ‘The Simpsons’, or the latest Japanese anime blockbuster, Korea has had a hand somewhere in the process. Now with Moon-saeng Kim‘s ‘Sky Blue’, Korea’s most expensive sci-fi movie to date, things are about to change. This completely Korean effort is a master class in animation technique and encompasses standard cell drawings with stunning 3D CG and miniature effects like nothing you have viewed before.

In the year 2142, mankind is reduced yet again by its own devastation. The planet is polluted and humanity seeks refuge in a city, it’s very last, and it has become a haven for class distinction, where the elite rule and the downtrodden perish in the toxic wastes outside or work to the bone to provide the very energy to run the city and continue the planet’s demise. This is called Ecoban. Run by a military dictatorship, it secures the placement of its elite with brutal and swift force. Things are changing, Ecoban’s creator, now hiding outwith the city and believed dead, is about to lead the rebellion to end his creation and bring clear blue skies back to the people. But thrones are never vacated freely. As stated above this is a master class in animation and is superbly scored by Il Won, the use of the cell animation and weather elements to further the emotional impact is captured well, the zooming bike rides are a joy to behold and hark the best ‘Akira’ had to offer, the sound effects are incredible and boom all over your room in their DTS and 5.1 options, but not all is well with this tale. The plot is confusing and the characters suffer at the lack of depth and dimension, we do get a limp love triangle for some development but this is far from adequate. Not enough time is played to these, and the movie suffers as a result, seemingly content to move from one visual feast to the next. All things flawed are almost forgiven when you get to disc 2. This is a treasure trove for anybody with a fleeting interest in animation. Here we have hours and hours of in depth views at the animation process, interviews, storyboards and behind the scenes (beware the problems you may face from frogs and dogs amongst others), some of which include slightly different takes to that in the finished product, and an excellent look behind the scoring. We really do get to see the cogs turning here and Tartan Video have released one of the most impressive set of extras ever to grace the DVD format. Of particular note is the demo reel that was produced to brainstorm some of the problems they would encounter when combining the variety of animation processes being used. The extras, although expansive, never overwhelm, they do their job exactly and make you want to watch the feature all over again. On a curious note, all of these extras feature promotional material clearly stating ‘Wonderful Days’ but it is constantly referred to by the crew as ‘Sky Blue’, without a single reference to why the title was changed, also that all of the clips and rough cuts have their original Korean language with English subtitles.

I did say almost forgiven, the Korean and Hong Kong releases of this have the original Korean dialogue with English subtitles for the main feature, ‘Sky Blue’ is the international version and as such is presented in an English dub only, although this is impressive in its choice of 2.0 channel, 5.1 and DTS, the option of its original dialogue, so frequently displayed throughout the extras, would have been a nice addition. So too would have been the audio commentary and music videos present on those import discs. We do have, on the other hand, film notes provided courtesy of Justin Bowyer in the form of a booklet. This might be flawed, but it is also one of the most visually beautiful movies to play your screen. 'Sky Blue' is available to buy now via AmazonUK, as of yet there has been no US release date given.

You can read more about the DVD in our database.