éX-Driver – The Movie (Animé)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Main Program: C+

 

 

One of the most blatant Akira wanna-bes we have seen to date is éX-Driver – The Movie (2002), which only runs 65 minutes long, so “B-movie” is much more like it.  Add that it is computer animated and not that great and you get the idea Geneon was hoping lightning might strike twice with some fans.  I was not one of them.

 

The title refers to those obsolete people who knew how to drive cars, but have been rendered “obsolete” by robot-driven vehicles, but oh, are they wild people to drive cars without robo-assistance!  Yawn!  The concept could have been better developed, but it is just very flat and in vein.  That you have female drivers as a leading cast does not make this exciting, putting it closer to the disastrous Charlie’s Angles – Full Throttle than anything good.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image is only so good, especially with the simple CG animation that is flat and has limited color quality.  The only reason this might be a curio for home theater fans is that it is in DTS, but it is only the highlight by default, and would have been better had the 5.1 been used more often, Dolby or DTS.  Extras include a 25-minutes long Nina & Rei Danger Zone installment that does not make up for the mian feature and three Illustration Theater installments that fall as flat.  Trailers for other Geneon DVDs and textless opening and closing credits are also included, but this is all a big disappointment and missed opportunity for all.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo