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While it has its good points (the acting) it does have its bad ones too (the animation).

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Lady Death

The motion Picture

Review by Matthew Anderson

Made for DVD Anime movie

Company: ADV Films

Running Time: 80 minutes

Region: 1

Rated: R (Violence, gore, language and Adult situations)

EXTERNAL EXAM

Hope is a young noble woman living in 15th century Sweden. Sweet and innocent, she has no idea her father Matthias is actually Lucifer, the ruler of Hell. When the town priest discovers his secret, Matthias escapes to Hell, leaving his daughter behind to pay for his evil.

As her execution draws neigh, she is given a horrific choice by Pagan, one of Lucifer's minions. She must either join her father and her lover Niccolo in Hell, or be burned at the stake as a witch. When she takes Pagan up on his offer, she quickly learns why her father is "The Lord of Lies".

Betrayed, beaten, and left for dead, Hope's soul undergoes a transformation. She becomes vengeance incarnate, a being with awesome powers, and a strong fighting prowess. She is now "Lady Death", and woe to any beast or demon that stands in her way.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The DVD quality is excellent. On all three of our video systems, there was nary a pixel, color bleed, or wrinkle to be found. On our Samsung, I magnified it X3, and it still was flawless.

AUDIO: The 5.1 audio track is very well done. The sound is crisp and rich, full of surround sound during the action elements. The music comes from the back speakers, while everything else hits you from the front and sides.

EDITS: This is an original DVD release, so no edits.

EXTRAS: A half hour "behind the scenes" interview with the animation production team and Director Andrew Orjuela, a collection of conceptual artwork, and a audio commentary with director Andrew Orjuela, Senior Marketing Manager Rod Peters, and Executive in Charge of Production, Mark Williams.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Written by "Robotech" scribe Carl Macek, this is a straight forward action flick, full of blood, guts, and violence. As far as how the story relates to the comic, this is a retelling of the origin of Lady Death. As the story and the film were produced by creator Brian Pulido, any changes made were sanctioned.

ACTING: Quite a talented cast of well known ADV voice actors in this one. For the leads, you have Christine Auten (Priss from BGC:Tokyo 2040), who's deep, spite ridden delivery is perfect for our sword welding bitch in a g-string. For Lucifer, no one can match Mike Kleinhenz (Kabapu: Excel Saga). The malevolence in his voice is so evil, I felt like Satan's bitch! Andy McAvin is great as the slimy evil sidekick Pagan, and Rob Mungle's stoic voice is the right one for Lady Death's right hand bad ass, Cremator.

The rest of the cast does a fine job. The biggest surprise was Chris Pattion's sweet and innocent reading for Niccolo. It was such a far cry from the uptight "Sousuke" in "Full Metal Panic", I almost didn't recognize him.

FAN SERVICE: Well, Lady Death is one step away from a wardrobe malfunction, but she never crosses the line. However, it must be pretty cold in hell, as you will see very quickly. There are some hot bisexual demon bitches to enjoy as well. I'm sure there are comic references, but having never read the comics, I can't point them out for you.

At the end of the movie, if you look closely, you will see the names of several folks who work at ADV on the tombstones. One of them is Director of Marketing Rod Peters, one of the people on the commentary track.

FINAL EXAM

The second ADV produced animated feature (Sin being the first), Lady Death is a high action, but minimal plot kind of film. While it looks cool, and has some great acting, this isn't exactly the most gripping of titles.

Visually, the film has a lot going for it. The rather grey and dirty world we see is the realization of the old saying "When Hell freezes over". Full of spooky mountains and evil looking castles, this is not the place you will want to spend the rest of eternity. The character designs reflect this gloomy place, with head honcho Lucifer the only one with any real color. Even the mega-hot (or would she be mega-cold) Lady Death's pale skin is just as bleak as the world she lives in.

Unfortunately, the animation is not quite up to the task of translating the awesome character designs to the screen. Everyone, from the demons to Lady Death herself, were devoid of the fine details we have come to expect. The motion was also very choppy at times, betraying the low budget. They did managed to blend the CG and traditional elements together nicely.

The acting is the best part of Lady Death. Pulling from their stable of excellent voice actors, Christine Auten, Rob Mungle, Mike Kleinhenz, and Andy McAvin all do well carrying most of this movie. Their voices fit the looks of the characters, and as things get darker, their voices get meaner. The same goes for the supporting cast. Once the credits start to roll, you'll be surprised as to who played whom.

Like the animation, the writing in this movie didn't impress me. Frankly, Carl Macek's script was dull and repetitive, with no real surprises. While it has it's good points and decent dialogue, this is a disappointing effort from the man who brought us the wonderful "Robotech" series and the similarly themed "Heavy Metal 2".

The extras are interesting, but pretty standard for this kind of release. The audio commentary with director Andrew Orjuela, Rod Peters, Senior Marketing Manager, and Executive in charge of production, Mark Williams is full of interesting facts. The concept artwork really shows how different things went from stage 1 to the final production, making the okay animation even more disappointing. The behind the scenes feature is pretty boring, a collection of talking heads from both ADV and Sunmin Image Pictures.

"Lady Death: The Motion Picture" isn't the best comic adaptation you will ever find, but it's certainly not the worst. While it has its good points (the acting) it does have its bad ones too (the animation). If your a fan, pick this one up. If you aren't, think hard about it.

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