Sky Blue - Wonderful Days 720p - (2003 Lang: English)

Wow! Bravo Korea...

Great great movie...tech-wise. Ok, granted it's not the most elaborate or original of movie plots. It's the eternal story about love and jealousy, power and corruption, good and evil but it has got a Miyazaki twist to its story, or at least tries to emulate the master, rather unsuccessfully I might add. The animation is like nothing I have seen before though, and I HAVE seen Final Fantasy. Main problem: the characters are poorly developed, if not at all. And the story doesn't grab you by the collar and throw you in its world, so you're always "aware" of the animation, it being the masterpiece that it is... But again, it's a movie well worth seeing, some shots will even make your jaw drop and eyes bulge, that's how much the scenes are beautifully drawn and animated. The authenticity of the "small" things (rain dropping pattern, eyes watering) is what I personally marvelled at more than anything else. Oh, and an out-of-this-world soundtrack to top it off, with some exquisite pieces that matched the moods perfectly. It was the only thing that really "sucked me in" a few times... All in all, it is a very promising start to all-korean animations.

Wonderful Days (also known as Sky Blue) is a South Korean animated science fiction film, released in 2003, written and directed by Kim Moon-saeng. It features backdrops rendered using photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, comparable to those in the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, along with the use of highly detailed models for some of the backdrops into which the cel animated characters were then animated. However, convincing CGI animation of humans (especially human movement) was not attempted. The backgrounds in the film were shot with traditional motion control techniques, then processed to look like CG. The vehicles were all rendered, and the characters were cel animated.

Wonderful Days is set in 2142. Environmental pollution has led to a breakdown of human civilization. A technologically advanced city named Ecoban was built and it harvests energy from the DELOS System, which uses pollution in a carbonite catalyzed reaction to generate power. Carbonite extraction is carried out by people who live outside the city in the surrounding wasteland. Among them is an enigmatic young man known as Shua (Marc Worden). He ends up in a love triangle with his childhood friend, Jay (Cathy Cavadini), and her superior, Ecoban security commander Cade (Kirk Thornton).

The film deals with environmental destruction, pollution and class struggle.

Despite never hearing of the film prior to watching it, the opening sequence alone had me hooked. Great visual design, and vehicle animation complemented nicely by a soundtrack that has just the right mix of classical, neo rock, and new age allows this film to surpass similar Animated/Computer Generated feature films. While the story isn't the most innovative amongst Science Fiction anime, it has its high points particularly in the beginning and conclusion. The director shifts perspectives from action scenes towards slower paced dramatic scenes before returning to the action for an excellent tempo. The use of flashback also helps to fill in the backgrounds of the characters.

The use of methodically paced travel sequences coupled with superb music would really have to be experienced on the big screen preferably with Digital Light Processing(DLP) to fully appreciate its beauty.

Fans of the Animatrix, Titan A.E., and Princess Mononoke would probably enjoy this, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to a broader audience because of its superb audio visual design, and landscape sequences. Worth Owning on Video for its high quality. Would be nice to see this given a professional transfer to DVD with known Actors much the way Armitage 2 and Princess Mononoke was given in Europe and North America.

A good story with Breathtaking Visuals and Music!