TRISTAR PICTURES Ray uses a steam-powered jetpack to carry his friend Scarlett away from danger in "Steamboy."

Gadgets inspire wonder
in retro sci-fi anime epic

Ever since "Akira" hit American theaters with its gritty vision of a post-apocalyptic world and a character that screamed "TETSUOOOOO!" every 15 minutes or so, Katsuhiro Otomo has been regarded as one of the modern-day stars of the anime industry.

"Steamboy" Rated: PG-13 Rating:

So when it takes 10 years and $22 million -- the most ever spent on an anime production, and one that nearly didn't get produced due to those ever-rising costs -- for his second full-length production to be released, it's safe to say anime fans would be clamoring to see the fruits of his labor.

Now that "Steamboy" is out in wider release in its English-dubbed form -- a subtitled version made the festival rounds last year, including the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival in October -- American audiences finally can see what all the fuss is about.

And while "Steamboy" is not as much of a landmark film as "Akira," it certainly holds its own.

The setting is England in 1866, an era of great industrial revolution driven by innovative minds. Three such minds reside in the Steam family: grandfather Lloyd (voiced by Patrick Stewart), father Edward (Alfred Molina) and son Ray (Anna Paquin). While both men went abroad to work on new steam technology, Ray remained with his mom and sister in Manchester and now tinkers with steam-powered gadgets that do everything from open his shades to pull up his chair to his desk.

One day a package arrives from Lloyd to Ray containing a large metal ball and detailed schematics illustrating its inner workings. This "steam ball" harnesses steam to generate power never before seen. It also happens to be the key element in Edward's Steam Castle -- a project that Lloyd sees as an expression of vanity and wants stopped.

Like clockwork, thugs show up at Ray's house to claim the ball on behalf of the O'Hara Foundation, a company that wants to use its power to create weapons of mass steam-powered destruction, and the fun begins. Eventually, with an unlikely ally -- bratty young heiress Scarlett O'Hara, who's first seen doing something to her Chihuahua that often makes audiences gasp in horror -- Ray ends up taking on his own father in a clash of ideals.

WHILE IT took viewers a good amount of time and concentration to figure out the message of "Akira," "Steamboy" flaunts its message early and often: Science and progress good, big ego of humanity bad. Many liberties are taken with the time period in presenting this message -- it's unlikely that people in the 1860s ever thought about making giant battle robots and flying machines, for example. One also wonders how any one mind could devise something as complex as the inner mechanical workings of the Steam Castle, which looks like an Industrial Age Death Star with all its gears, levers and switches.

Not that this is a bad thing, of course -- it is all presented in a lavish mix of computer animation and traditional 2D animation that justifies the film's high price tag. It also inspires wonder and awe in the audience as each gadget tops what came before.

But style is nothing without the substance to back it up. Unfortunately, Sony Pictures saw fit to cut 14 minutes from the original Japanese version to the dubbed U.S. version. The effect of the cuts may be less apparent to those who haven't seen the uncut version, but it's clear that character development and the overall story flow come off a little worse because of them. Shortchanged most is a story arc featuring two of Ray's would-be helpers, Robert Stevenson and his assistant David, who end up coming off as more evil than they should be.

The English dub also suffers at times from an overambitious script trying to cram too much into a short amount of on-screen time. Stewart's hyperactive Lloyd, in particular, sometimes makes it difficult to understand what he's saying, although it's admittedly difficult to tell whether the original Japanese actor had the same interpretation. Faring better is Kari Waldgren as Scarlett, an anime dub veteran with roles like Haruko Haruhara in "FLCL" and Robin Sena in "Witch Hunter Robin" on her resumŽ, who more closely matches the spirit of her character with that of the original Japanese.