50
Follows the Japanese tradition of humanizing movie monsters, this time in a rather disturbing way.
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What are critics saying?
50
The two encounters with the beast WXIII -- first in a darkened factory, and later in an empty stadium, to the strains of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in G Minor (Pathétique) -- elevate the disappointingly flat animation into a vivid fable of monster and morality.
38
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
The full title of this animé import is WXIII (Patlabor the Movie 3), and if you think the name's confusing, you may want to spare yourself the work of figuring out the film itself.
60
The romantic denouement is so predictable it must have driven the animators mad as they worked, but their modest art is eerily effective.
40
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
The route to the film's dramatic and poignant climax is so hard to follow that the pleasure, the potential for which is considerable, has been substantially diminished.
60
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
The backgrounds are handsome and moody, and the character animation is less distractingly cartoonish than that of films like the otherwise breathtaking Metropolis (2001).
50
A competent if overlong blend of policier, sci-fi conspiracy thriller, daikaiju eiga (giant monster) stompfest, and tragic romance. It's also anime (short for "cheaper than live-action").
40
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
With its many unsolved mysteries, WXIII joins a long list of film-noir projects that end up stranded in the maze of their own invention.
50
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
Where the too-rarefied style and the too-simple substance meet, a compromise is reached, and something uniquely haunting is formed.
63
Lacks excitement, although its solid story makes for decent viewing.