ANI-MOVIES, *War Of The Worlds: Goliath

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle creator and head Heavy Metal magazine produced this movie animated in Malaysia which brings a new light on H.G. Wells' story. Joe Pearson directed this steampunk sequal to the original book, whose previous works include the Highlander anime movie, Skeleton Warriors, Duck Tales, and Rocko's Modern Life. with this being his first big directing job. Even though it's a Malaysian production, this has a definitive anime look to it, specifically from titles like Fullmetal Alchemist and Steamboy.

Set in 1914 on the eve of WWI, the nations of the world have united some of their best forces to create an anti-Martian army called ARES using reverse-engineered Mars tech to create their own tripods named the Goliath. Despite the fact that the Great War is about to begin, the troops of ARES instead dedicate themselves to stopping the oncoming Martian invasion which they find out is on its way from the Red Planet. A young Theodore Rooselvelt, Nikola Tesla, and the infamous Red Baron lead ARES, but the movie mainly focuses on the crew of the Goliath itself who have their work cut out for them while being torn apart from loyalties to their own families and conflicting nations. The Martians strategically attack three locations around America, but it all turns out to be a ruse as they focus the bulk of their forces on New York City. ARES brings their remaining tripods to the Big Apple for an all-out counterattack against the aliens, even though their own battle zeppelins aren't a total match for the Martian mothership.

This dieselpunk saga acts as great follow up to the original War Of The Worlds book, but also takes some inspiration from the 1950s movie by the way people are wasted by the heat rays. This has a decent voice cast, with Cowboy Bebop's Beau Billingslea, and pretty much the entire cast of Highlander: The Series. There were several independent studios behind this, but it is for the most part a high quality production. It had a limited theatrical run in 3-D, although its hard to see where that comes into play when watching it at home. This is a good addition for your average anime fan, but pretty much a must for any steampunk fanatic!