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METROPOLIS

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What You Need To Know:

METROPOLIS is a visually stunning, sentimental animated movie from Japan. In the story, a rich businessman named Duke Red builds a large, tall skyscraper topped by a mysterious energy device. The Duke is working with a scientist to build a robot with special powers. The robot looks like a young teenage girl. The Duke’s estranged son, Rock, tries to destroy the robot out of jealousy, but a teenage boy from Japan named Kenichi saves her and names her Tima. Kenichi and Tima hide from Rock, but Duke Red’s lust for power unleashes an apocalyptic tragedy for both Tima and the city of Metropolis.

The story of METROPOLIS doesn’t always make sense. Also, the violence too often seems gratuitous. The apocalyptic ending is worth seeing, however, if only for the unique use of Ray Charles singing, “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” while Duke Red’s Tower of Babel crumbles. The movie even cites the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, and Kenichi’s uncle makes a positive reference to God in the movie’s otherwise non-Christian story and dialogue. Still, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children, because the moral point of the story is not always clear

Content:

(Ro, Pa, B, L, VV, A, D, M) Romantic worldview with a brief reference to other gods but with explicit, moral allusions to Tower of Babel story in Bible and to God, as well as a warning about the hubris and greed of Man; several light obscenities; strong cartoon violence including shootings with some blood, arson, people and machines threaten robot who looks like a young teenager girl, and apocalyptic destruction of major part of modern city; no sex; no nudity; alcohol use; smoking; and, lust for power rebuked but to what end seems unclear in the apocalyptic ending.

More Detail:

METROPOLIS is a visually stunning animated movie from Japan. The story doesn’t always make sense, however, and the animators lay on the violent metaphors a bit too thickly.

In the story, a rich businessman named Duke Red builds a large, tall skyscraper topped by a mysterious energy device. The Duke is working with a scientist, Dr. Laughton, a wanted criminal from Japan. A policeman from that country visits Metropolis with his nephew, Kenichi, to find and arrest Dr. Laughton. Meanwhile, Rock, the estranged son of Duke Red, uses a fascist group of thugs to control the robot population in the city, with his father’s apparent blessing. The Duke is using Dr. Laughton to build a robot with special powers, to help the Duke control the world. The robot looks like a young teenage girl of Kenichi’s age. Rock is jealous of his father’s interest in this project. He tries to destroy the robot, but Kenichi saves her and calls her Tima. Kenichi and Tima hide from Rock, but Duke Red’s lust for power unleashes an apocalyptic tragedy for both Tima and Metropolis.

As noted above, the convoluted story of METROPOLIS doesn’t always make sense. Also, the violence too frequently seems gratuitous. The apocalyptic ending is well worth seeing, however, if only for the filmmakers’ unique use of Ray Charles singing, “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” while Duke Red’s Tower of Babel crumbles around Kenichi and Tima. The movie even cites the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, and Kenichi’s uncle makes a positive reference to God in the movie’s otherwise non-Christian dialogue.