Overview: Anime at it's Finest! Based on the classic comic created by revered manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy), written by anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and directed by Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999), 'Metropolis' is a spectacular film featuring stunning imagery and unforgettable characters.

Created by celebrated anime master Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Roujin Z), 'Memories' consists of three dazzling stories, each delivered with its own astonishing style. Magnetic Rose, directed by Koji Morimoto (Animatrix) based on a manga short by Otomo, concerns two space travelers following a distress signal drawn into a magnificent world created by one woman's memories.

DVD Verdict: Despite sharing it's name with the 1927 Fritz Lang film, 'Metropolis' is a whole different animal. It's about a boy who runs across a girl named Tima while investigating a factory with his uncle, and tries to find out who she really is while evading an assassin named Rock and looking for his uncle.

Apparently, the director got the idea for this after seeing a poster for the 1927 film, and wrote a manga series about it which eventually turned into a movie.

So, where to begin? Let's go with the animation. It's incredibly smooth and stylish, given its age, of course, and reminded me simultaneously of 'Mega Man' and 'Ponyo'.

Every scene is drawn with such attention to detail that there are almost no holes to pick at, and it actually tops most of the Hiyao Miyazaki films in that respect. Besides the traditional animation, there is also a large amount of CGI work.

I generally hate it when CGI is used in an otherwise 2D film (especially in 'Lilo and Stitch,' as a random example), but it combines with the hand-drawn stuff so well that it compliments it rather than clashing with it.

Beyond looks though, 'Metropolis' also has very solid writing. There are no corny lines, embarrassing moments, or slow scenes. Everything is there for a reason, and none of it feels like it could have been done better.

The voice work is wonderfully done as well. Even though all of it is in Japanese, I could tell that it was acted very competently, and succeeds in making it feel like we're hearing the characters talking rather than actors at a microphone.

In the end, 'Metropolis' is simply one of the finest pieces of work I've ever seen and it still holds up today as great as ever. It has amazing animation, charging music, convincing voice work, and the most important thing of all: heart.

A collection of three stories, 'Memories' brings not only variety, but enjoyment to each. "Magnetic Rose" is the first and longest of the three, followed by "Stink Bomb" and "Cannon Fodder".

The animation of each episode differs, depending on how one views it. While all three episodes are very well done, the style of "Cannon Fodder" is vastly different from "Magnetic Rose" and "Stink Bomb".

Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Memories' combines the vision of Otomo's usual "God's revenge for the human race believing too much in science" with two first-time, although far from inexperienced directors.

The first of the three films, "Magnetic Rose" is by far the least Otomo-esquire of the three pieces, although based on one of his short mangas. The film centering mainly on the sci-fi side of anime.

Space freighters respond to a distress call in a bad sector of space, and become lost in the haunting memories of an intergalactic opera singer.

The second piece, "Stink Bomb" shows, if possible, a humorous side to biological warfare, as an unsuspecting pharmaceutical tech accidentally ingests a biological weapon and becomes a walking disaster.

The final film, actually directed by Otomo, called "Cannon Fodder" was by far my favorite, and the most disturbing of the three films. The basic story centers around a family living in a town whose citizens devote their entire lives to bombing an unseen enemy in the sky.

This story is very politically motivated, very dark, and not at all a "happy little story". The animation is unlike anything I've ever seen from Otomo, and full of sweeping single-cut shots that give you chills.

Overall, I highly recommend this new 2-Disc movie collection from Mill Creek Entertainment for any anime fan. It most definitely incorporates the vision of three brilliant directors. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.