War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012) – movie review

War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)

This animated film begins similar to the end of the movie and story we are most familiar with. Right before the Alien’ s succumb to the simple earth bacteria, a young boy watches helplessly as his parents are vaporized by a Martian tripod.

It is now, 1914, and the human race has built giant war machines to combat the Martians if they return. The world in the film is Steampunk driven, with that style of machinery, Zeppelins and dirigibles dotting the post Utopian sky. An elite world force of robot combat troops known as ARES scour the earth looking for alien landings and the rise of Martian tripods. They travel from battle to battle, trying to keep the world free from this constant invasion.

The climax takes place in New York City as the tripods land end-mass to overwhelm the ARES base. There is massive city destruction as the war machines engage the tripods for a showdown, battle royale! In the backdrop look for the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty (now bearing a sword instead of a torch) and the Chrysler Building.

Well made, technical weapons animated by highly detailed art provide movie quality visuals. There are airship dog-fights and robot battles on the ground that indulge in quite a bit of stylish action sometimes reminiscent of the cover-art of Heavy Metal Magazine come alive. The story is your basic good against evil. The young boy who saw his parents die, now grown up, is part of the ARES fighting force. He struggles to become the leader of his squadron, despite his affinity to freeze up under pressure.

Well worth it for those who like animated movies, anime’, machismo action and non-bloody violence. I’d say for the casual viewer, not enough story to hold your interest. It was almost all action. Good for kids eight and up.

High action and beautifully drawn for animated movie fans and fans of anime.

I give it 3.0 alien twisting tentacles out of 5 for warrior robot vs. invading alien ship battles!