Conceptually, this movie could have been something great. The basic premise, though simple, could have easily been expanded into a whole 'bother season. For the first time in some 30 odd years, the Gundams aren't fighting other humans. They are fighting an alien race. You would think that the creators would have went all out on this idea and made it at least on the same level as the series it's based upon but, alas, failure and disappointment are all that we get.
***Be forewarned, there are some spoilers ahead.***
To start with, let's get the "plot" of the movie out of the way. Four years have passed since the end of season 2 and things are going well for Earth. Peace has pretty much been found and the Gundams, though still around, aren't really needed much anymore. That is, until "they" appear. Who are "they", you may ask? Yeah, I don't know either. Gray space blobs from Jupiter is what it seems like. Though we will just call them ELS as the movie does for simplicity. Anyway, the ELS appear on a derelict probe that was sent to Jupiter some 100 odd years ago and are headed for Earth. Quantum brainwaves are there goal and where can they find those? In humans, of course! Yada, yada, time goes on and we humans are about to be annihilated. So we fight back. Kinda. Really, it's all about love and understanding our enemy. Seriously, that's about it. Through his mass amounts of love and understanding, Setsuna saves the day and the ELS create a giant flower in space. WTF?
What about the character development, you may be asking? Well, look elsewhere because none will be found here! The only real development is that Feldt suddenly has a burning love for Setsuna. I don't know about you guys but I didn't see that one coming. But then she decides that Setsuna's love is simply too great for any one person. He's just too hot to handle. Other than that, Setsuna goes all flower power on us and turns into some shiny white-haired guy/thing. I hope that's not their idea of what the Innovators should look like. Other than that, everyone else just stays the same. I thought they had some potential with Descartes but nope, they kill him off in the most anti-climactic way. And what's with Meena? Who the heck is she and why is Billy with her? Oh, it's because she has a nice rack and legs, as evidenced by the fan-servicey scenes involving her.
The animation was good though so it's got that goin' for it, which is nice.
Really, I look at this movie in the same way I'm looking at Vladimir Putin of Russia right now. He spent all this money and all this time on the 2014 Sochi Olympics so that the rest of the world would look at Russia in a new light and then he goes and "invades" Ukraine. In one single move, he ruined everything he was working towards. And that's what this movie does to the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series. It takes everything that I found masterful about the original series and smashes it all to bits.
So again, I say to you, save yourself. Save yourself two hours of your life. Flappy Bird must live on and you can save it. Don't make the same mistake I did. Let season 2 be the end of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for you and pretend this movie doesn't exist. You'll thank me later.
Over and out.
