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Let’s not beat around the bush, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva is one of the good video game movies. I would even dare to say that it’s worth buying! I was scratching my head when I first saw this on my way to Japan one year during the flight. Fortunately, the film had English subtitles so I could understand the plot. When I was done watching it, I was pleasantly surprised.

One of the best factors of this movie is the story. It’s an original story that wasn’t based on any of the video games and it is supposed to be canon with the games’ ... timeline, which is a nice perk to the fans. Just like the games, the main plot is a genuine mystery that keeps the viewer guessing and the puzzles that take place in this movie transition perfectly. The puzzles don’t feel forced and it actually keeps the plot going. It’s almost like a game for the viewer to solve the puzzle before the characters solve it.

The animation is very nice. I love how it is done in the same style as the video games in both traditional hand-drawn animation and some computer generated images. The backgrounds on the ship and the island can be nice to look at and the action scenes move naturally.

The music stood out to me the most in this movie. Since the movie is called the Eternal Diva, it lends itself to good vocals. Both the vocal songs and the orchestral pieces sound beautiful. Of course the Professor Layton video game theme is played, but my favorite songs are “Jenis’ Tears”, “Song of the Sun”, and “The Eternal Diva.” I won’t go into much detail of the songs since they are important to the story, but I believe these sum up the movie in the story, tone, and mood. I listen to them all the time on my mp3 player.

To sum it up, this is a great anime movie and video game movie. It received a lot of praise in Japan and it even got an American DVD release. You can probably find a copy in Walmart (since that’s where I got mine) or any anime store. I don’t have the soundtrack to the movie, but I believe it’s worth owning too. I’m always happy to watch this film again and again. For being a good movie on its own and being a good video game movie, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva gets 10/10 on MyAnimeList and 5/5 on Rotten Tomatoes!

This is my favorite movie of all time. I believe it is a masterpiece of film-making in all aspects including acting, music, animation, and story. Princess Mononoke deserves all of the fame and recognition among anime fans and non-anime fans.

Let’s start off with the acting. It’s fascinating how both the English and Japanese language versions of the movie have good acting when some animes either favor one or the other. Since the English version has big name actors like Billy Bob Thornton and Minnie Driver, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. In the English dub, the voices match the movements of the mouths ... perfectly and don’t come out of sync. When the characters sound angry, they sound angry.

The music is fantastic! Music composer, Joe Hisaishi gets every tone down perfectly from the mellow quest music to the harsh battle music. Whether the music has vocals or not, each song matches the scenes. My personal favorites include “Journey to the West”, “The Tarata Women Work Song”, and “The Legend of Ashitaka.” “Journey to the West” stuck out to me because the music matches the visuals perfectly as Ashitaka leaves his home village and as the dynamics rise, so does the imagery of all of the beautiful landscapes. I couldn’t help but hum along with “The Tarata Women Work Song” since it sounds like a traditional Japanese folk song or festival song and has a tone that balances out the dark industrial town. Finally, “The Legend of Ashitaka” sums up the entire movie. It has a quiet brooding beginning and then transitions to a more uprising and flowing movement.

Speaking of flowing movement, the animation in this movie is very impressive. Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli always deliver great animation in their movies, even the less-than-successful films. Even though I have seen this movie several times, I never get tired of looking at the beautiful backgrounds of each scene. These include the forest settings, the different villages, and the mountainous landscapes, which capture the true essence of Japan. I’ve been to Japan a few years ago and I must admit that they get the scenery spot on. It’s interesting that this is the first Ghibli film to use computer animation because it moves so smoothly with enough colors that it’s hard to tell that computers generated the images.

This is one of the few movies that I can watch over and over again and almost never get tired of it. Simply put, it’s one of Miyazaki’s best films. Since it’s hard for me to find any faults with this movie, I give it a perfect 10/10 on MyAnimeList and a 5/5 on Rotten Tomatoes.