I'm going to cover most of the things I disliked about it, and then end on a positive note with some things I enjoyed. I will do my best to avoid major spoilers but be warned there may be some.
First off, do NOT see this movie if you're not caught up on all the other UC shows, at least through Zeta, and preferably through Char's Counter Attack. All of which are pretty much mandatory for background going into Unicorn, which NT is an extension of. So there you go. If you go into this blind you will have absolutely no clue what it going on.
With Gundam NT, they've taken the Newtype Space Magic and leaned even more heavily into it than they did with Unicorn, while also recycling ideas from Unicorn. In other words, between Newtype Powers seemingly being the answer to every problem, and the "Destroy Mode" of the Unicorn and Phoenix type suits, we've pivoted fully away from Real Robot and into Super Robot. This alone was enough disappointment for me.
As far as characters go, the new ones are pretty interesting, or at least they could have been. Our protagonist Jonah is the audience proxy character, he is largely devoid of agency as we are supposed to see ourselves in him. He's fine. The female lead, Michele, is the most compelling of the three but her motivations are somewhat convoluted. The third character, Rita, seems like she'll be really important at the beginning but becomes grating for reasons I'll mention later. We're given the impression that we're supposed to care about her, but we're never really given a reason to, so when a certain plot beat hits, it rings empty, because I didn't really care about her one way or another.
Existing characters are great to see on the big screen. I really enjoyed the references to the older series, especially the flashback to Zeta and hearing Char giving his speech, and glimpses of older Gundams. While these were probably my favorite moments of the film as a fan of the classics, the other appearances of existing characters seemed more out of fan service than in service to the narrative. When Banagher appears, he does and says nothing of importance other than exist. Minerva Zabi seems to only be on screen to remind us that she's alive in her big empty throne room.
But, that brings me to the main villain. Oh, boy. Not only is he a literal Char Clone, he seems to be pulled straight out of some kind of 2008 teen movie with a super emo bully antagonist. He is poorly written, his motivations are ridiculous - he's just a bad guy because he's the bad guy, there is nothing compelling here. Every time he had screen time I just cringed. It's such a shame because Gundam has had so many compelling rival / villains, and to know that Zoltan will be in the same league of rivals as Char Aznable and Anavel Gato is disappointing.
As far as the mechs go, they're ... fine. The Phenex Gundam is an interesting design, but again, it's very Super Robot. Same for the Gundam NT, which is not only not really given enough time to shine, but has its own Super Robot leanings like its magic box trap thing. It seems like in most Gundam shows the mechs themselves are characters, but in Gundam NT, they seem like afterthoughts, only there to sell Gunpla (more than normal).
The animation, in action, is messy. I can relate it best to seeing one of the Michael Bay transformers movies. You know there's robots fighting, but they're moving so fast that it's hard to make out any of the details, it's even hard to follow the action itself. Again, back to super robots - gone is the weight and power of classic UC Real Robots. It's like the difference between Pacific Rim 1 and Pacific Rim 2. Finally, there's an "ass-pull" in the "final boss" mecha that Zoltan pulls out of nowhere. I literally rolled my eyes. It is unoriginal and nonsensical.
I think the most grating thing in the movie though is Rita, and more specifically, a flashback that plays over. And over. And over. About every ten minutes you'll hear Rita say something about how she doesn't know if heaven is real, but that she knows souls are real and there is an afterlife. I don't know how many times you will hear this, I lost count, but it's a lot. It's too many. By the time you see the whole scene at the end of the film you're already sick of it.
And speaking of that phrase, so much of this movie has to deal with supernatural space magic stuff. Yes, I understand that we have established that Newtypes have at least some ability to exist after death, but I always interpreted it as having been imprinted into the souls of other newtypes, like with Amuro taking on the strength of Lalah. But in NT, they pretty much clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are newtype spirit ghosts that haunt things. And it's just ... kinda silly.
Music was a little over the top at times, but not terrible. Coming off the heels of Thunderbolt, which has amazing music, this was also disappointing.
The story itself felt really stretched out. I was checking my watch about halfway through the movie. I dont know if it's a pacing problem necessarily or that they tried to squeeze too much in, but for as simple as the story is, it felt really long-winded. It also starts with a plot hole, which is never a good sign - Rita as a child has a Newtype vision of the 0079 colony drop and manages to save a town of people. But if she's an Earthling, how does she has newtype powers? Who listened to an unstable child enough to say yeah let's evacuate off this crazy kid's hunch? Right?
On the plus side. Parts of the movie are very well animated, particularly the opening scenes during 0079 with the birds. When the Gundams are still they look great, like when the Narrative Gundam is in the hangar bay and Jonah is being extracted while other pilots watch. The action scene with some grunt suits chasing down a car was really neat too, I enjoyed the scale shown there quite a bit. As I mentioned, the references to older series was a highlight for me, though all too brief.
In conclusion:
+ Nice art & animation, when you can see it
+ Fun references for veteran fans
+ It's new
- Uninteresting characters
- Meandering story
- Action scenes are hard to follow or enjoy
- Bad villain
- - Excessive Newtype Space Magic Nonsense
- - Hearing a quote about Newtype Space Magic Nonsense over and over again
I sincerely hope the next UC movie, which trailered the end of this film, is better than this one was. It wasn't awful, if you're a fan of Gundam and have seen the rest of UC you may as well see it, but don't expect too much here.
