Article: 7
Date: 5/18/08
Year: 2001

Metropolis (2001)  Company: Columbia/Tristar Home Video (2002)  Country: United States  Category: Slip Cover  - FULLSCREEN EDITION - A late release to the home video market, Metropolis (2001) features the original poster art on the cover, taken from (I am guessing) the limited American theatrical release, since the Japanese poster art appears to be different. The video release adds Roger Ebert's rating of the movie along the top in a silver band. The image focuses on an apparently naked Tima (the robot girl) gazing upwards inside a hellish, bright-pink factory with the villainous Rock glowing and standing in the background, looking on. The title of the movie is given in both English and katakana Japanese on the front and both sides. The text on the back reveals the higher anime awareness in the United States at the time of the film's release, highlighting the original creator Tezuka, as well as the director and screenwriter. The text reads like an advertisement, praising the film with hyperbolic phrases, and including a wildly enthusiastic quote from James Cameron endorsing the film. The description of the plot is mostly accurate, if my memory serves, although it exaggerates the threat, as I don't recall the "fate of the universe" to be at stake in this movie. Three tiny stills from the movie are displayed next to the text, but they are so small and rather poorly chosen that they don't illustrate the grandeur of the movie well. The blue-tinted cityscape and silhouette of Kenichi below the text looks like more promotional art, but I don't know its exact source. Also in the background, and along the sides, are glowing blue lines and strands of running text repeating the word "metropolis," a design choice that seems to be aping The Matrix (1999).