I do not think this movie is as bad as the intense reaction from fans has made it out to be. For that reason I will try to highlight the positives of this movie while conceding that as a fan I do not agree with some of the changes made to the overall plot and narrative.
Costumes, character traits, and overall visual direction are spot on in my opinion. It looks like an Attack on Titan movie. However, the writing and acting are not on par and fail to deliver the impact that manga/anime has. That it is a Japanese movie with Japanese actors is a huge weakness of the movie in my opinion, characters depicted in manga/anime often fail to appear or act Japanese at all and this is especially true with this particular series. Source material has the setting in Germany, and having European actors for this would have served the movie much better. Although the movie half works as a monster/horror flick, the actors delivery is slow, flat, and very often unbelievable.
Story wise, I have no real objective issues with the changes made to plot and narrative. Even with 2 movies to deliver the story, you simply have much less space to deliver exposition in this format compared to a long running series of chapters or episodes. It's not the changes they made, rather, it's the overall construction of the entire movie that bothers me. In fact, as I write this review, I dislike the movie more and more as I consider what was done with the anime in terms of delivery. The movie only takes us as far along the plot as the first couple of episodes in the anime. Exposition is clunky, and scenes seem to drag on longer than is necessary. The actor playing Hange is never believable, it's unclear if we should take her seriously or if she is meant to be comedic. It is more than halfway through the movie before the ODMG is explained, and longer still before you see it really used. It almost feels like they were embarrassed by the way the ODMG looks when it is being used, due to the fact that such a device would never work or be practical no matter how bad-ass you are, and they only put it in when it was absolutely necessary. The manga/anime is a fantasy/horror story, it is not meant to be believable or realistic. For that reason, this movie fails not so much in trying to make it feel real but rather fails to embrace the unreality of the source material.
As a fan, my biggest gripe is the changes made to Eren and Mikasa, both in terms of characters and their relationship. Eren goes from a crazed traumatized boy to being a "don't you ever wonder what's out there?" type loafer. Gone is the iconic moment when Eren see's his mother eaten, gone is the iconic moment when Mikasa becomes a machine-like killer dedicated to Eren. Mikasa is instead made into a sweet innocent girl who gets a chunk taken out of her, and somewhere along the way (not shown or explained) some guy who didn't exist in the source material trains her to be a titan killer. I personally just can't see the justification for this. This more than anything was the biggest black mark upon the movie. Mikasa in the manga/anime often lacked expression, she did not speak and preferred action over words. It seems like they tried to adapt that into the movie, but by making her the girlfriend of some douchebag that lacks any depth or character at all, and making her hold this stupid grudge against her childhood friend Eren, she just feels heartless. In the manga/anime, she wasn't heartless, she simply hid her emotions away. And this made sense, this fit the character and her dedication to Eren as they were childhood friends who went through an intense kidnapping experience. In this it feels as though there's no reason to care about Eren or Mikasa at all.
Overall, I have to praise the movie for not being absolute garbage. I appreciate seeing the titans in their CG glory, they nailed the creepy and grotesque factor perfectly. The massive titan looked great, but the crazed titan that appears towards the end looked plastic and rather cheap. The characters look the part, and the scenes where titans appear are well done. This is a movie best seen if your looking for something where many many people are eaten alive. This movie does not contain thought provoking writing nor compelling characters. But even having the visuals down is better than something like Dragonball Evolution. Good effort, I will see the sequel, and I will look to the series for proper writing.
Costumes, character traits, and overall visual direction are spot on in my opinion. It looks like an Attack on Titan movie. However, the writing and acting are not on par and fail to deliver the impact that manga/anime has. That it is a Japanese movie with Japanese actors is a huge weakness of the movie in my opinion, characters depicted in manga/anime often fail to appear or act Japanese at all and this is especially true with this particular series. Source material has the setting in Germany, and having European actors for this would have served the movie much better. Although the movie half works as a monster/horror flick, the actors delivery is slow, flat, and very often unbelievable.
Story wise, I have no real objective issues with the changes made to plot and narrative. Even with 2 movies to deliver the story, you simply have much less space to deliver exposition in this format compared to a long running series of chapters or episodes. It's not the changes they made, rather, it's the overall construction of the entire movie that bothers me. In fact, as I write this review, I dislike the movie more and more as I consider what was done with the anime in terms of delivery. The movie only takes us as far along the plot as the first couple of episodes in the anime. Exposition is clunky, and scenes seem to drag on longer than is necessary. The actor playing Hange is never believable, it's unclear if we should take her seriously or if she is meant to be comedic. It is more than halfway through the movie before the ODMG is explained, and longer still before you see it really used. It almost feels like they were embarrassed by the way the ODMG looks when it is being used, due to the fact that such a device would never work or be practical no matter how bad-ass you are, and they only put it in when it was absolutely necessary. The manga/anime is a fantasy/horror story, it is not meant to be believable or realistic. For that reason, this movie fails not so much in trying to make it feel real but rather fails to embrace the unreality of the source material.
As a fan, my biggest gripe is the changes made to Eren and Mikasa, both in terms of characters and their relationship. Eren goes from a crazed traumatized boy to being a "don't you ever wonder what's out there?" type loafer. Gone is the iconic moment when Eren see's his mother eaten, gone is the iconic moment when Mikasa becomes a machine-like killer dedicated to Eren. Mikasa is instead made into a sweet innocent girl who gets a chunk taken out of her, and somewhere along the way (not shown or explained) some guy who didn't exist in the source material trains her to be a titan killer. I personally just can't see the justification for this. This more than anything was the biggest black mark upon the movie. Mikasa in the manga/anime often lacked expression, she did not speak and preferred action over words. It seems like they tried to adapt that into the movie, but by making her the girlfriend of some douchebag that lacks any depth or character at all, and making her hold this stupid grudge against her childhood friend Eren, she just feels heartless. In the manga/anime, she wasn't heartless, she simply hid her emotions away. And this made sense, this fit the character and her dedication to Eren as they were childhood friends who went through an intense kidnapping experience. In this it feels as though there's no reason to care about Eren or Mikasa at all.
Overall, I have to praise the movie for not being absolute garbage. I appreciate seeing the titans in their CG glory, they nailed the creepy and grotesque factor perfectly. The massive titan looked great, but the crazed titan that appears towards the end looked plastic and rather cheap. The characters look the part, and the scenes where titans appear are well done. This is a movie best seen if your looking for something where many many people are eaten alive. This movie does not contain thought provoking writing nor compelling characters. But even having the visuals down is better than something like Dragonball Evolution. Good effort, I will see the sequel, and I will look to the series for proper writing.