47
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoLacks excitement, although its solid story makes for decent viewing.
- 60TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghThe backgrounds are handsome and moody, and the character animation is less distractingly cartoonish than that of films like the otherwise breathtaking Metropolis (2001).
- 60Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesThe romantic denouement is so predictable it must have driven the animators mad as they worked, but their modest art is eerily effective.
- 50The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonWhere the too-rarefied style and the too-simple substance meet, a compromise is reached, and something uniquely haunting is formed.
- 50L.A. WeeklyDaniel FienbergL.A. WeeklyDaniel FienbergThe two encounters with the beast WXIII -- first in a darkened factory, and later in an empty stadium, to the strains of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in G Minor (Pathétique) -- elevate the disappointingly flat animation into a vivid fable of monster and morality.
- 50Village VoiceMark HolcombVillage VoiceMark HolcombA competent if overlong blend of policier, sci-fi conspiracy thriller, daikaiju eiga (giant monster) stompfest, and tragic romance. It's also anime (short for "cheaper than live-action").
- 50San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleFollows the Japanese tradition of humanizing movie monsters, this time in a rather disturbing way.
- 40The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenWith its many unsolved mysteries, WXIII joins a long list of film-noir projects that end up stranded in the maze of their own invention.
- 40Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasThe route to the film's dramatic and poignant climax is so hard to follow that the pleasure, the potential for which is considerable, has been substantially diminished.
- 38New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanThe full title of this animé import is WXIII (Patlabor the Movie 3), and if you think the name's confusing, you may want to spare yourself the work of figuring out the film itself.