medhurst.verdie - 2014-05-29 11:38:36

The animation is beautiful and between madodka and akemi the filed scene was just amazing the seasons changing

gussie.oconner - 2014-02-15 06:36:50

VIDEO REVIEW:

darby.rempel - 2014-02-05 12:17:04

This is a spoiler review, if you have not seen the movie I strongly recommend you do so before reading this.

As many reading this may already know, back in 2011 when it aired Madoka Magica became a pretty big deal, and it continues to grow and draw in Anime viewers both casual and experienced. It's easily one of the most influential things to come out of Anime in the 21st century. However, with influence things tend to also get backlash, often to some extent irrational and arbitrary backlash that's more gripes with a rabid fanbase than the substance of the product.

I watched the series for the first time in August of 2012. On my first watch I was partially influenced by some who were cynical about its popularity, not to mention I already had most of the series spoiled to me. I considered it largely overrated albeit still a very good series. About a month later I went to a convention and became interested in rewatching the series after a significant number of Madoka cosplayers sparked my interest in it. Rewatching it gave me a much better impression on the series, and I eventually considered the series an all-time favourite. It was challenging, it was emotionally powerful, it was complicated but simplistic in expression, it was visually and sonically brilliant and most importantly of all it had an astounding impact on me. I've rewatched the ending 5 times now, and every time it takes me several days to simply digest it.

I knew the third movie was on its way, and quite frankly I wasn't the least bit sceptical about how well it would turn out. I wasn't going to allow myself to be cynical and to already be put in the mindset that it was going to be inferior to the series. While it was undoubtedly a business-minded decision, SHAFT and Urobuchi are not business-minded people. They are creative-minded people, the same creative-minded people who made the original series, and this movie undoubtedly still has the same aspects that make the Madoka series so profound to me, and I'd be willing to argue that for the most part it's matured and handles certain aspects even better than the series.

The story is where the growing maturity of the series shows most clearly. The early sequences are as vivid and whimsical as you can get. Right from the get-go it's rather unsettling because things aren't as they were when we last saw the Magical Girls. All five Magical Girls unite and get in even more whimsical adventures with some wondrously expressive and unique transformation sequences. We see a simple battle sequence and then we get an upbeat song. By this point you really don't know what to expect. The less patient viewer would have given up by this point and claimed the movie was retroactive in its continuity and utterly incoherently stupid, or at the very least self-indulgence. The sensible viewer would instantly pick up on the fact that this direction fully intends to give the sense that things aren't as they seem and remain patient, giving enough credit to believe that the creators have an inkling of awareness regarding their own product. It creates the notion that everything is fine and dandy, but as the movie progresses the score and the visuals very subtly give you the idea that it isn’t. The exposition of this is flawless. The sequence of events is dense and meaningful, and the pacing spot on. The world around Homura slowly starts to distort. The visuals become more and more abstract and Kajiura’s score becomes increasingly haunting, digging further and further and never allowing its attention to stray. The score and the visuals do wonders with all the subtle and obvious changes in tone that happen throughout the movie.

Eventually we get to what's really happening. Kyubey gives an explanation of this in significant detail, perhaps the second most divisive part of the movie. I find myself intrigued by Kyubey’s cold nature of speaking, and while some may be uninterested in this due to the detail he speaks in, it’s something that’s carefully simplified while still retaining every fine detail, as it was with the original series. Homura, who has lost most of her sanity by this point, tries to transform into a witch. Madoka intervenes with the rest of the Magical Girls to rescue Homura at the climax of the movie. The visuals and the score have reached their peak of haunting abstraction by this point, creating what can only be described as an out-of body experience.

Following the climax we get to what is most certainly the most divisive scene in the movie. Homura, who has far surpassed hope and despair, becomes so powerful in her emotional state that she rivals Madoka in power, taking control of reality and rewriting the laws that Madoka had created. While some may think this is purely selfish and moronic, take into consideration the full scope of actions and consequences. Had the law of cycle remained, Kyubey would perpetually attempt to thwart it and would likely eventually succeed. Homura’s power born purely out of her own emotions was a catalyst, one which made Kyubey realise the full extent of human emotions and the risk it imposed if he were to take control of them. Homura doesn't bring about any significant harm to anyone she cares about either. Homura at this point is essentially an anti-incubator in that while she's implied to be evil like the incubators her intentions are born from the exact opposite cause; a reaction based solely on emotion compared to a reaction based on a complete and utter lack thereof. Yes, it was fuelled by irrational desire, but it was an irrational desire that clearly existed and developed. Not only does this development make sense, but to top it off it’s also a very powerful continuation. In the broader scheme of things, it's a fantastic ending. The smaller conflicts eventually fell to the larger conflicts, and now we see there’s a balance of hope and despair. Much more bittersweet than outright bitter.

So now the stage is set for a follow up even grander than this. Whether it'll surpass it or not is something we'll have to wait and see. While Madoka Rebellion may not be quite as emotionally impactful as the series, it's hard to criticize it for that when it does so many things better. It's not a movie for the impatient, but at the same it’s certainly not jaded. As a whole, Madoka Rebellion is an astounding progression of the series on almost every front, and more importantly a wonderful film.

kuvalis.malika - 2014-01-04 16:38:54

Enjoy the review I have on YouTube!

keebler.amanda - 2013-12-16 01:24:53

Dark, Elaborate, and Extremely Confident in its Design [Spoiler Free]

[Overview] Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion is full of plot twists, action, and symbolism which replaces the original ending of the show with something far more logical, complicated, and thought-provoking creating a great alternate conclusion to a genre-breaking series. Watch with an open mind and you will be happily surprised.

[Plot] The story of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion takes on a more sophisticated approach than its predecessor, diving into the
deep psychological depths of the main character Akemi Homura, who’s final decision in the movie’s climax is unexpected and while many may say had no
precedent prior, after multiple views, one can see the thinking behind Homura’s actions were entirely sound, and any other resolution would have
appeared illogical in the eyes of those who can grasp what is actually going on.

Unlike the rest of the series, comedy is sprinkled throughout, mostly in the form of crude referencing which will only really be understood by fans.
This comedy is only used when necessary as the story still maintains the serious and urgent tone of the original.

There is also far more action than before, those who found that their wasn’t enough action in the last scenes of the the original series will be
pleasantly surprised as their are about as many action scenes in these two hours as their was in the entire T.V. series. The two most noteworthy
scenes would be the fight between Mami and Homura, along with the climax, which is far more eventful than the original.

The pacing is much like the original series, beginning slowly but steadily with just enough relevance to keep you interested, until the story goes
into a break-neck pace, flying sometimes faster through information than your brain could handle. I for one, was able to understand the situation
fairly clearly the first time through, but the way the information is relentlessly and quickly lavished on to you in a logical, extremely wordy way,
may make it hard for some to understand at first.

The original series was a story Homura would create, dark, yet well intentioned, with everything neatly tied up. Rebellion however, is a story Kyubey
would create, logical, deceiving, and always playing with your preconceptions. (8.8/10)

[Characters] The characters within the film all have a purpose in the film, but Akemi Homura of all the characters receives the most development
and as a result is the really stand out character of this movie. Her development is unconventional by most standards but is extremely intelligent, due
to the nature of Madoka Magica, the thoughts of the characters are rarely presented, so most of the times characters must display there personality
through their actions. This is used to full effect with Homura, with most of her development coming from the actions she does, not the things she
thinks. This results in one of the most intelligent and complicated character evolutions of any series in recent memory.

The other characters from the T.V. Series are all back, for good or worse. Kyubey is still a standout, with its cunning and deceit more open than
before, not really trying to hide its true intentions as much as it did in the original series. This allows us to see a completely evil and cruel
character which we never really got to see much of before. In actuality, very little happens with Madoka herself, and although she has many scenes in
the movie, she acts mostly as a catalyst for Homura’s deep and thought-provoking development, with Sayaka taking a more influential role than she had
before. Throughout the series, Sayaka has always been on the receiving end of despair, taking the most grief out of anyone in the series. This has
changed though, as Sayaka is in far more control of her destiny, turning her into a stronger and more confident character than she previously was.
Kyoko and Mami have small but subtle roles in the movie, much like in the original series. Mami’s most notable scene however, is her fight with
Homura, which will go down in history as one of the best anime fights ever. Then there’s the new character, Nagisa Momoe, who acts more as a plot
device than anything, doesn’t contribute much to the overall story. She does however, put some closure to a character who has become famous despite
her small amount of screen time in the original series.

Once again though, I cannot express how extremely well Homura’s character was handled. The issues with the new character can easily be overshadowed
because of how meticulously the development of Homura was executed. (9.3/10)

[Sound] I never really liked the ClariS’ openings. Their songs never really hit me on strong levels like Kalafina’s wonderful “Magia” (マギア)
ending song. “Colorful” (カラフル) however, is easily my favorite opening for the series, as it properly displays the amounts of both hope and equally,
despair throughout the series, unlike the other two opening before it.

The background music is once again done by Yuki Kajiura. This isn’t her best work, but it conveys just the right emotions to keep seem fitting to the
events occurring on screen, and isn’t that all that background music has to do to be good?

The “Round Cake Song” is surprisingly fascinating, being very cutesy but extremely disturbing and dark at the same time, a very noteworthy
achievement.

The ending song, “Kimi no Gin no niwa” (君 の銀の庭) by Kalafina is nothing short of great, capturing the fairy tail-like beauty of this story making the
conclusion to the series all the more eloquent. There is also an insert song by Kalafina near the climax of the film called “Misterioso” which is
also a great song, that might have even been better as the ending song.

While not being the best display of audio finesse, there are some noteworthy songs scattered throughout the movie providing a delightful feast for the
audience’s ears. (8.7/10)

[Art] In this movie we get far more of that amazing witch style cut out art than ever before. Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion has
such a strong sense of direction in its art design that viewers will easily get caught up in the environments and visual flair due to the confidence
the artists had in their execution of the movie. This is because of the rather unique artistic style that is both childish, and disturbing at the same
time, making for some of the most interesting set pieces of the entire series.

However, sometimes they get a little too carried away with the art. At some parts of the show, there are visual overloads, pouring way to much onto
the screen all at once. This can lead to some overly colorful scenes where you may have absolutely no idea what is happening on the screen.

Symbolism is one of strongest points of the art in this movie. Their are symbols everywhere in this show, foreshadowing future events and also
symbolizing events from other great narratives. This leads to an infinite amount of depth to every scene, bringing depth to even the slower parts of
the movie.

The unique style and the confidence in which they use it makes the art of this show simply amazes me though and I’ll find someone hard pressed to
completely hate the art in this movie. (9.4/10)

[Final Thoughts] Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion is a twisted, dark, yet powerful and almost essential piece to the Madoka Magica
series. It’s gripping, intense, thought-provoking, and even sometimes funny, without ever feeling forced or in cohesive providing the ultimate
conclusion to one of the greatest anime series of all time. Easily the best anime movie of the year and a movie that can easily be defined as a
masterpiece of both art and story.

[Personal Enjoyment] If I were to base my score simply on enjoyment, without considering any other factors besides how much fun it
was to watch, Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion would get a (9/10)

rau.emely - 2013-12-10 21:42:52

So, as many of you know; I was in Seattle this weekend to see a certain movie about a certain group of magical girls that kick ass, cry a little, and then kick ass again.

Like the series and two movies that preceded it, you get the same amazing characters, outlandish and devilishly surreal settings, and of course; a delightful, demented, and intricate story you've come to expect from this cannon. There's enough action, SOL, and bad-ass magical girl-ness(?) to go around and then some.

The visuals are great, the dialog is sharp ()both in humor and in hardship), and the whole presentation just reeks of dilapidated modern art shitting on itself mixed with great animation, and the sparse yet well-done bits of CGI. I can't really expand much beyond that without really spoiling much of anything.

If you have seen the first two movies or the series, you already know what you're getting into. I can assure you you will love it and want to buy it on Blu-Ray because that's what winners do

leffler.gladyce - 2013-12-09 02:51:03

Duality, it is a concept that could be while seemingly simple on its own becomes something much more complex when applied to a second word.

In this example; Duailty of Godhood, Duality of Puella Magi, etc. etc.

The point is that both preceding films tells a story that is as convoluted as it is fun as Hell itself, but it's literal reading seems to hide a bit more. It was first a story about one girl, then about another who tries to save her. Here it's now the story of when one side takes control of another.

And this actually works to its favor, Part's 1 and 2 had it's thematic share of despair and tragedy sprinkled within its overall arc. Here Part 3 veils once more the illusion of happiness, still with as much style and surprises. To some this will probably seem as a bad cop-out; given its execution, especially in the much later half.

Gen Urobochi may not exactly be seen as the greatest writer from Japan, but there is reason to why his works, especially as of recent warrant such attention let alone curiosity. His works are infamous for having dark, tragic elements with characters that will knock on Death's door quite a few times, if not at least once. All in all, "The Butcher's" works are enjoyable, some deserving more discussion than others.

SHAFT's own take on Rebuild of Eva 3.0 is certainly a fun film, vibrant with clever animation techniques, psychedelic yet colorful visuals, and with the expected film score and opening/ending songs from both Yuki Kajiura and ClariS respectively.

Persistent haters of Sayaka and Incubator be damned.

jast.marisa - 2013-12-08 14:47:02

I'll start by saying that I went into this movie with low expectations. The original series ended perfectly, and this movie never needed to be made in my opinion. That said, since they just had to make it, it was actually very enjoyable.

First, the animation. Stunning is really the only way to put it; The movie is beautiful. I believe the movie is worth watching just to experience how well animated the action sequences are.

The soundtrack was good, but it's pretty much what one might expect, minus anything even half as amazing as Magia from the original series. Still good, but nothing really stood out for me.

The characters were faithfully represented, but some changes to Sayaka and Homura were a little strange. I'll explain more in a section reserved for spoilers!

Now the story, pretty much what everyone is curious about. I'm sure some fans just wanted to see more <insert character names here> and this movie delivers. As I wrote earlier, the series ended perfectly. There was no need to continue the story! What surprised me most was that they came up with a plausible plot point that actually extends the series a bit without tarnishing the original in any way! The ending was a bit disappointing though. More explained in a section reserved for spoilers below!

My overall impression of the movie is favorable. Even though I disliked some points about the characters and story, the movie was extremely enjoyable. If it had ended on a better note, I'd be throwing out a 9, but while they had the workings of a great movie available, they dropped the ball with the ending. I'd still highly recommend seeing this if you're a fan of the series, hell even if you don't like Madoka Magica that much, this movie is still an awesome experience!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS (Seriously, stop reading here if you're never seen the movie.)

Now for those who have already seen the movie, some discussion about plot points!

Our new character, and Sayaka being witches who 'came back' to help Madoka guide the others was kind of...meh. An attempt at providing a compelling reason for some Sayaka/Sakura fanservice, I guess.

Homura. Man, oh man Homura. I'm going to jump on the side that dislikes the ending. While I understand why it happened, I still think it was unacceptable. If there's one truly bad point in the movie, it's the part where Homura creates the exact thing she had been fighting against for the whole movie.

I was actually enjoying the story until Homura pulled that shit off. I thought it was cool that Kyubey was performing an experiment to lure Madoka out in an attempt to control her. The plot fit Kyubey's character so well! The reasoning behind everything actually fit as an add-on to the original series! Sure, in the end it doesn't really add anything to the series, but the important part is that it didn't take away anything from the original either. I would have been hurt if the ending somehow tarnished the original series in any way, and I feel that Rebellion is a faithful extension to the series we all love...

As long as we amputate everything after Homura wakes up and enacts her devious plan for universal domination in an attempt to make Madoka happy. I'll admit that it was cool to watch because dat animation but still, Homura fights so hard to escape the illusion that held everyone only to create a similar cage on a universal scale!

Oh, but it's out of love, let's not forget that! /sigh

It's not that bad, but it just doesn't fit. I suppose it feels forced because it was actually forced, from what I've read Urobuchi was asked to create an ending that would allow for further extension of the series. I haven't looked into it myself, but if that's really the case, I am a sad panda.

crawford.mayer - 2013-12-07 10:24:59

There's no escaping the fact that the Madoka Magica franchise is currently explosive. And with it comes the pressure on the creators to push out more content for the fans. After two films that covered the original series with many improvements and new footage, the first truly new piece of Madoka Magica canon has arrived in the 3rd film, titled "Rebellion".

Before I review the film, I will mention that Rebellion is not intended to be viewed without prior knowledge of the original series - it is required viewing to understand the plot of Rebellion, as nearly the entire story and its characters are reflections and references to the original story.

With that out of the way, I'm sure most people reading this are quite familiar with Madoka Magica, a magical girl anime that turned the genre on its head with a macabre and unexpected dark side. It won a lot of fans over, and it's understandable why. It also wrapped itself up rather nicely, which compiles onto the caution that must be taken when attempting to continue a story that set high expectations and standards.

And that leads me to the story of Rebellion (5/10). At the ending of Rebellion, I had this deep feeling in my gut that the creators of this film were pressured to make sure that post-Rebellion there would be potential to add even more to the Madoka Magica timeline in order to milk more out of the franchise - because the premise of this film started out rather promising, and ended somewhat weak and half-baked, drawing reference from the original series ending, but coming off as an uninspired far cry from its predecessor. And indeed, Urobuchi's original ending for this film was scrapped for something less neatly wrapped. For the sake of not revealing major spoilers, I will say only these few things: that the story focuses mainly on Homura, and the setting deliberately fools the audience for a good portion of the film in order to tell this story.

To compound on this, the pacing of the plot is very stunted, and there is a lot of dialogue as the story goes on in order to explain the layers of events that are occurring. It is easy to get lost somewhere along the way, so it is important to pay careful attention to all of it. It doesn't help that a lot of this dialogue is going on during extremely visually focused segments of the film - which, while beautiful, are excessive, drawn-out, and can be distracting from the story.

At the end, I feel that the character of Homura has been cheapened. It is a bitter pill to swallow for one of Madoka's most beloved characters, and her actions at the end become almost meaningless that one has to wonder if the sacrifice that was made to her integrity in order to allow room for more sequels was worth it when you have to betray, and in some cases deeply upset your fans in order to achieve this.

I will acknowledge that many feel this way because they are deeply connected to her character and her story. However, while I did enjoy Madoka Magica and consider myself a fan, I approached this film with no expectations, and I judge the story solely from its merits as a sequel. And, at the end, I found the story to be overly convoluted, poorly paced and thrown together with more importance given to hitting a 'reset' button for more franchise profit potential, rather than telling a new and complete story to compliment the original. It's not so much that it was a bad story, but rather one that had a lot of potential and fell on its face at the end - which is almost more disappointing than a bad one.

Though the story was lacking, there is one thing Shaft nailed and that is the art and animation (9/10). Much like in the original series, the world of Madoka Magica is quite surreal - the characters live in an almost dream-like utopia, sprinkled with glass-laden spires and towers, beautiful gardens and pristine city blocks. Then there is the creepy, nightmarish worlds of the witches, with cut-out art nouveau parades, beautifully textured dreamscapes and stop-motion animation combined with the unique 2D style of the show - there really isn't anything quite like it in the world of anime. And while it is not always perfect, it stands out as an example of successful mixed format animation.

Because of the setting of Rebellion, the animators go wild for a large portion of the film. So much so that I would say that it is sometimes too much of a good thing, but still always a treat to watch more of it. My only real complaint is that at times the 2D animation of the characters felt phoned in or boiled a bit, but I will chalk that up to the fact that many anime films operate on a very tight budget with very strict deadlines. Though during the action and important moments of the film, the animation team put in the effort where it counted.

The sound (9/10) adds a lot more to the atmosphere of Rebellion. The music treads familiar and welcome territory and compliments every moment of animation. The sound effects and voice work was also very well done, with special attention being taken to their surroundings.

As far as characters (4/10) go, I had three major issues with this that go in tandem with Rebellion's story. Before I go into those though, I will say that Kyoko and Sayaka fans will appreciate their larger role in this story, and their friendship is a positive and fun element to this otherwise grim movie. But we don't get to see how they became so close, it is more or less implied.

The first major character issue is the addition of Nagisa Momoe/Bebe. I consider this a minor spoiler, so if you do not want to read any more about this then please skip this paragraph. Moving on, Bebe was teased to audiences for months as being in this film, and indeed, she does appear in her pre-witch form for brief moments in the movie. Consider it an alternate universe where, instead of Bebe biting Mami's head off, Mami befriends her and becomes part of her team of taking down Nightmares. And I will admit, she is adorable, albeit annoying at times. The problem? There is almost no point to her being in the film. She serves absolutely no purpose beyond attracting curious fans to wonder why she is there, and when she is, she has nothing significant to add to the plot. The one time she could add anything significant to the plot, it is mentioned that she can explain something, and then is never mentioned again. She felt like a shoe-in and I honestly do not think the film would have suffered at all without her.

The second is Homura. Homura's character is completely altered by the end of this film. I understand her torment and the negative effects that seeing the same events occur over and over may have had on her, but I found her actions at the end of the story to be foolish and confusing. And when all is said and done, her decisions are trivial at best and amount to almost nothing. I feel like I do not know who she is anymore, and, more importantly, that perhaps the writers don't, either. And I find this rather troubling for a once strong character who has been diminished to something more of a reckless psychopath. Perhaps she will be "redeemed" when the time comes, but for a self-contained story, the path that they have decided to take with Homura is nothing short of disappointing.

The last is, well, the entire cast. I already went over this briefly but I'll mention it one more time. The universe in which the story of Rebellion takes place is, for lack of a better word, fake. The events take place entirely in a bubble, almost quite literally, and feel inconsequential. It's almost one of those "everything was a dream" endings, and it compounds on the slight sense of unfamiliarity that you get from how the cast behaves in Rebellion - and then it all gets tossed out in the end. It's misleading, and leaves a hollow feeling that the original series didn't. I don't mean to say that all stories should have happy endings, but Rebellion's tragic ending feels cheap, forced and uninspired - and at the deep cost of a loss of characterization.

In the end, the movie still comes out being slightly better than average (6/10 enjoyment, 6/10 overall). Rebellion has a lot of powerful material to work with, and its premise starts out strong. But it tries so hard to be even darker and more macabre than its predecessor, while still attempting to make way for even more sequels, and because of this it falls desperately short of its potential.

Though I still hope for the best for the future of the Madoka Magica franchise. This film, for better or worse, is sort of a "reset button" for the series, and for all I know the next season or movie could be multitudes better than Rebellion could have been. But, for now, Rebellion leaves Madoka Magica on a confusing and sour note, one that would be a real shame to leave on.

carson02 - 2013-11-20 11:30:59

I originally put my friend Rob's review here for him since he didn't want to make a hummingbird just for a review, but I didn't plan to do one myself. Now I did. So I appologize. If you want to see Rob's version--click here

Here's mine: