All video game movies suck? Not so fast. The anime based on the Professor Layton puzzle series is quite good.
Released last December in Japan, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva was subtitled into English for its Singapore release last month. The film was written by Akihiro Hino, who designs the games, and created by OLM, the studio responsible for the recent Pokémon films.
According to the Anime News Network, British anime distributor Manga Entertainment has revealed it will be releasing Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva on DVD and Blu-ray this September. No word whether the film will use the game’s English voice actors for a dub or retain the original Japanese track.
The film was so successful that there are plans for another Layton anime, which has the tentative title of Professor Layton and the Second Movie. And then there will be plans to make more of these films! There have also been plans to make a live-action film as well.
cakemixer
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 5:08 PMsuccessful? lol what? i actualy saw this when i was in japan and i think it was only about a quater full on opening day… i was also pretty underwhelmed by it….puzzles like escape from wolves and a giant robot pretty much coming out of nowhere ruined it for me
Bish
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 7:50 PMWell I can’t imagine having puzzles make the transition from from game to movie made for a particularly easy task. Especially when the joy is derived from solving it yourself rather than watching some dude figure it out.
That said, I would still totally watch it. I’ve seen some Japanese trailers (for both the games and this movie), and I actually like the dub version. Maybe it’s because I don’t know Japanese, but I think it works so much better when he speaks like a proper English gentleman, accent and all. All he needs is a monocle.
Tyler
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 9:22 PMDude yeah! There should of been a matchstick puzzle scene. That would of been INTENSE!
cakemixer
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 4:26 PMi just would have liked it to actualy be some sort of puzzle rather than them running round till they found baskets
im over reacting abit i guess as most of the other puzzles were ok but i just couldnt understand why they made that one so stupid
Joel
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 7:48 PMSweet! Now all we need is english releases of the 3rd and 4th Professor Layton games :)
HURRY UP LEVEL 5!
Joshy206
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 7:55 PMI don’t think I’ll buy it full price; I might rent it, or get it on sale. It seems like a nice thing to watch, but I don’t think I’d watch it too often.
Jake Miles
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 12:27 AMPlease not the voice actor for Luke in the games. I hate him with the fury of a thousand suns.