Actors: Vic Mignogna, Maxey Whitehead, Alexis Tipton
Directors: Mike McFarland
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Funimation Prod
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Run Time: 110 minutes
Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
I have been a fan of “Fullmetal Alchemist” since day one. I really enjoyed “Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos”. I thought it was a great entry in the animes universe. The focuses on our heroes Alfonse and Edward but also introduces a bunch of other great new characters. I did notice how they did shift the focus of the film to one of the newbies, Julia and focused some of the story on her. But I thought it still worked well and kept me very entertained and interested throughout. The series has never looked better in my eyes and I really hope that they are planning future films, maybe with Julia again (hint hint). If you are a fan of the series, this comes highly recommended.
Official Premise: A fugitive alchemist with mysterious abilities leads the Elric brothers to a distant valley of slums inhabited by the Milos, a proud people struggling against bureaucratic exploitation. Ed and Al quickly find themselves in the middle of a rising rebellion, as the exiled Milos lash out against their oppressors. At the heart of the conflict is Julia, a young alchemist befriended by Alphonse. She’ll stop at nothing to restore the Milos to their former glory – even if that means harnessing the awful power of the mythical Philosopher’s Stone.
FUNimation Entertainment has been very kind of the “Fullmetal Alchemist” series and “The Sacred Star of Milos” is no different. It delivers a stunning presentation within its 1080p transfer and 1.78:1 aspect ratio.. The colors are very sharp and bright. Like with the last movie in the series, this one also includes both the original Japanese language track and my favorite, the English dub with very impressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround tracks. I just love the English cast from the series and this is a rare time when I prefer over the original language. The action is well-used with either track and works perfectly with the films non-stop action.
The special features are seem like they don’t come with much but I enjoyed what they had quite a bit. “Fullmetal Alchemist: Making of Sacred Star of Milos” is a very solid hour long behind-the-scenes look into the production of the film. It is in Japanese with English subtitles. There is a fantastic commentary track from the English dub cast including Maxey Whitehead (Alfonse), Christopher R. Sabat (Armstrong), Vic Mignogna (Ed), and many others from the crew. Lastly there is a U.S. Trailer, Web Promo, and TV Spot included. What I like most about this film is that you don’t really need to know the series that well to be able to enjoy and follow unlike the last movie “Conqueror of Shamballa”. Don’t miss this!