Very disappointed :(

Fantastic!

Dreadfully Boring

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Patlabor 2: The Movie if looked at on the story alone, is great cinema. Excellent animation with great attention to detail. Great story. Highly technological, with attention to political and military intrigue. Was expecting more action and a lot less lecture. I understand it was necessary to the story, but a little more action would have made the story more interesting. All in all a great story with some reservations.

It's 2002, 3 years after the events in Patlabor 1. The collapse of the United Nations Labor team in South East Asia began the build-up to form a deadly terrorist plan that threatens to send shock waves throughout Japan's military. A fighter jet crashed into a bridge as a first sign of disaster. With evidence of an impending military takeover, the scattered members of the original Second Division must gather to defend Tokyo against any possible danger or an outbreaking war.This is known to be the most political Patlabor anime ever made. The topics discussed in it make it feel like your watching a live action film. As well as long monologuing scenes that can be a snore. But the characters, story, and labor robots are all there.Unlike the other Patlabor anime. This one focuses on Captain Goto, Shinobu, & Detective Matsui throughout the movie. And it's very meaningful in war, terrorism, and politics.

Mamoru Oshii has created an amazing work of political and military intrigue wholly different from the haunted proto-ghost story of Patlabor: The Movie. Although it parallels its predecessor in some plot elements (lone madman with delusions of affecting a world-change), the movie departs from all other aspects of "typical" Japanese cartoon work and enters a realm reserved for potboilers like Three Days of the Condor and The Hunt for Red October.Commander Gotoh, caught between his loyalty to his men, his sense of duty and his relationship with one of his troops and a coming civil war finds himself on the sword point of a massive socio-political upheaval with overtones of covert U.S. backing. What it all leads to is a potential breakdown of civilian governance of Japan and an end to that nation's independent self-rule. The terroristic acts of a lone military mastermind who bears a grudge against short sighted bureaucrats - and has the reasons for his contempt proved time and again during the crisis he engineers - push Japan into a state of near panic as the military and the police including Commander Gotoh's Special Vehicles Unit face off against one another. Will the final showdown end in the madness of a civil war? Watch the movie, find out.Forget preconceptions about Japanese cartoons, and discard the mental image brought up by the "giant robot" on the cover of the DVD. The "Labors" serve as mere background icons (much as the powered armor did in R.A. Heinlein's seminal Starship Troopers (not the execrable movie loosely based on that work)) and as subtle statements on the separation of men from society by duty and law.Please, if you have a prejudice against Japanimation, don't let it override your judgment. Don't miss this one. It's that good.

Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell" got all the hype, but his earlier film, "Patlabor 2," is by far the more mature, artistically successful film. This is anime at its finest - sharply detailed artwork, superb animation, and a story that WILL hook you.Disguised as a Tom Clancyesqe techno-thriller, Patlabor 2 is actually a knowing, often cynical examination of global politics. The film at times resembles a surreal CNN report...if it were scripted by Noam Chomsky and directed by Alfred Hitchcock! What does that mean? First, the symbolic visuals are beguiling and plentiful. I would suggest you first view either "Psycho" or the "The Birds" and then Watch the Birdie in "Patlabor 2".Patlabor 2 is a beautiful film. There are many stunning, surreal cityscapes that recall "Blade Runner." These scenes are accompanied by Keiji Kawai's meditative, haunting score. But the film's greatest impact is its disturbing plausibility. There may be giant robot police patrolling the streets of Tokyo, but the patterns of infrastructure and the chaos that breaks out when it breaks down seem all too real.I give this anime my highest recommendation and I would especially recommend it to those who are either unfamiliar with Japanese anime or perhaps think animation is not a "serious" artistic medium. (This film will set them straight). Due to it's highly dense dialogue, I would recommend the dubbed version (unless you're fluent in Japanese or just prefer subtitles). The dubbing job is superbly acted and well-timed, preserving the original script's dramatic pauses and moments of silence.