Steamboy (2004)

IMDb plot summary: In 1860s Britain, a boy inventor finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly conflict over a revolutionary advance in steam power.

Directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo. Starring Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, and Alfred Molina.

Steamboy is an animated film about a young boy whose father and grandfather are famous inventors in the world of steam and steam power. (Coincidentally, their last name is also Steam.) But the young boy finds himself caught in the middle in a fierce fight between his father and grandfather over how that power should be used, and he is not sure of the right way to go. The animation in this is really interesting. It's, as the name would suggest, a very steampunk inspired aesthetic, which is really interesting to look at. It's fun to see the different costumes and especially different gadgets that are created as part of this sort of parallel universe steam-powered world. As far as the story itself, I like that it doesn't keep it too easy. It's hard to tell until the end, genuinely, who is the good guy or the bad guy, because ultimately, when it comes down to it, everybody has their own reasons for doing what they're doing. Those actions can be a net positive or a net negative, but they can also have positive motivations or negative motivations. And it's all mixed together in a really interesting way that you don't see in a lot of children's movies. The action portions are fine, but not that interesting. But they are done capably well. The acting in the English dove is pretty good. You've got wonderful performers like Patrick Stewart and Albert Molina playing the patriarchs of the family, as well as Anna Paquin as the young boy. I haven't seen as much steampunk animation as I would like to. So this was a fun change of pace and definitely worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Steamboy > Spellbound (1945)

Steamboy < Kuroneko

Steamboy < Battle Royale

Steamboy > Drive My Car

Steamboy < An American Tail

Steamboy > Rush

Steamboy > The Wicker Man (1973)

Steamboy > Rachel, Rachel

Steamboy < Kingsman: The Secret Service

Steamboy > The Speed Cubers

Steamboy < Sweet Bird of Youth

Final spot: #1485 out of 3632, or 59%.