Finally, finally, finally... Battle Angel Alita live-action.

[Casual Shinji]

Why y'all freakin' out about her eyes? They're weird, but that's obviously the point. I have no idea what the source material is, but it looks kinda cool if you ask me. Definitely distinctive, and despite being quite uncanny is still interesting to look at.

I dunno if it'll be any good, but the cgi anime face isn't the problem.

Yeah, but it looks weird in a 'this doesn't look like it has a physical presence' sort of way. It has a Who Framed Roger Rabbit quality to it. You look at the other robot guy, and he looks fine even with all the CG, because his face is actually there. Maybe they need to finish up the effect, and I can force myself to look past it, but as it is she looks more like insect/alien girl than robo girl.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Oh jesus, this thumbnail alone. No, no. Noooooo...

But even when you ignore that:

Ignoring the elephant in the room a moment....

I would like to remind everyone that this is the director behind Machete, Spy Kids, and Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

Yeah, both Rodgriguez and Cameron have long since stopped being names that are hypeworthy, in my book.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I kinda agree that the eyes are unsettling... even if she is a nonhuman character.

Eh, I guess I'll just keep an eye on this one.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

This actually looks really good and the fact Rodriguez is directing should result in at least a good movie. The eyes initially were really weird and throwing me off but literally by the end of the trailer, I was already used to it.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

Every time that face came up in the trailer it just yanked me out of it and made me think; "lol, I'm watching a bad cartoon that can't get facial proportions right with its cgi models.". Looks like a decent watch on Netflix in a year or two.

I wouldn't mind the eyes if they were a consistent style for everyone in the film, like for example in a Disney animated movie, but like this it's just too jarring.

It's a distinguishing part of the character because of the unique origins of her cyborg head/upper torso which is different from the humans and other cyborgs in the manga.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

I know this one because a weeaboo cousin of mine knows it, and that's about it.

Anyway, I'm no movie expert but I hope this movie didn't have a big budget, because I think this one will flop hard. Let me google. Holy shit, 200 million dollars.

That character looks so out of place, why not make the whole thing cgi?

Edit: I just saw some pictures of the actress, and why not use her actual face? She's pretty. And I knew I saw her before but I wasn't recognizing anything on her IMDb page. Then I saw this and yes, this is where I saw her:



And probably where they got their idea for the huge eyes.

The character of Alita is all CGI in the film. The actress is voicing and motion capping the character but is not in the film herself.

Avatar was made by James Cameron to develop the tech needed for a film of the Alita manga to be made.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

That's horrific! Is that what anime fans want?! Weird mutant humans with dead, doll like eyes?!

I feel like she should be a BloodBorne boss, such is her monstrous other-worldly nature.

She is a brain in a cyborg body and she looks different because her original cyborg head/upper torso have a unique origin compared to the other cyborgs.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

Yes, the design of movie Alita struck me as odd at first. But it's all about (not) being human, being different and wanting to be normal... while being a killing machine. It's Alita, cut her some slack.

Might've been better if they went for a different visual distinction. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who saw the thumbnail for the trailer and thought it was going to be an all CGI affair in the vein of Spirits Within. I think simple lenses with some prostectics would've created a better artificial and less jarring effect.

Alita is all CGI.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

I honestly can't decide if the eyes are good or bad.

On the one hand, using special effects to give a flesh-and-blood actress anime eyes is obviously a terrible idea.

On the the other hand, them making her look obviously inhuman and doll-like is an interesting decision. It was clearly deliberate. After all, it's not like they gave Christopher Waltz a weird pointy nose to match his character.

I'm told that in the source material her face is supposed to look like a normal human.

Lastly, Christopher Waltz with that fucking scythe or oversized lucerne hammer or whatever it's supposed to be looks utterly ridiculous. It looked shit in the cartoon and it looks even worse in live action.

Alita is all CGI the actress is her voice and motion capture. What you see in the trailer is the same all CGI creation as the apes in the planet of the apes reboot films.

 

[09philj]

What do I think?

I think its sad this obscure Manga is getting a big blockbuster movie adaption before Lone Wolf and Cub does. And no those old 70s movies never recreated that increadible ending that still makes me tear jeak.

What the hell is Battle Angel Alita?

10,000 more MyAnimeList users have rated Gunnm than Kozure Ookami. That's hardly what I'd call obscure.

 

[bluegate]

Every time that face came up in the trailer it just yanked me out of it and made me think; "lol, I'm watching a bad cartoon that can't get facial proportions right with its cgi models.". Looks like a decent watch on Netflix in a year or two.

I wouldn't mind the eyes if they were a consistent style for everyone in the film, like for example in a Disney animated movie, but like this it's just too jarring.

It's a distinguishing part of the character because of the unique origins of her cyborg head/upper torso which is different from the humans and other cyborgs in the manga.

It looks like they took Rapunzel from Tangled, threw her in the movie and set the skin textures to "Realistic". It's too jarring for my tastes.

As for the eyes of Alita, she has the same large oggly eyes that you can find on a lot of art created in that era. Eyes that, unless specific attention is drawn to them, are supposed to be normal within the world. There are plenty of images with her having just run of the mill standard sized eyes, for anime standards. I hope that the people behind this never attempt to create a real life adaptation of Sailor Moon, it'd be so weird it'd break the universe.

 

[Cette]

I get what they're going for with the eyes and don't mind it but I REALLY feel like it was the wrong call for an aesthetic that's going to draw in the american box office crowd.

That and while the trailer looked good if future ones keep the same tone and the movie turns out anything like the source material then there are gonna be a lot of people without context that are gonna get ambushed hard by where the story and characters go much less the graphic violence that's likely to be there especially with Rodriguez at the helm.

Releasing another film with a similar to Ghost in the Shell concept and origin this close to when that flopped isn't likely to do it any favors either.

TLDR Looks better than expected it but I'm betting it box office bombs hard.

 

[Zhukov]

From an interview with the director [https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/alita-battle-angel-trailer-breakdown/]:

"It was always [James Cameron's] intention to create a photo-realistic version of the manga eyes that we're so accustomed to seeing. We really wanted to honour that tradition and see that look standing next to any human character. To have the right person to emote behind it was really essential. Her origins are in the film and you understand why she looks that way. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, we have some pretty big windows. You can see a lot going on in there! When it gets to the emotional scenes it's really uncanny and striking. And captivating!"

Ugh. They really did just do it 'because anime so big eyes'. It seems I was giving them too much credit by assuming there was more to it than that.

Terrible fucking idea.

It's a shame. "Petite cyborg ruins everyone's shit" would be right up my alley. What a sad way to waste potential.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Ugh. They really did just do it 'because anime so big eyes'. It seems I was giving them too much credit by assuming there was more to it than that.

Terrible fucking idea.

It's a shame. "Petite cyborg ruins everyone's shit" would be right up my alley. What a sad way to waste potential.

They could've easily done the 'big anime eyes' tribute thing without it looking weird if they only added some cybernetic features, driving home the robotic element. But in the trailer she cries, she sweats, so I assume that part of her is actually human. So yeah, this means Cameron just did it, not because it's supposed to add to her looking like a robot, but just for the sake of it. *sigh*

 

[Chessrook44]

I feel like I'm the only one who LIKES the big-eyed appearance. I think it's kinda cool.

Then again I'm also someone who thinks Reality would be more aesthetically pleasing if it looked like an anime instead of Real Life...

 

[Casual Shinji]

I feel like I'm the only one who LIKES the big-eyed appearance. I think it's kinda cool.

Then again I'm also someone who thinks Reality would be more aesthetically pleasing if it looked like an anime instead of Real Life...

One problem is she's the only one who looks like this, for no good reason. It's less about the eyes being big and more about it clashing with every other character in the movie. Another problem is that from a design perspective, the eyes just look too big for her face. You look at the latest Ready Player One trailer, it too has a main character with large eyes, but it falls in line with the design of the face.

 

[the December King]

I love how nudging some proportions just a bit off freaks out all of the peoples. Fucking humans.

On topic, I liked the manga, but didn't LOVE it. I'll probably pass, but it certainly has nothing to do with Alita's eyes.