THE SKY CRAWLERS
aka SUKAI KURORA

Year: 2008
USA DVD: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
UK: Manga Entertainment
Cast (voices of): Rinko Kikuchi, Chiaki Kuriyama, ShOsuke Tanihara, Bryce Hitchcock, Ryo Kase
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese (English subtitles)
USA & UK: 122 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for material involving violence, some sexual content and smoking
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence
USA DVD Release Date: 26 May 2009
UK Release Date: 23 April 2010 (Limited Release)
UK DVD Release Date: 31 May 2010


Synopsis

In this animated special, anime maestro Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, PATLABOR films) takes to the skies for a spectacular adventure in which adolescent fighter pilots known as Kildren, are created to play real-life war games..

THE SKY CRAWLERS is based on the first of acclaimed author Mori Hiroshi's five-part series of bestselling novels set in an alternative historical period and chronicling the lives of a group of young aerial fighter pilots involved in a seemingly never-ending war. Featuring spectacular airborne action, the movie is grounded by the moving drama that plays out below, making for an animated fantasy that has the tactile quality of real life

The winner of numerous international film awards, including the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, the Jose Luis Guarner Critics' Award for Best Film at the 2008 Sitges International Film Festival and the Best Animation Film Award at Tokyo's Mainichi Film Concours in 2009, THE SKY CRAWLERS takes the groundbreaking techniques of combining traditional 2D and CGI animation developed for Oshii's earlier features and applies them to a dramatic tale of innocence lost set against a backdrop of spectacular aerial warfare.

As visually stunning as one would expect from one of Japan's finest animation directors, THE SKY CRAWLERS also engages on an intellectual level with a plot that is only fully revealed in the film's unexpected post-credits sequence.

DVD EXTRAS:

Special Features include:

DVD

Sky's The Limit: An Interview with Mamoru Oshii; trailers; English and Japanese Stereo and Dolby 5.1 audio options; optional English subtitles.

Blu-ray

Sky's The Limit: An Interview with Mamoru Oshii; The Sound Design and Animation of The Sky Crawlers; Animation Research for The Sky Crawlers; trailers; English and Japanese Stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio options; optional English subtitles.