Title- And the Eternal Diva.
Voices
Hershel Layton/Inspector Chelmley-Christopher Robin Miller
Luke Triton- Maria Darling
Emmy Altava/Janice Quatlane- Emma Tate
Jean Descole/Don Paolo- Jonathon Keeble
First thing’s first, don’t worry about spoilers in this film, characters do appear from the games but mainly just in cameo roles.
This is something quite different for this site as it’s probably one of the first animations based on a game which isn’t a Nintendo franchise review on here. That said it’s a franchise that has mainly been on Nintendo systems, and whilst I can’t tell the future I think it will probably be mainly on their consoles for a long time. Also this is probably one of the few (relatively) new releases in the way of Nintendo animation, except Pokemon. Interestingly enough, the team behind this are also apparently the team behind the Pokemon anime (animation). Anyway, I just wanted to get that clear right away so you aren’t seething whilst reading this review thinking “What’s this guy on, Professor Layton’s not a Nintendo franchise!” (although if you really are seething with anger at something written on this stupid little blog I think you need to get out more, just like I do…)
Anyway, another way this differs from the typical review on this site, is that the games it’s based on are part movies in themselves, with animated cutscenes and voice acting. The plots of the games in a nutshell are that Professor Layton and his assistant Luke investigate various mysteries, and people they meet ask them to solve puzzles, sometimes the puzzles relate to the plot (like discovering the right key to use in a door.) and sometimes they’re unrelated and just random puzzles (this is addressed in the first game and makes sense in context, but in the later games doesn’t really make sense, not that I’m complaining about game logic…) Also on the DVD I got the first thing you see when you turn it on is an ad for the third game in the series. I was pretty impressed by the ad and it being the only ad on the DVD I found it pretty acceptable (compared to films with pretty unrelated ads, not even aimed at the same demographic as the film you’re watching.)
Anyway, on to the actual film. I’ve got to say I loved the opening. We get Layton solving a puzzle whilst telling Luke about the answer to a mystery, then Layton’s orchestrated theme kicks in and we’re given a panning out shot of London which reveals they’re on the top of Big Ben. We then get Layton with many of the characters from the first three games pointing out who the culprit behind it is, a little old lady who pulls her face off to reveal Don Paolo, Layton’s nemesis, who then making a humorous over the top “LAYTON YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” flies away with his umbrella helicopter blades. This is great as I was worried that the usual cast would be involved and it would all turn out to be Don Paolo behind it (not that I quite would have minded) but instead we get the best of both worlds with this opening. After that we get Luke telling the audience about the Professor and what he does. One cool part we get to see is Layton doing a lecture in the university he’s a professor at, which is something I haven’t seen in the games yet (although I haven’t played them all.)
The animation’s very nice, and whilst it’s not as great as say a Studio Ghibli film, it’s still really nice to look at. There is some CG which I’ve read others criticizing it for, but honestly, it doesn’t really stand out to me, I mean I could tell what was CG but it still fit in with the rest of the animation. Also I loved the music, with not just the main themes but even some of the smaller themes from the games (such as when doing a puzzle in the games) present. The new music was nice too.
The main part of the film is about a girl sending a letter and tickets to Professor Layton to see her sing on stage. She’s an ex-student of his and has recently met a small girl who told her that she was her best friend who had died reborn, and apparently knew things that seemed to back up her claim, so she wants Layton to figure out what’s going on. Layton goes to see her sing and is surprised that he and Luke are the only ones with any interest in her singing, with all the rest of the audience falling asleep. One thing to note about the girl, whose name is Janice is that her singing is done by the original Japanese voice actress. Now whilst it does sound noticeably different from the English voice it isn’t too noticeable. I mean whilst it isn’t the best singing I’ve heard, it’s competent enough, and I’d rather have a person who can sing than one who can’t (not that I’m saying the English voice can’t, just that if that’s the reason I’m fine with it.)
Anyway, a man then enters the stage and announces that now the real game will begin. This wakes the audience up, some of whom don’t have any idea what this is about and others in full knowledge. The plot is that the man on the stage has set up a series of puzzles to test the people present and determine who is worthy of the gift of eternal life. He then announces that only one person can claim the prize and all others will forfeit their lives as a result. Many people try to escape but are immediately sent falling into a trapdoor in the floor.
Now I don’t want to spoil the rest of the plot, but Layton then basically goes on to try to solve the mystery behind the whole situation. The plot being about eternal life, also brings up death as quite a prevalent topic, and surprisingly it’s not about murder at all (well except the attempted murder of the protagonists as otherwise there’d be no adventure.) We learn about why the various people have taken on this challenge, with some of them in it for eternal youth, others because of crippling injuries they hope to cure and in some cases because of relatives or they themselves have terminal illnesses. It’s quite a sad state of affairs especially as a lot of them do eventually die in the end (the credit sequence has a case of a girl by her grandfather’s grave that she was trying to save and another with one of the characters lying in his deathbed with a friend he made on the quest by his side.) Also the writer of the opera that Janice sings in had his daughter die (Janice’s friend who she believes has returned.) However the film never feels morbid at all despite all this talk of death.
Now this film is set immediately after the latest game in Japan called the Specter’s Flute which is a prequel game. So therefore there are some characters in this I don’t know about. One is Emmy who I don’t know anything about. In the film she seems quite capable being able to fight off many of the bad guy’s minions as well as conducting her own investigations. She also seems to take delight in taunting Luke saying he’s Layton’s “second” assistant. Overall I quite liked her actually, she didn’t become annoying at all like I feared she could. Next was a pretty hilarious Inspector who’s ridiculously badass, so much so that his chest hair almost looks like a beard. He gets knocked into shark infested waters at least three times, and outfights the sharks.
The final new guy is the main villain. Apparently this guy is the Don Paolo of the prequel trilogy. I thought he was great. The voice was smug, and it was great seeing him go into an insane rage when Layton noticed something he overlooked in his master plan. Whilst I like Don Paolo I don’t mind having another guy as a villain, plus this guy actually fights Layton with a sword at the end, which was a pretty awesome scene. One part that I really liked was how over the edge he seemed to go when he started furiously trying to just slice Layton apart destroying his plan in his rage.
The voices were great. I’m glad that Layton is actually voiced by a British voice actor, as I often find American attempts at a British accent irritating (as I’m sure Americans can find British attempts). I’ve heard people complaining about Luke’s voice, yeah it does stick out a bit, but really it’s still the same voice from the games and I didn’t find it that annoying after getting used to it in the games. Anyway the only voices different from the game were Don Paolo, Flora and Dr Schrader, who to be honest only had small roles and since one of them who literally said one word (Flora) is a US based voice actress and the recording for the English version was in the UK it really didn’t matter much. If they have a bigger role in the future then I’m pretty sure they’ll then voice their usual characters.
The only negatives I can come up with for the film are the sort of ad that’s part of the movie with Luke at the start saying about how the Layton series is a game series with this as its first step into being a film. It just seemed kinda pointless but still it was quick enough. Another one for some people (not me, I actually guessed that this was what happened before we saw it) is that they might feel the solution to the mystery is a little bit too science fiction, personally I think if you can accept Layton building an aircraft out of some spades and a chainsaw then you shouldn’t complain about the conclusion to the mystery (don’t want to spoil it.)
One final part, and the only one that involves anything to do with game to animation transition are the puzzles. I was worried about it when I first heard that they were going to incorporate the puzzles into the film as I thought it could be easy to have a stupid pause where you saw the puzzle and the audience had time to figure it out before Layton said the answer. Instead that was just me being stupid, and as much as I wanted to avoid sounding clichéd, they really did fit the puzzle solving in well. They even showed the counter that shows what number puzzle you’re working out through a hologram on the stage. Also the puzzles were made more interesting in that the “reward” for failing was death (or at least that’s what they were told.) The only thing they could of done to be any more faithful to the game would be a small scene were someone picked up hint coin up from a wall or something, but that wouldn’t really be of any relevance to the plot or anything so it’s a good job I’m not writing these films. Oh also, sharp eyed people can spot many cameos from the games in crowd scenes. I managed to find Granny Riddleton in a café and that guy who owns the train in the second game in the theatre.
Overall a great movie, and one of, if not the best film based on a game series. If they do make this into a film series as planned (one every Christmas) then I can’t wait.
Voices
Hershel Layton/Inspector Chelmley-Christopher Robin Miller
Luke Triton- Maria Darling
Emmy Altava/Janice Quatlane- Emma Tate
Jean Descole/Don Paolo- Jonathon Keeble
First thing’s first, don’t worry about spoilers in this film, characters do appear from the games but mainly just in cameo roles.
This is something quite different for this site as it’s probably one of the first animations based on a game which isn’t a Nintendo franchise review on here. That said it’s a franchise that has mainly been on Nintendo systems, and whilst I can’t tell the future I think it will probably be mainly on their consoles for a long time. Also this is probably one of the few (relatively) new releases in the way of Nintendo animation, except Pokemon. Interestingly enough, the team behind this are also apparently the team behind the Pokemon anime (animation). Anyway, I just wanted to get that clear right away so you aren’t seething whilst reading this review thinking “What’s this guy on, Professor Layton’s not a Nintendo franchise!” (although if you really are seething with anger at something written on this stupid little blog I think you need to get out more, just like I do…)
Anyway, another way this differs from the typical review on this site, is that the games it’s based on are part movies in themselves, with animated cutscenes and voice acting. The plots of the games in a nutshell are that Professor Layton and his assistant Luke investigate various mysteries, and people they meet ask them to solve puzzles, sometimes the puzzles relate to the plot (like discovering the right key to use in a door.) and sometimes they’re unrelated and just random puzzles (this is addressed in the first game and makes sense in context, but in the later games doesn’t really make sense, not that I’m complaining about game logic…) Also on the DVD I got the first thing you see when you turn it on is an ad for the third game in the series. I was pretty impressed by the ad and it being the only ad on the DVD I found it pretty acceptable (compared to films with pretty unrelated ads, not even aimed at the same demographic as the film you’re watching.)
Anyway, on to the actual film. I’ve got to say I loved the opening. We get Layton solving a puzzle whilst telling Luke about the answer to a mystery, then Layton’s orchestrated theme kicks in and we’re given a panning out shot of London which reveals they’re on the top of Big Ben. We then get Layton with many of the characters from the first three games pointing out who the culprit behind it is, a little old lady who pulls her face off to reveal Don Paolo, Layton’s nemesis, who then making a humorous over the top “LAYTON YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” flies away with his umbrella helicopter blades. This is great as I was worried that the usual cast would be involved and it would all turn out to be Don Paolo behind it (not that I quite would have minded) but instead we get the best of both worlds with this opening. After that we get Luke telling the audience about the Professor and what he does. One cool part we get to see is Layton doing a lecture in the university he’s a professor at, which is something I haven’t seen in the games yet (although I haven’t played them all.)
The animation’s very nice, and whilst it’s not as great as say a Studio Ghibli film, it’s still really nice to look at. There is some CG which I’ve read others criticizing it for, but honestly, it doesn’t really stand out to me, I mean I could tell what was CG but it still fit in with the rest of the animation. Also I loved the music, with not just the main themes but even some of the smaller themes from the games (such as when doing a puzzle in the games) present. The new music was nice too.
The main part of the film is about a girl sending a letter and tickets to Professor Layton to see her sing on stage. She’s an ex-student of his and has recently met a small girl who told her that she was her best friend who had died reborn, and apparently knew things that seemed to back up her claim, so she wants Layton to figure out what’s going on. Layton goes to see her sing and is surprised that he and Luke are the only ones with any interest in her singing, with all the rest of the audience falling asleep. One thing to note about the girl, whose name is Janice is that her singing is done by the original Japanese voice actress. Now whilst it does sound noticeably different from the English voice it isn’t too noticeable. I mean whilst it isn’t the best singing I’ve heard, it’s competent enough, and I’d rather have a person who can sing than one who can’t (not that I’m saying the English voice can’t, just that if that’s the reason I’m fine with it.)
Anyway, a man then enters the stage and announces that now the real game will begin. This wakes the audience up, some of whom don’t have any idea what this is about and others in full knowledge. The plot is that the man on the stage has set up a series of puzzles to test the people present and determine who is worthy of the gift of eternal life. He then announces that only one person can claim the prize and all others will forfeit their lives as a result. Many people try to escape but are immediately sent falling into a trapdoor in the floor.
Now I don’t want to spoil the rest of the plot, but Layton then basically goes on to try to solve the mystery behind the whole situation. The plot being about eternal life, also brings up death as quite a prevalent topic, and surprisingly it’s not about murder at all (well except the attempted murder of the protagonists as otherwise there’d be no adventure.) We learn about why the various people have taken on this challenge, with some of them in it for eternal youth, others because of crippling injuries they hope to cure and in some cases because of relatives or they themselves have terminal illnesses. It’s quite a sad state of affairs especially as a lot of them do eventually die in the end (the credit sequence has a case of a girl by her grandfather’s grave that she was trying to save and another with one of the characters lying in his deathbed with a friend he made on the quest by his side.) Also the writer of the opera that Janice sings in had his daughter die (Janice’s friend who she believes has returned.) However the film never feels morbid at all despite all this talk of death.
Now this film is set immediately after the latest game in Japan called the Specter’s Flute which is a prequel game. So therefore there are some characters in this I don’t know about. One is Emmy who I don’t know anything about. In the film she seems quite capable being able to fight off many of the bad guy’s minions as well as conducting her own investigations. She also seems to take delight in taunting Luke saying he’s Layton’s “second” assistant. Overall I quite liked her actually, she didn’t become annoying at all like I feared she could. Next was a pretty hilarious Inspector who’s ridiculously badass, so much so that his chest hair almost looks like a beard. He gets knocked into shark infested waters at least three times, and outfights the sharks.
The final new guy is the main villain. Apparently this guy is the Don Paolo of the prequel trilogy. I thought he was great. The voice was smug, and it was great seeing him go into an insane rage when Layton noticed something he overlooked in his master plan. Whilst I like Don Paolo I don’t mind having another guy as a villain, plus this guy actually fights Layton with a sword at the end, which was a pretty awesome scene. One part that I really liked was how over the edge he seemed to go when he started furiously trying to just slice Layton apart destroying his plan in his rage.
The voices were great. I’m glad that Layton is actually voiced by a British voice actor, as I often find American attempts at a British accent irritating (as I’m sure Americans can find British attempts). I’ve heard people complaining about Luke’s voice, yeah it does stick out a bit, but really it’s still the same voice from the games and I didn’t find it that annoying after getting used to it in the games. Anyway the only voices different from the game were Don Paolo, Flora and Dr Schrader, who to be honest only had small roles and since one of them who literally said one word (Flora) is a US based voice actress and the recording for the English version was in the UK it really didn’t matter much. If they have a bigger role in the future then I’m pretty sure they’ll then voice their usual characters.
The only negatives I can come up with for the film are the sort of ad that’s part of the movie with Luke at the start saying about how the Layton series is a game series with this as its first step into being a film. It just seemed kinda pointless but still it was quick enough. Another one for some people (not me, I actually guessed that this was what happened before we saw it) is that they might feel the solution to the mystery is a little bit too science fiction, personally I think if you can accept Layton building an aircraft out of some spades and a chainsaw then you shouldn’t complain about the conclusion to the mystery (don’t want to spoil it.)
One final part, and the only one that involves anything to do with game to animation transition are the puzzles. I was worried about it when I first heard that they were going to incorporate the puzzles into the film as I thought it could be easy to have a stupid pause where you saw the puzzle and the audience had time to figure it out before Layton said the answer. Instead that was just me being stupid, and as much as I wanted to avoid sounding clichéd, they really did fit the puzzle solving in well. They even showed the counter that shows what number puzzle you’re working out through a hologram on the stage. Also the puzzles were made more interesting in that the “reward” for failing was death (or at least that’s what they were told.) The only thing they could of done to be any more faithful to the game would be a small scene were someone picked up hint coin up from a wall or something, but that wouldn’t really be of any relevance to the plot or anything so it’s a good job I’m not writing these films. Oh also, sharp eyed people can spot many cameos from the games in crowd scenes. I managed to find Granny Riddleton in a café and that guy who owns the train in the second game in the theatre.
Overall a great movie, and one of, if not the best film based on a game series. If they do make this into a film series as planned (one every Christmas) then I can’t wait.
