A L I C E (1999)

Editor's Note A.Li.Ce was the first Japanese feature to be done entirely in computer generated images, and it is a stunning production with incredibly realistic characters and movement, and bright, beautiful mise en scene. Young Alice Hayashi is the winner of the Lunar Sweepstakes, and her prize is a trip to outer space. She quickly runs into trouble, however, when her shuttle crashes in the Arctic Circle and she is the only surviving passenger; moreover, she has been catapulted 30 years into the future and the world is now ruled by the shadowy, tyrannical Nero and his supercomputer, the SS10X. A former computers specialist, Nero has put together an army of Stealth Troopers and undertaken a campaign to reduce the world's population. Joining forces with Yuan, another lone survivor of tragedy, and Mary, a robot waitress who becomes a bodyguard of sorts, Alice learns that she shares a common bond with Nero; she realizes that she may be the only hope of the resistance forces to free the world from its oppression. The trio undertakes a journey towards a final confrontation with the misguided dictator. The story of A.Li.Ce will appeal to children and anime fans alike, and the lavishness of the production is sure to impress audiences of every ilk.

Kenichi Maejima - Director