Back when Alita was announced I was very skeptical. I remember seeing the Anime back in the late 90s as a kid and thinking it was ok. I wasnt much of cyberpunk fan back then. But knowing what Hollywood does to Anime live adaptions I knew it probably wouldnt turn out to good. How wrong I was. Rodriguez and Cameron brought this passion piece to life. You can tell they tried very hard to stay true to the source material. Something that is very rare in Hollywood. Before seeing the film I went back and watched some of the original Anime and wow, some of the scenes are ripped right from it, and I mean that in a good way.

Rosa Salazar seems to have put her all into this film. She goes from a inquisitive little girl to a mature woman, finding love and heartbreak along the way. She makes the film. All I wanted to do was protect this little angel from the harsh reality of the cruel world she lived in. Kind of like Christoph Waltzs Ido. Who did a great job with what he had. But this wasnt his story it was Alitas. Rosas face and body is completely CGI, a fact that you completely forget after the first 10 minutes of the film. This is attributed to Rosas fantastic acting and the amazing technology. Thank God they fixed her eyes from the old trailers before the final release. The rest of the cast did a good job, but didnt have much character arcs/short arcs since the film had to focus on Alita the most. Im sure Rosa has earned many fans from this project, and Im one of them.

The editing was right on the money. I wasnt bored or felt like it dragged in any scene. But I could tell they tried to squeeze in alot of information into this 2 hour film. It felt a little rush in some areas, but I can see why they decided to go with it. The CGI. What can you say about it? Its just amazing and no surprise thanks to Camerons involvement. This is the future of cinema when it comes to CGI. I've seen some behind the scenes things and I was actually surprised at how much practical effects and sets they used. They managed to blended it all into one beautiful world.

This isnt a perfect film, but I dont think there is such a thing. Some of the characters didnt get much screen time/story. Dr Chiren and Vector really come to mind. The love story wasnt fleshed out much. Would have loved to have seen more with Hugo and Alita. And the big bad was very generic. I did enjoy Ed Skrein as Zapan. All of this can be attributed to time constraint. They left some many questions unanswered, Mars VS Earth, Nova, Hard bodies Vs Meat bodies and more. Another issue was the PG13 rating. I completely understand why they did it but the film had such dark themes that it seemed weird and played out like a Disney channel version of chopping cyborgs up for parts.

They adapted the first 4 Manga books for this film. Add to the fact that since day one this film was planned as a trilogy. Something I really wish would happen. And might depending on how it performs at the box office. This film succeeds as a faithful adaption of a Manga/Anime and also succeeds as a great cyberpunk story. A miracle in itself. A solid 8/10 for me. Fingers crossed for the trilogy to happen!