Geekery: Alita’s Giant Eyes are Still Creepy in New ‘Battle Angel’ Trailer
James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez have teamed up to adapt Yukito Kishiro’s manga into a live action feature. The latest trailer digs into the plot a bit more, but the visuals are still a weird and a bit unsettling.
It’s been several months since our first look at the movie – since then the creators have done some tweaks to Alita’s look that attempt to make her fit more into her surroundings (they’re not aiming for the Roger Rabbit cartoon characters in a live action world look). It looks better… but I’m still not sold. She’s still a video game character inserted into a live action movie, which is not what you want for a lead character. That’s not considering the manga inspired eyes.
Cameron has explained her character design, which seems to be mainly his idea…
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!
Sure, James.
I think if they would have gone full CG animated instead of a live action mix this would be better received. Take look and see what you think…
The official synopsis…
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, [is] an epic adventure of hope and empowerment. When Alita (Rosa Salazar) awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious history while her street-smart new friend Hugo (Keean Johnson) offers instead to help trigger her memories. But it is only when the deadly and corrupt forces that run the city come after Alita that she discovers a clue to her past – she has unique fighting abilities that those in power will stop at nothing to control. If she can stay out of their grasp, she could be the key to saving her friends, her family and the world she’s grown to love.
Alita: Battle Angel hits theaters December 21st.
