I bought this DVD purely on the spur of the moment, having not heard anything about it. Having sat down to watch it, it's certainly an intriguing and surreal film, which is worth a viewing, if you fancy something out of the ordinary.The story, is essentially a fantastical retelling of the Pinocchio fable. A boy robot is desperate to become human, but has to join a group of aliens, humans and other robots to rescue the soul of the robot boy's mother, whilst trying to outwit a second band of aliens who are prepared to do anything to stop him from his goal.This is not your usual type of anime. In fact, it's almost pseudo-anime: the vast majority of artwork is undertaken by a Korean animation team, and is quite dissimilar to regular anime art. There are still characters with large, friendly eyes, but the backgrounds aren't as detailed as in some recent works like "Akira", "Ghost In The Shell" and "Perfect Blue". Having said that, the film is well animated, and the use of CGI is limited but credible, rather than overpowering.But, with that all said and done, this is a movie that is aimed at people with a good attention span, and an audience willing to give the film the time it needs to breathe. The story is leisurely-paced for sure, but if you let it lead you down its path, you should grow to like it.As you watch the film, you will notice many nods to other works and artists, including "Akira", Rin Taro, "Metropolis" (the anime), Osamu Tezuka and many, many more. Don't let this put you off, because whilst this could be seen as Nakamura being unoriginal, the combination of recognisable works actually helps the film, rather than hinders it.The UK DVD release from ADV Films is superb, with both an English-dubbed and English-subtitled version, both in 2.00:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Occasionally, the subtitles can go a little too fast, or get a tad confusing, but on the whole, it is a great effort. If you are willing to devote the time to this film, and don't come expecting lots of big action set-pieces, then you may be pleasurably surprised.One word of caution though: although predominantly a film suitable for children, there are some scenes of bloody violence that may not be appropriate, or deemed a little too dark and mature in tone for them to cope with.

I simply cannot understand how so many people can dislike "A Tree of Palme". Allow me to explain.For one, people complain that the pacing is too slow. Get over it. Some films happen to have slow pacing, and the pacing in "A Tree of Palme" served the plot excellently and with good taste. I can't imagine "A Tree of Palme" being any better with faster pacing; the pacing allowed it to have a "slice of life" feel, while at the same time immersing you in an alien world and a worthy, action-packed adventure.Furthermore, I hardly think the plot is convoluted as so many suggest. I had no trouble following any aspect of the story. I'll admit that there are many anime films out there with plots that run circles around my head, but this wasn't one of them. It all made perfect sense to me -- symbolism and all. Perhaps I'm either insane or smarter than most. I don't know. All I know was that I truly enjoyed the plot and had no issues with it.I also very much liked all the characters. That's a rare pleasure I get from movies these days, especially given my extremely jaded nature. With a combination of good writing, great cinematography, and great music, I was able to feel everything the characters felt; when they were happy, so was I; when they were sad, so too did sadness well up from within me. Only the best films can achieve such a goal (should it even *be* a goal, given most of today's trash films).And then there is the pure artistry in virtually every shot of the film. My god, "A Tree of Palme" is beautiful -- an artistic triumph in every sense. Immersion is practically guaranteed. And the CG? Perfectly integrated. Absolutely perfect. I never felt as if I was looking at CG -- the gorgeous cinematography and haunting music saw to that. It also helped that the modern, intricate CG was sparingly used, unlike so many of today's films. The CG was as CG *should* be.In the end, "A Tree of Palme" is an amazing film and simply doesn't deserve the terrible wrap so many people levy upon it. It reminds me so much of the early days of film, when special effects weren't everything and pacing was much slower. If you're a fan of film, you owe it to yourself to see "A Tree of Palme".

The teasers for Tree of Palme try to pass it off as a sort of allegory for a fairy tale with actual meaning, then immediately start raving about the animation. I should have known what that meant.The main character, Palme, is a good example of the whole movie's problem. One minute, Palme is a humble hero in search of himself, the next a violent psycho with an unhealthy fixation on a girl he once took care of.Like all of the characters in the movie, Palme is poorly defined. You do not bond with the characters at all, although Shatta has acquired a couple of fan girls. It seems that the writer was more interested in cramming all the drama and complexity he could into this movie than actually exploring his characters' motivations and personalities.New, useless story lines were being introduced in the last fifteen minutes of the movie. The writer seriously needed to streamline his story. Perhaps he was trying to be epic, but it was simply too much information for a two-hour movie. However I can't help but wonder if a plot with so many dimensions and characters would have been better suited for a TV series or graphic novel.In the last five minutes of the movie, I simply could not endure the sheer lack of quality any longer and began laughing at how contrived the characters, the relationships, and the whole plot was. I touched my companion and he started cracking up too, as did a young man seated behind us. We tried so hard to control ourselves, but we simply could not take the terrible quality of this movie.On the bright side, the animation is incredible and viewers will find themselves admiring the lush backgrounds and charming character designs. The animation almost guides you; when you don't care about the characters, it tells you how to feel.

I saw this movie two weeks ago at the "festival des nouvelles images du Japon" in Paris. Though i wasn't expecting much from it, i have to say i've been disappointed just like many people in the audience... if i wanted to sum up how i felt, i'd say i've been comparing it to princess mononoke and nausicaa from the beginning to the end. Of course it's silly. But i couldn't help it. The stories are quite different, but the worlds pictured are very much alike. And from this point of view, "a tree of palme" definitely can't stand the comparison with Miyazaki's masterworks. Even if it's quite good technically, boredom remains... in the end its complete lack of originality makes me advise you not to care to watch it. I rated it 2 out of 10 (a bit harsh, i guess it deserves 3 or 4)