Despite it's obvious flaws, this movie accomplishes what it was meant to. The movie is built around the metaphor of Phoenix, the bird that rises again from its own ashes. The hero Godoh is trained from his childhood as a pilot and ends up on a mission searching for a mysterious space monster who can destroy any battle ship sent after him. The hero is helped under way by his surrogate mother, a female robot guardian and the friends he acquires on his previous adventures. As the action of the movie unfolds, the meaning of the metaphor becomes clearer. The Phoenix is actually God himself who gives life to those who love and death to those who hate.While I didn't particularly care for animation or fight sequences and the fire bird really looks dated I liked a lot the mythological quality of the movie. Compared to that, all its failings seem minor.

I recently viewed animated manga feature SPACE FIREBIRD 2772 based on a series of Manga comics by Osamu Tezuka, with a dubbed English language soundtrack that sounded like it was recorded in the early eighties.The picture flows like Disney's 'Fantasia' meets Star Wars, with the innocence of Astro Boy. There are moments of real beauty where the animation on-screen marries perfectly with the booming classical soundtrack that helps to propel the action.Particularly enjoyable is the film's opening montage showing the lead character, Godo, growing from infant to adult in a mechanized environment that trains him to eventually become a pilot - all depicted free of dialogue. A voyage through a futuristic city via hover-car, all animated in a long, 'aerial' tracking-shot also helps to elevate SPACE FIREBIRD 2772 to a more 'cinematic' animated film.Character design, artistic design and over-all animation is above-par for a hand-drawn Manga from 1980's. A great film for Manga purists but some of the more Japan-centric themes might be trying for less adventurous viewers.NB: One interesting note on the English-language dubbed version viewed (Australian, region 4. Madman distribution) was the possibility that CARY GRANT may have provided one of the character voices. While not noted on the DVD credits or sleeve, a voice sounding like an older Grant (the actor would have been mid-seventies had the dubbed soundtrack been recorded shortly after the Japanese release) carries the actor's distinct vocal traits.

This film can be summed up in one word: Retro. Ah the late 70s/early 80s when voice acting was bad and dubbing worse. Because of the age of this film, a subbed version is difficult to find and it isn't available at all on DVD. If you snoop about the online market places, however, you can usually find an old video rental copy of the horrendous English dub on VHS for around $10-$8.00. The painful English voice acting aside, and the rather groovy character design (bell-bottoms, big shoes and bad hair- hey it was 1979, NOBODY had good hair) the movie is actually quite enjoyable. Be aware that this film definitely falls under the category of "experimental film". It employs some unusual animation techniques for the time. Anyone familiar with Osamu Tezuka's "star system" will be amused to see whom he casts in what part. Kenichi and Sapphire take starring roles as Godo and Lena and Rock- as per usual- plays himself as the villainous but not necessarily evil minister of science. The movie centers primarily around two intertwining plot lines: the love triangle between Godo, his robot nursemaid Olga, and Rock's fiancé Lena as well as the more obvious contention between Rock and Godo over the fate of their home planet (which is rapidly deteriorating) and who will win Lena's affections. It's a long movie, a solid two hours, and begins to drag a bit right around the part where Godo and Co. must battle the Phoenix. However things get interesting again and Tezuka takes an extra 20min or so to wrap up the film with his usual "harm not the earth" message. All in all, the voice acting is forgivable due to the trippy animation, weird storyline, and back-handed Star Wars references. I give it an 8 out of 10. I'd probably like the subbed version even more.

This played Berkeley's now late UC Theater, subtitled and complete, 1980 or so. I can't be sure what's on the current VHS dub, and wouldn't suggest anyone buy or rent a dub of any film, much less encourage such mutilation by purchasing one for myself. But there is another way: Back in '80 or so, Kodansha Anime Comics put out a four-paperback set containing the complete " Hi no tori 2772," that I bought when I had the chance, guessing rightly the film might vanish. This is not another instance of a manga upon which the film was based, though there's probably one of those around too. Instead it's a graphic novel composed apparently of the original animation cels, colors intact, edited to the page, with dialog transferred to standard white balloons and sound effects to free-floating katakana. Far as I can tell, the whole film is there. The first 47 pages, covering the protagonist's test-tube birth, his discovery of his all in one robot/mother/friend/unattainable love, and his rapid, to us, growth from infant to child to boy to young adult, are essentially silent and nearly as magical as I remember them being on the screen. There are plenty more similarly "silent" sequences, so if you know even a few characters and a little syntax it's possible to flip through all four volumes with a reasonable idea of what's going on. With no Japanese at all, you still might do okay.Random thoughts: The villain is a take on "Popeye's" Bluto. The robot is both sentient and emotioned. The techno mumbo-jumbo that you might not get with no translation is mad-scientist stuff about tapping the earth's core, or maybe it's just volcanoes, for power. A couple of touchpoints for "2772" might be "Le Soufflé au coeur" and "Tadpole." Not to mention "A.I." and (stupid-seeming teeny movie that nonetheless keeps coming up) "Andromedia." Think too about kid protagonist Shinji, virtually, though not truly, motherless, taken in by, living with, raised by, finally kissed ("This is a kiss between adults.") by older Misato in "Neon Genesis Evangelion." What exactly's up with all these mother-not-mother figures? Maybe Dylan had a clue: "...if only I could turn back the clock/to when Gaawwd and her were boorrrrn."