Honestly? I'm not so sure. Part of me would rather see a film that encapsulates the bombastic, showy aspects of the series and doesn't even bother with the drama than an attempt at pure drama doomed to fail on account of lacking the context and raw, personal vision of the original. Incidentally, that part of me is the part that derives enjoyment from the Rebuild films. [/BURN]
Tarnsman wrote:Mecha isn't something that translates well into live action, even with Hollywood's budget behind it, and while I would like to see the element preserved, I think it would have to be handled in a different way to truly work.
Handled in a different way? Yes. Axed entirely? No!
A couple other points to keep in mind: 1) Like it or not, "giant robots battle mystical aliens" is a hell of a lot easier, as a concept, to both pitch and sell than "depressed teenage boy struggles with parental issues and emerging sexuality". And "depressed teenage boy pilots a giant robot and battles mystical aliens while struggling with parental issues and emerging sexuality" is... well, I don't know about marketability, but it's a hell of a lot more unique than either of the above. Which is sort of the whole point, in the first place. I don't even have a problem with that. Evangelion draws viewers in with its seemingly straightforward premise, then takes them on a trip as it uses that premise to explore deeper and darker ideas. That's part of what makes it so appealing to so many people. 2) Without the sci-fi plot, the characters would be practically inert. If Shinji didn't have the fate of the world thrust on his shoulders, he would just be a quiet, depressed teenager who doesn't say or do anything significant for the entire story. If Rei weren't an alien clone-girl suffering a very literal existential crisis, she would just be weird and boring. Which brings me to another point: plucked out of the context of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi plot and placed into the real world, the characters would seem excessively over-the-top. Their histrionics would be a hell of a lot harder to swallow if they weren't constantly placed in quite literally life-or-death situations. (You wouldn't want Evangelion to turn into American Beauty, would you?) They're fantastically written and fascinatingly multidimensional, for sure, but they're still anime characters. They need that larger-than-life setting for their slightly larger-than-life characterizations to feel at home. 3) The sci-fi plot contributes a LOT to the themes and ideas of the show. Would the exploration of the desire to "become one" with another person be as effective without the allegory of the AT Fields and Instrumentality Project? Would the themes of alienation, uncertainty and existential/spiritual crisis be as vivid without the predominance of high-tech machinery and bizarre, mystical imagery? Would The End of Evangelion be nearly as fantastic and mind-blowing a film if it did not feature the literal end of the world?
Tarnsman wrote:Furthermore, I don't think it's fair to look at this adaptation any different from the various spin off manga/games that completely change things.
I figured this point would come up sooner or later. See, the thing is I don't like those either. At all. Only in this case the stakes are higher because these movies would ostensibly be bringing Evangelion to audiences that have never even heard of it before, rather than peddling to a nation of fans by coasting off of their familiarity with the source material.