Mamoru Oshii's animated epic The Sky Crawlers succeeds as art but fails as a story. His gorgeous animation is a feast for the eyes, but how could a movie about the amazing sky-high acrobatics of aerial dog-fighting teenagers end up being so boring? Perhaps because Oshii is far more interested in the philosophical underpinnings of man's desire to wage war rather than simply shooting down planes Top Gun-style. That's all well and good, but as I watched, my eyelids eventually grew heavy.

The story, adapted from a series of successful sci-fi novels, posits an alternate reality in which wars are fought not between nations but between corporations that are paid to wage battles for the entertainment of the general populace. The warriors themselves are "kildren," eternally youthful teens who seem rather blasé about their strange fates and go about their business with incredible dedication and talent.

Among them is Yuichi (Ryo Kase), a top gun pilot who's an expert at flying the sky crawler, a really cool kind of plane powered by rear-mounted dual propellers. He has a funny wingman, of course, the boisterous Tokino (Shosuke Tanihara), and a supremely cold and mysterious commander, the female Kusanagi (Rinko Kikuchi).

In addition to taking to the air whenever needed, Yuichi is interested in digging deeper into the facts of just how this whole warfare arrangement has evolved and who is really in charge. Unfortunately, this research keeps him very much earthbound, and that's too bad given how absolutely fantastic the aerial dogfights look when Oshii deigns to stage them. The film could have used a lot more war and a lot less of Yuichi riding around the countryside, stopping off at diners and bowling alleys. And by the way, I have never seen animated characters smoke so much.

Cinephiles should note, however, that the DVD version comes with two extremely interesting featurettes that are well worth watching for any fan of animation, especially the Japanese style. In one, Oshii (a chain smoker, which may explain all the smoking in the film) takes his entire animation crew on a European field trip to Ireland and Poland, where they spend their days taking thousands of photographs of architectural details, air bases (including door handles, fire extinguishers, and wall outlets), uniforms (right down to the lapel notches), and more. The director's attention to detail is almost obsessive-compulsive, but in the end we get to see how it all translates into such on-screen gorgeousness.

In the other short, we learn about sound by watching the team visit George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch, which they have contracted to do the audio work. Through translators, the teams discuss different kinds of wind and propeller sounds. It's fascinating to see how it all comes together.

Aka Sukai kurora.