City of a Thousand Planets

[dhampyresa]

Saw it VOSTFR 3D.

Way back when I first saw the trailer for this movie, I went HOLY SHIT THEY'RE ADAPTING L'AMBASSADEUR DES OMBRES? THAT'S MY FAVOURITE. Well. I was right, but also, I was wrong.

It has a lot similarities with L'ambassadeur des Ombres, but some major changes make it a story with a different theme/message. I'm not saying the new story has a bad theme/message -- it's a good message and I can understand the reasoning behind the changes -- but it is 100% a different message. Idk, the original Ambassadeur des Ombres comic (especially the ending!) blew my tiny mind when I read it as a child and this movie would not have. Although these changes gave us the opening scene, set to Bowie's Space Oddity, which is pretty lovely.

It's a decent movie, I guess, but it's a bad adaptation.

For example, the movie implies Laureline is from the future, which NO. The really cool thing about Laureline is that she's from the mid-Middle Ages, circa 1000CE, and used Valérian as her ticket out of that hellhole. Then she becomes a space-time cop. She is the best. Also she's a redhead.

Not sure why the Shingouz go by a different name. That seems like a pointless change.

In a way the changes -- Laureline's hair colour, the names (not how you say Valérian, Alpha vs Point central), etc -- made it easier to think of this as its own thing, rather than an adaptation.

I came out of the movie shipping Laureline/Bubble the most out of everything. I did not ship Laureline/Valérian at all. I would ship Laureline/Neza first (he recognised her temper, hahaha).

I was kind of really disappointed that Laureline seemed to be one of only two women in the Earth military. Nice future there :/ There are some vaguely sexist moments that rubbed me the wrong way, as well. (Also the comic is SO MUCH MORE Laureline's story.)

GOOD STUFF:

• BUBBLE WAS GREAT. Bring back Bubble for the sequel!
• The heist was pretty cool.
• THE VISUALS ARE AMAZING.

In conclusion, good visuals, bad adapatation, decent-ish movie.

Comments

[sovay]

It's a decent movie, I guess, but it's a bad adaptation.

I am sorry! I am glad it at least gave you enough distance to see the movie as its own thing, so as not to interfere with the comic.

May I ask about the different messages?

[ericadawn16]

Can Bubble come back?
I loved her, too. Thanks for all of this, I've been wanting an actual fan perspective on it. I've been trying to hunt down copies but like Yoko Tsuno, it's hard to get good ones.