Has the GS Movie DVD/Blu-Ray been released anywhere else than Japan?

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That's a negative. And unfortunately we've got no idea what the roadmap is. I tried asking the Capcom USA folks a while back and they honestly know nothing.

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That's disappointing. It didn't screen anywhere near my area.

And I heard that the Japanese copy didn't have English subtitles, either.

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Is there anywhere where we can purchase a digital download of the Japanese DVD?

If Japan is anything like America, I think it's too early for the Digital release. But no, I haven't heard anything about a digital release yet… legal anyways.

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Well, I was able to watch it. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. It was fine for people who had played and knew everything about the first game, but it didn't really succeed at being a contained movie. Here's my little review: [Spoilers, but if you're on CR you've probably already played the first game so no real worries.]

I think they did the best they could, but I think it showed two things:

1) Phoenix Wright does not work as a feature film
2) It can't be adapted directly and be successful

I watched the movie with a relative. I looked at the movie independently of the game, so as to fully experience the film universe. My relative looked at it through the eyes of a die hard fan watching the movie. [I'm a cinema major, so I tend to focus on the job the film is doing and pacing, etc. more than my relative, who was mainly just excited to see the film].

The film relies far too much on the viewer's knowledge of the AA lore. An Ace Attorney fan knows the characters, knows the plot twists, etc. So they feel connections to the movie characters from prior experience. Someone who had never played the game doesn't have these associations, and the film doesn't give them time to build them. Miles Edgeworth is introduced early in the film as the main antagonist, and right after that [it felt like less than 30 minutes to me] his case happens and he becomes a protagonist. While the AA fan in me knew the feeling from the games and carried that over to the movie, the new viewer in me didn't care about Edgeworth at all. I didn't like him, and I didn't hate him. The film didn't give me enough time to have any kind of opinion about him. The same goes for Maya. She investigates with Nick the same way Law & Order detectives do. Were they friendly? Yes. Did they feel like family at the end like in the games? Not at all. When she leaves on the train station at the end, the new viewer in me didn't feel anything. They weren't given enough time to form their trademark dynamic. And don't even get me started on Mia. The movie didn't give me time to feel an attachment towards anybody, except for one character which I mention below in the "good things" part.

Another thing that didn't work well was the suspense. I didn't feel any through the movie, and it had to do with how they did the plot twists. In the games, you get evidence, and then later its revealed its not as it seems. Crime dramas do the same thing. But what this movie did was mention the evidence right before doing the twist. So the minute the evidence comes in, Phoenix "turns it around", and it doesn't build any suspense at all. It's like if your professor tell you you have an F and then right that second says "No, you actually have an A!". The movie should have introduced the evidence as fact earlier AND THEN "turned it around" and it would have been awesome. This problem occurs throughout the whole movie.

Both these problems would have been solved with more running time. And by that I don't mean a director's cut, but that Phoenix Wright doesn't work as a movie at all. If Phoenix Wright is to be successfully adapted, it needs to be as a TV show. If we were given 10 or 20 episodes of Phoenix and Edgeworth's complicated pre-Turnabout goodbyes relationship, then how they handled "Turnabout Goodbyes" would have been great. Just like in the games, we need time to get to know the characters before having something like that happen.

The other thing is that the crazy Phoenix Wright universe can't, in my opinion, be translated literally to the real world. While the arena-style courtroom is thrilling in the games, it didn't feel right or suspenseful in the movie. The holograms were really cool, but them throwing them at each other weren't. The hair felt ridiculous, and Phoenix's desperation expressions were way too over the top. I thought he was having a heart attack.

A successful adaptation would have to tone down the randomness on the surface while keeping it in the feel of the show. One show that had a feel similar to what I am thinking was Boston Legal. The things that happened on that show [especially in its final seasons] felt like it could have been ripped out of PW, but still felt grounded in realism enough that it didn't feel unnatural. Things like the characters being impacted by Wrights words work wonderfully in the game and didn't work at all in the movie. Things like that should have gone, but things like that wonderful Gourd Lake Photo Session scene [where the couple were posing and the Steel Samurai doll crashed into the lake] worked great and fit. It's all about knowing where you can have wacky stuff happen and where you can't.

Now, the movie did some great things though:
*Yanni Yogi's story was expanded on really well. It's better than the game. In fact, of all the characters in the movie, Yanni was the only one who I really cared about. His story was very sad and made you see why he wanted revenge, even if the actual revenge plot didn't work in the movie.
*Larry, in my opinion, is a better character than his game counterpart. The movie character is funnier than the game one. I especially love this one scene where a witness it testifying, and Larry starts yelling at him, and while he does this he's making his way down the stairs towards the witness stand. He is so slow he's almost "swimming" there but the scene never cuts and we see him, angrily, slowly approaching, and attempting to open the door. It was great. He's much more of just a clumsy, happy guy and is more interesting than the game Larry.
*Making Von Karma be more polite than Edgeworth at the beginning was a great idea. It makes you think "oh, this guy is actually going to be a just guy" before becoming the cunning prosecutor we know.
*The jumpcut editing was hit or miss, but that was mainly due to the small amount of time they had to tell this story. At the right time it was a great way of furthering the narrative. [For instance, when Maya plays the phone recording to Phoenix, then it cuts to the actual conversation, then cuts to Phoenix and Gumshoe, its a great way of getting across what happened in between without wasting time doing so.
*Speaking of Gumshoe, I liked that they gave him a more realistic personality and he wasn't the absolute screw-up he was in the games.
*I thought the woman throwing the small amount of confetti in Larry's trial was really funny, and had great timing. The only thing is [once again] if I hadn't known the games I don't know if I would have found it so amusing. Finding a way of showing the official confetti first would have been a good way to make it work, although I don't know how they would have done that.

Overall, as someone who was watching the movie knowing the games I thought it was enjoyable, but as a movie itself it didn't succeed. All the effort was put into it, but there's just no way a literal, 2 hour film adaptation will work. It needs to be more subtle, and it needs to a TV show.

For the record, here's my family member's review of the movie. She's a big anime fan and was coming at it as a fan of the game going to the movie:


Now, any Phoenix Wright fan should see the movie, because they might really enjoy it. I know a lot of people love the movie. It just doesn't live up to the "Even if you've never heard of AA, you'll love this movie" talk that I heard in newspaper reviews.

I'll still buy it though when it comes out in America to support the series.

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Really good review, ADA McCoy. I really liked the movie. I watched it with my partner and he seemed to like the movie more than the games, but he was a bit lost. I think it's the kind of movie where you have to know the games in order to understand the movie.

Actually, not completely. I watched it with three friends, two of them played the first game but became bored halfway through Turnabout Samurai, the other one never even touched any of the games. I occasionally had to explain certain small things (e.g. who the Blue Badger was), but we all really enjoyed the movie.

I personally really enjoyed the movie. Plus I was able to share the amazing story with the "logically challenged"

I posted this on another thread but:

There appears to be an English subbed DVD floating around ebay. Not sure if its a bootleg, though.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ace ... &_from=R40

Any thoughts?

Did anyone notice the weird camera angles from time to time? Like what was up with that scene b/t Gumshoe, Phoenix and Maya, where it was entirely shot in silhouette? Was that really necessary? Nothing dramatic, mysterious nor scandalous was happening... I am by no means a film major, so if there was a point to doing that scene in that style, someone please tell me b/c I'm at a lost. And as ADA has pointed out, sometimes the editing felt really rushed or choppy. I couldn't help but notice a couple plot holes.

Other than that, I really did love the movie.:) Very enjoyable, especially if you're a fan of the games.

Almost certainly 'not legal'.....

Anyway, this thread seems to confirm it 'will' be released in AU in '2013' as a legal DVD. I don't know why it would be released in AU and not other markets but if it isn't I'm sure people can buy that one.
[Why buy it when you already downloaded online? To show there's a market so they release things like PL vs PW in the West dammit ]

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I personally loved the film.
I thought it was a perfect representation of the first game. Also, I think it would be terrible to take out the randomness. Japanese series are all about randomness, most Japanese series have those wacky elements thrown in.
I even watched it with my mum, who hasn't played AA, and she really loved it. I can't think of anything I didn't enjoy about the film. I think it was perfect.
But I agree with what ADA McCoy said about Yogi.
I like it when people review things on site. It gives us a chance to express our feelings about it! (I'm so easily entertained XP)

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Did anyone notice the same plot holes I noticed? Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting? Its been bugging me since I watched it and would like to get other fans' perspective on them.

In the game, Von Karma wanted Edgeworth framed so he could exact total revenge on his father for spoiling his perfect winning streak.

In the movie however, he wins the case against Edgeworth Sr. b/c Karma had killed Edgeworth Sr. before he had the chance to reveal Karma had tampered with the evidence. So he actually maintains his perfect streak; why go after Miles then? Miles had no suspicions towards Karma, and even believed his own father was in the wrong. Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't make sense to me. I guess you can say he was trying to tie up loose ends but I wished they could've said or shown that to be his motive for framing M. Edgeowrth, rather than saying nothing at all.

Also, how exactly did Karma tamper with the evidence in his trial against Gregory Edgeworth? I know the gun he brings in, which eventually became the murder weapon towards Gregory, was the forged piece of evidence. However, how did he make the bullet's markings match the wrong gun then?

One more thing, in his plan to have Yanni Yogi to murder Hammond, and then frame it on Edgeworth, how did he get Hammond to summon Edgeworth to begin with? Or was Hammond summoned to the lake by Karma pretending to be Edgeworth?

Personally, I think Manfred wanted to frame Miles because he hated Gregory. Even without the perfect win record, Manfred still hated him. That's just my idea about it, but, like with some of the AA cases, it might just have been a continuity error (or whatever they call it XP)

Also, I think Manfred switched the guns. The evidence Gregory found in the evidence room could have been the real weapon.

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I finally got through the whole movie after it kept lagging on me like forever and then I thought 'fuck this, I'll watch it on my laptop' - and it actually worked.

To be honest, the movie itself is good but you won't understand the whole plot if you haven't played the games before. My sister was confused as hell, as was my boyfriend. None of them have ever played the game nor do they know anything about Phoenix Wright.

It's a good plot, a nice story and I really enjoyed watching it. :p

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