Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2011) User Reviews (14)

An Excellent filler episode but also something more...

[b_rad099 · 8/10 · 15 January 2012]

I had the chance to see this at my local theater, a treat since they usually don't get such obscure titles and I'm usually forced to resort to waiting on blu-ray releases. This time I was able to see the beautifully hand drawn animation up on the big screen in all its glory.

I am a relatively new fan of the series but have been well exposed to the mythos by now. This film, unlike the film tied to the earlier series (Conqueror of Shamballa), is not an ending/finale as much as it is a filler episode that fits into the Brotherhood series. It should be viewed as another chance to spend time with the Elric brothers, though perhaps this time on an ever slightly more epic journey than usual. I feel viewing it this way, which is how I went into it, will merit the most enjoyment.

I don't think anything needs to be said about the voice acting, this dub is terrific, truly one of the best. I know some fans only watch the subs but this is well known as one of those anime that almost every fan finds the English dub to be on par or in some cases above the original one.

The visuals were fantastic and the action was excellently staged. The only downside is that Ed and Al seem to play side characters in this film, whereas in comparison to Conqueror of Shamballa they were definitely main characters there. While I would have liked more of them and more stakes for them in the story that didn't stop me from greatly enjoying the film. The story keeps one eager to see what will happen and where things will go, even though a few too many scenes without any presence felt by Ed or Al left me wondering when they would return to the screen.

It isn't that I didn't enjoy the side characters, just that Ed and Al were always on my mind when gone too long as this is a Fullmetal Alchemist film. The side characters are interesting and well designed, there is a large back story about two warring countries and another caught between and a smaller back story about a brother and sister who, like Ed and Al, lost their parents The large amount of plot is well explained without getting too expository, several flashback sequences definitely help.

The film starts out very linear, light and fun but soon gets very dark and heavy as it begins to pile on the plot twists towards the end, back-to-back-to-back at one point. I didn't mind personally but I mention it just to help others decide whether they want to find this in a local theater or wait for the spring blu-ray release.

On another note, if this film didn't carry the title Fullmetal Alchemist or if Ed and Al hadn't been in the story I would have felt like I was watching an older Hayao Miyazaki film, which I say as a compliment. Even the character designs reminded me very much of Nausicaa or other similar films.

So while I do wish Ed and Al were more involved both physically and emotionally, they mostly stand on the sidelines and give their opinions to these new characters who may make the same mistakes the boys once did, it is nevertheless a good if not great film. It is especially engaging for those who love hand drawn animation as I do.

Hagane no renkinjutsushi: Mirosu no seinaru hoshi: Not bad

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 9 December 2018]

So the companion piece movie to the original FMA was to follow the series whereas this companion piece to FMA: Brotherhood can be watched at pretty much anytime as it is totally unconnected to the actual plot.

This didn't sit right with me and more than anything felt like a cashgrab, and I suppose it is. Just a random tale with the Elric brothers with not a homunculus in sight.

The original voice cast return though it is rather light on familiar characters, what damages it however is that it clearly isn't the same animation studio that made the show itself which was an odd choice. Not only is the animation style different but it makes the film feel less connected to the universe we know and love, doubly so in places where the animation quality is pretty ill fitted.

The story itself is competent enough and it's perfectly watchable stuff but certainly not on the level of the show itself. In fact I question it's existence, it just didn't need to be. I get the companion piece to the original FMA as it served a purpose, this just doesn't.

Watchable but even fans might want to skip over it.

The Good:

Has most of the FMA charm

Has its moments

The Bad:

Animation style is different than the show

Some of the animation quality if terrible

Script is well below par

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Life reflects art reflects life

I'm going to miss those wacky Elrics

For fans only and even then, not really.

[KADC · 7/10 · 20 January 2020]

It's not a bad movie -- the action is good and the animation is excellent -- but, while it's great to see Ed and Al in action again, "The Sacred Star of Milos" is a bit of a let down compared to the series itself (either version).

Were a newcomer to watch this as a standalone movie in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe they'd probably enjoy it more than existing fans who are repeatedly forced to wonder what happened to the laws of alchemy and the entire point of philosopher stones. On the other hand, a newcomer would have a lot of questions about everything else as this movie was clearly made with only Fullmetal Alchemist fans in mind.

The director explains in his commentary that this is a different land so the alchemic laws are different (though Ed and Al have travelled just as far if not farther before, albeit not in this direction) but this isn't mentioned in the movie, doesn't explain the antagonist's overwhelming powers while he's in Central City or why Ed and Al can't catch him (or anyone for that matter), puts into question the entire point of the series if all Ed and Al had to do was travel Southwest to Creta or beyond where the laws of alchemy are supposedly different, and doesn't explain the unnecessary rebound after the disappointing climax. Fans will also catch on to the truth about Table City long before Ed and Al who've encountered the exact same thing before.

Overall, this movie is worth watching, but Fullmetal Alchemist fans should be aware this technically canon movie does a terrible job of following canon.

Great, but felt like something was missing

[heroofourtimechrom · 7/10 · 22 April 2023]

FMAB is my favorite anime series of all time, and was absolutely ECSTATIC when I found out there was a movie to the series. I watched it, and I thought it was good, but there was something missing. First off, there were no instances of an Ed short rant (ex. WHO YA CALLING A PIPSQUEAK?!?!) and I don't think there were any comedy parts. Second, I have trouble figuring out when exactly this is supposed to take place. I know it takes place after Ed and Al find out the truth about the Philosopher's Stone, but there really aren't any other clues to when in the series it takes place in. However, the plot was good, and I loved the new characters. To say the least, it was a good movie.

Pretty good for a Fullmetal Movie

[Angels_Review · 6/10 · 5 April 2014]

This is kind of loosely based off of Fullmetal Alchemist and yet… the addition to Julia seems as though it was a fan character brought into the show. The story brings the Elric brothers far from Central and the areas where they are normally are in both anime. Unfortunately, it is the same story line we almost always have. Apprised people trying to get their land back. The story feels kind of old when you keep making it all about a hunt for the philosopher's stone.

There are a couple inconsistencies that happen within this show like the fact that there is a Chimera that has some human in him but yet it seems that he isn't having any problems with his body unlike every other Chimera that we have seen.

I'm not sure, but Julia seems to be a Mary Sue character in a sense. Everything bad is happening to her and yet she seems to be able to get out of her predicaments. They basically showed her as a girl that has had really bad things happen to her since a young age. She has had no time to have anything good happen and bad things happen to her. Even the story about her brother seems rather sappy.

The whole story line seems to be exactly like every other storyline where a group of people are fighting for some 'holy land' somewhere. I'm wondering if the people who wrote Fullmetal Alchemist and the ones who wrote this one have something to do with the whole 'Jews and Israel' thing. It also gets really gory, lots of blood and guts scenes.

When they show the CG, it actually looks pretty well done. They made it look rather close to the animation but it seems to be used unnecessarily in times when the item is still. This shows up in the first few minutes where there is a close up of Edward's hand. The rest of the animation is actually pretty much the same as the anime, beautiful details and sometimes exceeding the anime. The fighting sometimes seems a bit awkward at times since we get a lot of flashing lights from alchemist. Now a bunch of characters seem to be rehashed versions of old characters.

The voices are actually alright, though I'm not sure about Julia Crichton's voice though. It seems really sweet and innocent. Vic does a perfect job as Edward as always.

Great!

[yoonsie_kim · 9/10 · 3 August 2011]

I was fortunate enough to see this movie at Otakon, the second showing in the United States ever. (The first was a day before at the Otakon convention and I missed it due to a crisis, I would never miss it otherwise.)

The movie was Japanese audio with English subtitles, the way it should be.

I really enjoyed the storyline and the action scenes were none less than amazing!! It had me tearing at one point..someone cutting onions in the room.

As an avid FMA fan, I truly enjoyed this experience. Watching it with other FMA fans at Otakon (other otakus) was quite the movie watching experience as people all cheered, clapped, and laughed at the appropriate times. This movie definitely exceeded my expectations and they were rather high. I saw this movie right after The Last Unicorn, and it was a great way to end the Otakon convention!

A joyful ride of extraordinary imagination.

[manendra-lodhi · 10/10 · 17 June 2012]

The film is a complete pack of extraordinary imagination. And important thing is that these kind of experiments looks right with animation movies only. When one sits to watch an animation film, one is fully convinced and prepared to see something extraordinary. I thoroughly enjoyed the film in every aspect. However after seeing the reviews I found that people were disappointed because in the original series fullmetal is the main character. The film might look to be a show of mishandled characters to some of those who have seen the TV series already. However for a new viewer like me, it was a complete treat. After watching the film I knew that the main character is somewhat kept aside most of the time but I personally considered that it was a perfect way compared to the 4th part of the pirates film. So, overall I enjoyed each and every minute of the film.

"A must watch for all animation lovers and a definite one time watch for all others."

Doesn't quite feel like Fullmetal Alchemist

[artur-artborg · 5/10 · 13 March 2017]

By no means is "The Sacred Star of Milos" a bad film. For those wanting to feast their eyes on flashy Japanese animation, or simply to escape from the dullness of everyday life, this motion picture will be a good time.

That being said, at no point does this truly feel like a "Fullmetal Alchemist" film.

Throughout the entire viewing, I felt as though something was off. It wasn't the animation; though "-Milos" utilizes a completely different kind of design and animation than either of the two anime series, once you've accepted that contrast it's easy to marvel at how good-looking it is (almost like a cousin of Ghibli animation). But the story, the characters (old and new), the action, the (lack of) comedy, the (melodramatic) drama...

It feels as though no member of the production had any previous history with the franchise. That alone wouldn't necessarily make this a less-than-awesome film, but the fact is that I never once cared about anything going on on screen does. I didn't care whether our heroes succeeded or if anyone were to die.

In conclusion, "The Sacred Star of Milos" is a better-than-decent adventure film which features some cool animation, but it lacks the emotion to make us care, and - I feel - won't satisfy those expecting another adventure with the Elrics.

The best and at the same time worst that Fullmetal Alchemist has ever got

[miguelweidlich · 8/10 · 9 December 2018]

How can someone describe Sacred Star of Milos? It's like if Fullmetal tried to be Bleach while still being Fullmetal.

Confusing? So is the movie! Plot holes and lack of continuity when compared to the Brotherhood series are the biggest problem of the movie and it can very distracting making this the Fullmetal Alchemist anime version with the worst history.

But at the same time it still has the characters that we know and love and even the new ones are surprisingly good and interesting.

But by far the best part of the movie is the animation! Holy Cow it is good!!! The design, the way the characters move, the angles and GOOD LORD the colors!!! If the story is the worst in Fullmetal's history than the animation is the BEST in Fullmetal's history.

If you are a fan, give it a try. It's not as dark and thoughtful as the classic series or as heartwarming as the Brotherhood series but is still pretty good

Is that amateur made something ?

[TheSuccessorOfTheReaper · 4/10 · 26 February 2012]

I'm a big fan of Brotherhood. If you consider brotherhood, you can tell something like sense of humor, drawings, drama and psychological factors.

About this thing, when I saw Ed's face I thought I was watching a fan-made movie or something like. I don't know who visualized this time but It's kind of a betrayal to the original series.

Story is also terrible. I couldn't wait until I see the next episode during the brotherhood because story was absorbing but This time Im so bored.

As a fan after watching the whole episodes it's a great thing to see something new about Fullmetal Alchemist but not in this way...

Great film if you're a fan, but can be hard to wrap your head around.

[TheOneManBoxOffice · 8/10 · 8 July 2017]

If you've read my review on "Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa" already, you would know that I am a fan of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise, which was originally a series of Japanese graphic novels (often called "manga") written and designed by Hiromu Arakawa for "Shonen Gangan", a monthly magazine published by Square Enix. Yes. That Square Enix. It was turned into two anime television series sometime later, one starting in 2003 while the manga was still being written, and another in 2010 (dubbed "Brotherhood"), a few years after it was finished. Both of these anime series would premier in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night block, Adult Swim.

"Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos" (pronounced Mē-lŏss) is the second feature film in the franchise. While "Conqueror of Shamballa" is spun off of the 2003 series (and serving as its official ending), this movie is spun off of the 2010 series and is an original story, taking place somewhere near the halfway point of the show's run. It starts with a prisoner, an alchemist, breaking out of prison in Central City, despite only having a few weeks left in his sentence. The Elric brothers, consisting of Edward (Vic Mignogna), a young state alchemist dubbed "Fullmetal", and his younger brother Alphonse (Maxey Whitehead), decide to go after him. They end up near the edge of the country border, to a town called Table City, where they cross paths with a young girl named Julia (Alexis Tipton), who belongs to a society called the Milosians. Thus, the Elrics end up becoming a part of a conflict that could either bring peace and prosperity or the extinction of an entire people.

Even though I did say that this movie took place somewhere near the middle of "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood", I cannot say where exactly this movie is placed in the storyline. Even if I did know, the movie pretty much serves as just feature-length filler, and I don't really see that as a bad thing here. However, I do understand that there are a few fans of the franchise that will have a tough time wrapping their head around the overall plot. The animation is also pretty good for a theatrical release, though it's not the best work I've seen from Bones, the studio that has also worked on both the 2003 series and "Brotherhood", as well as other anime series and movies.

So, to sum up, I actually enjoyed this one. Could it be better? Yes, but what I got out of it is a rather thrilling (and sometimes brutal) adventure flick based on a Japanese franchise I hold as near and dear as "Cowboy Bebop". However, if you plan to watch this picture, I would recommend watching at least half of "Brotherhood" first. It may not help you fully understand everything this movie unfolds, but it would make it a little easier than it should.

New franchise, here I come

[ericstevenson · 9/10 · 31 May 2017]

Well, this movie introduced me to one of the most critically acclaimed anime series of all time, "Fullmetal Alchemist". I believe this was one of the few FMA movies to receive mainstream distribution in theaters. I admit to not knowing much about the franchise, so I might get a couple of facts wrong when I critique it. I at least know the names of the main characters and understand some of the basic premise. This movie features the Elric brothers, Ed and Al. Although both are said to have lost their spirits, only a fraction of Ed's body looks mechanical. This movie features them saving a town called Milos by finding the scared star.

Yeah, the title says everything. There's this woman named Julia who appears and it was weird not knowing if she was a main character in the series or not. What I love about this film is how beautiful the animation is and how great the action scenes are. We get tons of creative environments and elements. While not a fan, that's all I want in something to love it! Anyone can enjoy this beautiful film that's nicely paced with great voice acting and likable characters. Ed(ward) is easily my favorite and that's pretty handy when he happens to be the main character. Should please any anime fan, just like me. ***1/2

There's gold here ...once you bridge the cultural divide

[chuck-526 · 5/10 · 30 January 2012]

I just watched the U.S. theatrical release of this at my local theater. The animation is very good, seeming to me to combine 2D techniques, computer-generated effects (smoke, water waves, flowing blood, energy beams, flames, lava, etc.) and of course lots of bright colors (but not so colorful and flashy it induces headaches:-). Visually, this doesn't take a back seat to anyone.

It's obviously been carefully prepped for a U.S. release. Except for the credits being entirely Japanese characters, no clue is given to a naive viewer that this might be a variant. The voice actors (as far as I could tell all with names that can be spelled with Japanese characters) all speak completely un-accented idiomatic English. The problem of signs (shops, roadside, etc.) being in a different language is largely finessed by arranging that there just plain aren't hardly any. There aren't any written clues either - everything is drawings and diagrams. The few signs that do exist, the newspaper page we see, and even the inside of a book we get a quick glance at, have all been redrawn so they appear to have always been in English.

The thing I noticed most was the characters' mouth movements have all been redrawn to match the English dub!(?)

There's more music in the sound track than most animations (of course it's still not wall-to-wall music).

A pitch-perfect dub, a redraw of all the bits of writing, new mouth movements, and significant music add up to quite an effort to pitch this to general audiences in the U.S. as a breakout movie.

That said, the ethos just didn't mesh with my world.

The storyline (which I assume is outstanding in the anime world) doesn't to me feel right for a movie. It's standalone (no background is required to understand it), and it's obvious a lot of effort has been spent trying to make it accessible to naive audiences. Yet its manga roots still show strongly. There's far too much dialog compared to what I'm used to, the plot is far too complex for the length of a movie, and there's too much abrupt jumping back and forth and back and forth between moralizing and joking. Many movies don't use the hidden identity trope at all; some use it once; but this is the first time I've seen the "hidden identity" trope _stacked_, so a character that's revealed to be somebody else is eventually revealed _again_.

Likewise some of the attitudes just don't fit what I'm used to. I could eventually get into the inadvertently wisecracking, half-serious yet half-joking (or is it just plain juvenile?) attitude of the principal characters, but initially I found it jarring. I didn't realize until halfway through the movie that it was sometimes quite funny. The portrayal of the military as so central to the control of society, and the portrayal of military people with drab exteriors but bright interiors and plenty of independence and rather cynical attitudes, was foreign to me.

Even though the visuals and the audio had gone out of their way to enter my world as far as possible, I was left overall with the sense of peering into a different culture. It wasn't necessarily one I dislike, just one that was different enough I couldn't really get into it right away. Maybe it's just my old age showing, or maybe some sort of cultural baptism into the anime world is needed, or ...

An excellent side story

[WeAreLive · 9/10 · 20 August 2021]

In the lost holy land of Milos, the Elrics search for the truth behind an unknown form of alchemy. What secrets are hidden in Milos? Riddles must be solved and dangers faced before the truth can be found.

I am not really when does the story take place but if you enjoyed brotherhood you might enjoy this movie.