2.5 stars (out of 4)
Released 2013 (in Japan)
Here’s an excerpt from the official description of the movie on Funimation’s site: “Kurumi had given up on the world, but a brilliant scientist devised a plan to win her back. By melding futuristic technology with the binary equivalent of human emotion, they created an ultra-lifelike robotic surrogate to take Hal’s place…”
HAL is worth seeing for its gorgeous animation and gentle story of healing after a loss.
Personally, I wasn’t really sold on the plot-twist ending, though. Yes, there were some clues along the way, but it didn’t make any sense. I was also left asking the question: Who was funding this project, and to what purpose? Surely sentient robots which look and act convincingly human would not come cheap.
I have to apologize for the not-timely nature of these posts. HAL was streaming for free at Funimation this past weekend to promote the DVD. Both the subtitled and dubbed versions were available (I watched the sub). But uh, that promotion is over now.