Universal Century, the timeline of the original Gundam series, is one of the richest constructs in anime to date. The direct ancestor of no less than five anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam is often considered the Star Trek of anime, and rightly so. The comparison is apt when one takes in the success — or lack thereof — of its motion pictures, namely Formula 91.

Riding on the coattails of Char's Counterattack, which brought to a close the Amuro Ray versus Char Aznable conflict and effectively ended the Zeon war, Formula 91 is a pale shadow of what could have been. Originally conceived as a full length, fifty two episode series, F-91 attempts to cram all of the material of its series origins into two hours of animation. This results in a lax plot line centered about Seabook Arno and his somewhat-contrived acquisition of the Formula-91 mobile suit.

Actions in the movie take place at lightning speed. A prime example is the defection of a Crossbone pilot, and subsequent death not three minutes later. The viewers are given no reason for the defection, or her reason for joining the Vanguard, anyway. The same could be said for Seabook's friend, who seems to die just to advance Seabook as a character. Development is curiously absent in their relationship and in the characters themselves. Even the festival that the main characters are staging before the Vanguard launches its attack has no basis in the plot.

Additionally, Seabook suffers from the "instant newtype effect": in essence, it seems that Seabook's newtype powers manifest only in the presence of the Formula 91 Gundam. The plot itself does not give the same amount of time that other Gundam movies do to develop his newtype powers: it took half a series for Char and Amuro, five episodes for Camille Bidan, less for the Murasame creations. Seabook's newtype powers lend credence to the contrived nature of the plot itself.

Beyond the bare-bones plot, the soundtrack seems as though it was ripped right from The Empire Strikes Back. I can recall most clearly watching F-91 to compose this review, and my roommate entering the room to say, "Are you watching Empire Strikes Back?" Viewing the anime will bring this thought about more than once as the opening bars of the Imperial March seem to play whenever there is a fleet organizing on screen. Aside from that, the soundtrack is typical theatric Gundam fare: it varies little in it's dramatics or emotion.

The animation, on the other hand, is done exceedingly well. The "jaggies," jagged or pixilated lines seen when a 3-D object is moving across the screen (as seen in Char's Counterattack) don't appear. Additionally, the colors are more vivid and the definition between foreground and background images is much improved over the release of Char's Counterattack, F-91's most immediate predecessor. The separation between asteroid and starship against the black background is more palpable.

The movie itself comes in a two disc set. The first disc contains the motion picture itself, with Japanese and English subtitles. The second disc contains an English-only theatrical release. The differences between the two are minute save for the English dubbing. The second disc also includes an image gallery, a timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam, and commentary by Sunrise producer Nobuo Masuda.

I would not suggest picking up F-91 unless you are a hardcore Gundam fan who is aching to complete their collection of Gundam material. The plot does not lend itself to the casual viewer, nor do the special features warrant a purchase. You're best off renting this one for a day or two.

Distributor: Bandai Entertainment
Creator: Sunrise
Released: 1991

Plot: C
Character Design: C
Music: C
Animation Quality: C
Overall: C