The animation is amazingly lush. You really feel immersed in this industrial steam world. Most of the time, the computer animation is so well blended into the traditional animation that you can't tell which is which. There's only a few shots where the computer animation sticks out. Unlike Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, the CG isn't trying to draw attention to itself (most of the time), and is used as part of the story telling process.
But there's something about this movie that prevents it from becoming a thing that you treasure and love. I think that something is the lack of heart. It's an ok story, lots of exciting things happen, and the music score is good. But other than the excitement felt during the action scenes, there's little other emotion and feeling.
Howl's Moving Castle wasn't Miyazaki's best work, but it was made memorable because it had so much heart and emotion. Steamboy, on the other hand, is forgettable.
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