Mass Effect: Paragon Lost

• Directed by Atsushi Takeuchi
• November 29, 2012 (Limited theatrical release) / December 14, 2012 (Digital release)

Voice Cast

• Lieutenant James Vega-Freddie Prinze Jr.
• Treeya-Monica Rial
• Messner-Vic Mignogna
• Milque-Todd Haberkorn
• Nicky-Josh Grelle
• Brood-Justin Cook
• Mason-Marc Swint
• Admiral Steven Hackett-Bruce Carey
• April-Jad Saxton
• Christine-Kara Edwards
• Archuk-Jason Douglas
• Admiral David Anderson-Patrick Seitz
• Essex-Eric Vale           
• Kamille-Laura Bailey
• Captain Toni-Travis Willingham
• Dr. Liara T’Soni-Jamie Marchi

A group of soldiers try to protect a distant human colony from a malevolent alien species.

I went into this animated movie knowing very little about the Mass Effect universe. Truthfully I still do not. Other than knowing the games exist I know nothing. Still though that did not hurt my enjoyment of this movie. It did not seem that you needed to be familiar with the games in any way to understand the storyline. This is an 80 something minute film whose primary purpose is to promote a videogame which would indicate you aiming at potential customers familiar with your product already. I give them kudos for keeping this accessible.

In this story we have an alien invasion on a distant colony. We have secret agendas involving an organization called Cerberus and an emotionally wounded main character in the character of Lieutenant James Vega. There are crotch shots and one character that sexually harasses another character and that’s treated as light comedy. I cannot imagine if you are out in the field that a game of grab ass would be treated for laughs. Such things give you a look into the culture of Japanese animators.

The animation is amazing. More often than not the Japanese really deliver in this department. There is a combination of CGI and hand-drawn work here. The visuals are fantastic. This movie is a feast for the eyes. There are great character designs and great ship designs with things looking good and apparently staying true to the source. The action scenes are great. Not amazing. But they are very entertaining with some being a little weird.

Where this movie falls short is the story. As I said you do not need to be familiar with the Mass Effect universe to understand what is going on in this film but given the scale of the threat and the fact that this is a science-fiction film everything feels kind of run-of-the-mill. It’s going through the motions a bit. It is not terrible but it is not great. It is only just okay.

The characters are your general run-of-the-mill two-dimensional characters. There is no real stand out among them. Nothing special. The Blood Pack mercenaries led by the krogan Archuk and his second Brood are generic warrior aliens with a story specific sense of duty and honor. They have a cute kid that our hero Lt. Vega has bonded with. It is very much by the books with the story.

In the end Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, while visually satisfying, is an ultimately generic film that you can probably skip if you are anything other than a fan of the videogames. Science fiction fans may enjoy it once but will not soon come back to it very often if at all.