For those that don't know, the basic plot of Nadia is that it is set in the late 1800s/early 1900's and uses a Jules Verne inspirited universe where the world is in the beginning stages of an Industrial Revolution and both the good and bad guys employ various technological wonders and inventions. Nadia is a former acrobat-turned-reporter princess from a lost mythical civilization; her friends include Jean a young French inventor and prospective love, and the adventurous globe trotting rogues, Grandis, Hanson, and Sanson.

Nadia is reunited with her friends when they investigate why world leaders, key political figures, and military hierarchy have begun to vanish, literally evaporating into thin air. A scientist named Giegar, previously a minion of their enemy Gargoyle, has been replacing these important people with replicas and wants to start a world war. A mysterious, vague, and odd girl named Fuzzy, the daughter of a missing scientist, may be the key to the mystery, but it will take a huge effort by Nadia and company to defeat this new threat.

Like any nostalgia adventure/semi-sequel, there has to be some kind of exposition to clue in new viewers. In the case of Nadia: The Motion Picture, the first third of its 86 minute running time (and thats including superfluous credits) is all flashback. And, not necessarily coherent flashbacks. If, like me, you had never seen a Nadia adventure before, these flashbacks have no logical flow, just an assemblage of action scenes and various characters joking, no cut and dry explanation to any of it. Sure it manages to reveal a little about the show and the principle characters, but mostly I just felt lost, watching a confusing highlight reel, waiting for the actual show, the new material, to start and get the adventure rolling.

Once I got over the flashback section and into the actual story, although uninitiated, I got the sense based on the flashbacks that the movie didn't really capture the spirit of the Nadia series. After watching the movie, I have now seen the show (covered in other reviews) and my suspicion was somewhat right. The lighthearted comedy and action is there, but its not quite on the mark, not up to the same level as the series. It breaks into seriousness pretty well with lost girl and the villain who brutally and cold-heartedly executing his minions by gun or blade when they disagree or fail him, but the rest it isn't much fun. The sense of adventure was missing and it just doesn't juggle its moods with the same vibrancy as the series. The weak Blade Runner overtones of the girl, Fuzzy, and the dire situation of potential madmen starting a world war overwhelms them. Add to that some clumsiness in not adding anything new to the characters, and you get a fair adventure that just doesn't live up the original series at all. I guess that is what happens when you take something that had a huge 39 episode arc of development and then try to rush out one more story and make it fit into an hour.

Also, I didn't look up the specifics of the timeline, but Nadia the series concludes with an epilogue based 12 yrs in the future, stating what happens to all of the characters, what they went on to do. This film must take place sometime before that epilogue because none of them have moved on in the way the series epilogue stated and don't appear to be anywhere near those destinations.

The DVD: A.D. VISION

Picture: Standard Full-Screen. It looks pretty good, everything form contrast to color are very nice. It does have some wear of slightly aged cel animation, most surprisingly, in all of the new material which looks rougher and cheaper than the series episode footage used in the flashbacks. It is fine, really thats my only grumble, the cheapness of the actual feature compared to the older series animation.

Sound: Original Japanese or English dub, Dolby Digital 2.0, with optional English subtitles. Good all around, clear, but not very dynamic. Audio is adequately sharp with the dialogue and full with the music and fx.

Extras: Chapter Selections--- Original US Trailer--- Original Japanese opening credits--- Clean closing animation (end credit sequence without text).--- ADV previews for Super Atragon, Sailor Moon, 801 Airbats, Sakura Wars 2, Princess Nine and Dai Guard.

Conclusion: Decent enough for fans. For those thinking it would be a good way to get a feel for the series without wading into the original 39 episodes, I'm afraid for newcomers Nadia: The Motion Picture isn't a good introduction, doesn't capture the series very well.