It was Paul Verhoeven’s loose adaptation of the classic Robert A. Heinlein novel Starship Troopers that spawned 2 inferior sequels and a more faithful series of CG animated cartoons called The Roughnecks. Starship Troopers Invasion takes elements of both and blends them into an awesome CG film directed by Shinji Aramaki… the same director who brought us the the 2 amazing CG Appleseed films, Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina.

A distant Federation outpost Fort Casey comes under attack by bugs. The team on the fast attack ship Alesia is assigned to help the Starship John A. Warden stationed in Fort Casey evacuate along with the survivors and bring military intelligence safely back to Earth. Carl Jenkins, now ministry of Paranormal Warfare, takes the starship on a clandestine mission before its rendezvous with the Alesia and goes missing in the nebula. Now, the battle-hardened troopers are charged with a rescue mission that may lead to a much more sinister consequence than they ever could have imagined….

Aramaki has a solid feel for action sequences as proven in his previous works, and Invasion does not disappoint. There’s a ton of fire fights with the bug invaders, most of the combat taking place in the long corridors of large ships. The ship designs are awesome, inside and out, the bug models look as good as they did in the films, and the pacing is pretty solid… although it does build up to a fairly predictable (but awesome) ending. As far as the actual character animation goes, I would say its top notch. There are points however, where movements seem over acted in an attempt to feel more natural, but that’s to be expected with this style of animation. The overall quality of animation is light years superior than Roughnecks, bordering Final Fantasy quality. I do have to warn though, along with language and violence… there is nudity.

The characters in Invasion are well developed, and the voice acting is above average. The dialogue might be a little clumsy at times, but par for the course. Invasion is set sometime in the future after the films and the animated series, but all the surviving characters from the series have their roles and make their appearances. Rico, Carmen, and Carl are all there. I have to tip my hat to the writers though, Invasion doesn’t cling to any of it’s characters. Some survive and some don’t.

Starship Troopers Invasion is a straight to DVD/Blu Ray release hitting shelves August 28th. If you were a fan of the movies, the Roughnecks television series or even just quality CG, Invasion should be at the top of your list. We really only get a few quality CG animated films like this every couple of years (This year however, we’re getting a second CG Resident Evil film in September) and I’m a huge fan of these types of films. Invasion is worth every penny!

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