Copyright ©1995
Kanzaka Hajime Araizumi Rui
Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.
Bandai Visual Co., Ltd.
Marubeni Corporation
King Record Co., Ltd.
English Language version © 1998 A.D. Vision, Inc.
Released in North America by A.D.V. Films
English dubbed:
VHSSL/001D - $19.98
Subtitled:
VHSSL/001S - $29.95
75 minutes
Release date: 8/25/98

"It's bad enough that you have to eat people, but at least let them die with dignity!" Picture Lina uttering that line, but drawn in striking detail. That's SLAYERS: THE MOTION PICTURE in a nutshell.
This is one of the most beautifully animated movies I've seen in a while. It's got some great voice acting, but also some of the lamest, most out of place jokes I've ever heard. I haven't heard the subtitled version yet, but I'm quite sure the villainous frog was not named Michigan J. Joyrock! The references to DRAGON BALL and DRAGON-HALF might be part of the original script, but I'll bet that the Trix cereal and Naga-hide jokes were not.
I understand the desire to "Americanize" the script to make it more accessible to a North American audience, I really do. Especially in the case of jokes that are inherently Japanese; ones that most Americans wouldn't get. But so many of these jokes were glaringly obtrusive and not funny enough to warrant the disruption. I know many "dub-philes" will disagree with me, but even dubbed this is, after all, a Japanese movie; changing it so much that it no longer sounds Japanese does it a disservice.
But this is a wonderfully animated film. The characters and scenery are clean and colorful, while the action scenes are smooth and fast. The music is pretty good, and I especially liked the ending theme.
The voice acting for this film is very good, and quite populous. This movie had the largest voice cast I've ever seen! Perhaps that's part of why it all sounded so good; no one had to change their voice to cover six different characters. Cynthia Martinez and Kelly Manison both performed exceptionally well as Lina and Naga, although I am sure that some fans will debate whether Ms. Martinez was a worthy replacement for voice actress Lisa Ortiz, who performed the role in the TV series dubs. My hat goes off to Ms. Manison for getting Naga's maniacal laugh right. (She's a lot like Kodachi!)
The story is a little simplistic. It wasn't bad—demons, goofy henchmen, a mysterious island, and an old curse—pretty standard fare for SLAYERS. But I expected a bit more from the first SLAYERS movie. Well, at least it was pretty and sounded good.
Fans of the OVA series might miss the other characters, but Naga's a big enough... er, screen presence to make up for everyone else's absence. Besides, the young Rowdy (with his Light Sword) would seem to be a distant ancestor of Goury's. It's a time travel thing.
This is a good film. Fans of the series will enjoy Lina in this slightly more professional light. Everyone will get a kick out of her partner, Naga. (GOLDEN BOY fans will appreciate her vigorous anatomy...) And the hilarious Stone Dragon has to be seen to be believed! This show is worth the purchase, but unless you really hate to read, I have to recommend the subtitled version.