Under “Sky Blue,” there is no haven

Moon Sang Kim’s “Sky Blue” is like a lot of other Asian sci-fi anime: a stunningly imagined world of the future populated with one-dimensional characters caught up in a trite plot. This Korean production plays like an elementary reworking of “Metropolis” with an ecological conscience. “Sky Blue” is likely to cast a spell on only the most devout anime fans.

It’s 2140, and mankind has so recklessly exploited the environment that it has triggered some sort of worldwide catastrophe that has left the sun permanently obscured by impenetrable muddy clouds. Most of humanity has been wiped out as a result, but a power elite has managed to construct a glittering city-state called Ecoban, which resembles nothing so much as clusters of outsized pepper mills. Ecoban is sustained by its “Delos System,” by which carbon compounds are transformed into usable energy. (Nothing is said about the source of Ecoban’s food supply.)

Ecoban has attracted countless refugees. But it is closed to outsiders, who are forced to settle in nearby Wasteland, finding shelter in vast, derelict ships in an abandoned boatyard. They survive by becoming Diggers, mining the Wasteland for the material essential to Ecoban’s survival. The plight of the Diggers is much like that of the Workers in “Metropolis.”

“Sky Blue’s” plot is set in motion when Jay, a young captain in Ecoban’s security force, witnesses a terrible industrial accident engineered by the evil Cmdr. Locke to keep the Diggers in line. Soon she discovers that her first love, Shua, who she long believed to be dead, has actually been unjustly consigned to Wasteland, and in response to Locke’s brutal tactics, is leading a rebellion against Ecoban and its leaders.

“Sky Blue’s” flat characters are rendered even more lifeless by the English-language dubbing by actors whose voices are as stiff and colorless as the dialogue they’ve been handed to recite. Ecoban -- and “Sky Blue” as a whole -- are strictly Dullsville.

*

‘Sky Blue’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Typical sci-fi anime violence; too brutal for young children

Catherine Cavadini...Jay

Marc Worden...Shua

Kirk Thornton...Cade

David Naughton...Cmdr. Locke

and Dr. Noah

Bob Papenbrook...Goliath

and Governor

A Maxmedia/Endgame release of A Samsung Venture Investment presentation of a Tin House/Maxmedia/Masquerade Films production. Director Moon Sang Kim. U.S. director Sunmin Park. Producers Kyeong Hag Lee, Kay Hwang, Sunmin Park, Jungmin Ethan Park. Executive producer Stephen Kim. Screenplay by Moon Sang Kim, Jun Young Park, Sunmin Park; English-language adaptation Sunmin Park, Howard Rabinowitz, Jeffrey Winter. Music Il Won. Animation director Young-Ki Yoon. Production designer Soug-Youn Lee. Art director Youn-Cheol Jung. Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes.

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