Patlabor WXIII - The Movie
Despite its title, this theatrical feature has little to do with themechaadventures and ensemble comedy of the popular broadcast seriesMobile Police Patlabor. Inspector Shin'ichiro Hata of the Tokyo Police  is assigned to investigate an unexplained series of violent and grisly  deaths. Instead of the roguemechathePatlaborteam fight, the  killer is a weird, amphibious monster, the product of yet another biotech  experiment gone wrong. Hata meets the beautiful scientist who created the  monster--using cells from the cancer that killed her daughter. The familiar  characters Noa Izumi, Isao Ota, and Captain Goto appear in brief cameos when  they dispatch the mutant monster in a half-ruined stadium. Director Fumihiko  Takayama tries to emulate the look and tone of Hiroyuki Okiura'sJin-Roh, but fails to generate the ominous tension that distinguishedThe Wolf Brigade. (Rated R: violence, grotesque imagery,  profanity, tobacco use)--Charles Solomon